When you take possession of a piece of equipment, you pick up the liability with it. Get the maintenance information for the equipment, have your Maintenance Department inspect the equipment for safety. Provide safety training for people who will be operating it.

The following is an article on accepting donated equipment:

Donated Equipment

From time to time school districts are the recipients of donated vocational education tools and equipment from local businesses. This equipment may include metal, welding, automobile, wood shop and even agricultural equipment.

 Although there is an obvious financial benefit from donated tools, this practice does carry with it some liability risk. School districts may not know the history of the tool or piece of equipment. They may not know the age of the equipment, the manufacturer, distributor, or what kind of maintenance, if any, was provided by the donor.  The act of donating used equipment also begs the question of why the company is donating the equipment in the first place. Was the tool worn out, obsolete, or prone to mechanical problems? 

 POWER TOOLS

Many older models of power tools may not be guarded to current Washington Administrative Code standards. The manufacturer may no longer be in business, therefore, proper guards may not be available. Older machines may not have been designed/built to recognized industry standards. This holds true for foreign manufactured machinery as well. Such documentation as owner’s manuals, operating and maintenance instructions are often missing or unclear. It may be difficult to buy replacement parts or guards for older machines.

WAC 296-24-15001,  Machine Guarding, describes the types of guarding required for various types of power tools to protect the operator. Our vocational shop inspection forms for welding, metal, wood and auto shops would be useful for evaluating tools and equipment before accepting them. The forms include critical items to inspect with each item referenced in the appropriate WAC standards. These forms are available from our Loss Control Department upon request. 

If your school district is offered such equipment, have someone qualified thoroughly inspect it. This could be someone on your staff or an outside consultant. Do not accept power tools unless they are in good operating condition and are or can be guarded to standard.

 If donated tools are found to be unsuitable for use, they should not be accepted. They should be returned to the donor or simply scrapped. Selling this equipment to others could open the district up to liability should the buyer be injured on a machine that is not properly guarded.

 PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT

Other donated items may include playground equipment. The Pool recommends that all playground equipment meet CPSC (Consumer Products Safety Commission) playground guidelines. Our Loss control Bulletin #64, in the September/October issue of Pool Cues describes a playground equipment policy and procedure.

 Before accepting any used or donated playground equipment, the district should have the facilities or maintenance director approve it, and certify that the equipment does meet CPSC guidelines and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards. Do not accept homemade playground equipment regardless of condition.

 Call a Pool Loss Control Consultant for a review of the equipment and the proposed site. Make sure the surfacing is adequate under the equipment. Generally, surfacing must extend 6 feet around the equipment and must be between 9 and 12 inches in depth depending on the type of surfacing and the height of the equipment. (See the CPSC Handbook for Public Safety for surfacing depth requirements.)  The playground equipment should be properly installed in accordance with the above standards and inspected regularly.

LABORATORY CHEMICALS

School districts may also be the recipient of donated lab chemicals and equipment. Quantities of donated chemicals may far exceed what is needed for the school year and chemical disposal is extremely costly. Some chemicals may have aged to the point where they are no longer safe. A prime example is sodium metal. When cut, it can react explosively with the organic substance in which the metal is stored. Donated science equipment can also present problems. One school district accepted several boxes of mercury thermometers. As these are no longer used due to the hazard of spilled mercury, the district was faced with the problem of properly disposing of the thermometers that are considered a hazardous waste.

SUMMARY

Although accepting used tools, equipment and chemicals may save a district money, the risks may be more than the district should assume and you might be better off, in the end, purchasing new equipment. Should you have any questions regarding proposed equipment donations, our Loss Control Consultants can assist you in evaluating the equipment prior to accepting it.