Danger committee

When we get a new tool like the Bridgeport or ShopBot, initially nobody is authorized, or trained as an authorizer, and nobody can authorize others. To solve the chicken and egg problem, an ad hoc group forms around the tool that becomes the initial group of authorized uses. They figure the tool out, determine what is dangerous about it, address safety issues, acquire initial tooling, perform setup and calibration, etc. They clear the way for the membership to use the tool. They also form the pool of initial authorizers to get other people trained and authorized.

The "Danger Committee" is the unofficial official term for the first group of hackers to figure out what is dangerous about a new tool. The name is tongue-in-cheek because it's a "safety committee" that has been hackerspaceified. What a danger committee is or does will adapt heavily to tool or equipment being researched.

As many tools at PS:One allow for any authorized member to authorize any other member, there is not always a danger committee.

A danger committee's role is over, mostly, once procedures for authorization and operation have been determined.

Who forms a danger committee? JFDI, or the owner of the tool, or the Board, or the Area Host.