1. David Branch
Senior Speech
Hi, my name is David W Branch III and I am her e today to explain the
importance of automotive shop safety. A utomotive mech anics have a greater
chance of being injur ed the job than any o ther profession als. They are exposed
to electrical hazards, the potential for fire and explosions, physical trauma from
moving engine parts, and exposure to chemicals. I have chosen this topic
because, through per sonal experience, I know the importance of automotive
safety t echniques. They hav e s aved my life. I want everyone, whether they are
a novice or a s easoned expert in automotive rep air, to know and practice th ese
techniques. This topic rais es my curiosity because I love to wo rk on vehicles
and I want to be s afe while I do it.
For my junior p aper , I shadowedan auto motive teacher named Philli
Clemmons at Richmo nd Technical Center. This is a tech nical school where
students work on aut omobiles and need to know what to do to keep th emselves
safe. Through my shadowing ex perience, I learned about the safety procedur es
involved with working on a v ehicle’s electrical system, and through him, I
became certified in automotive electrical systems. The senior paper is about
automotive shop safety and when I interviewed Aaron who is a manager at Jiffy
Lube,he stat ed “ keep your focus o n your surroundings wh en in the shop so you
can stay safe".
One of th e challenge s I encountered while doing the research was when I
broke my leg and wasn’t able to do any research, I’ve overcame this by returning
to school and doing t he res earch th ere. For the product I created a guide o n
automotive shop safety . This guide cont ained th e general safety rules, electrical
safety regulations and shop safety.
When doing the product ,a problem I h ad was finding time to do the
product while simult aneously completing my makeup work . I h ad makeup work
due to an injury th at required multiple surgi cal procedures and required my
absence from school . I ov ercame this ch allenge wh en I finished all my makeup
work. I th en devot ed all my time to the product. I’ve learned h ow not to
procrastinat e. Wh en I ret urned to school from my injury, I only h ad a li ttle
time to start ov er and redo the project from scrat ch. I had to start over b ecaus e

2. David Branch
I temporarily did not have the ability to demonstrate auto sho p safety
procedures as I h ad originally planned. I collaborated with my mentor in th e
brainstorming proces s, putting together the pow er point, prep ar ing for the
speech, andcr eating the auto safety guide for the project. My mentor is Mr.
Minter.
For my product, I cr eat ed an auto shop safety guild th at giver the reader
general knowledge o n how to keep themselves safe when in auto shop. The
safety rules contained in the guide have b een prep ared to protect you in an auto
shop. The employees of auto shops follo w th ese rules carefully . The employees
review them oft en and use them daily in carrying out assigned duties. The
passages within the guild include General Safety Rules, Election Safety
Regulations, and Shop Safety. Th e General S afety Rules was chosen because
most people who ent er a shop don’t know what to have in their minds b efore
entering in order to protect themselves. Electrical S afetyR egulatio ns was
entered so that people would know th at even wh en dealing with the electrical
components of a veh icle that th ere is a danger as well and how to keep
themselves s afe. The final s electio n is Shop Safety and this selection was put in
as a guide to follow by using some shop safety rules I co llected from Jiffy Lube.
In conclusion, my name is David Branch III and I ’ve reviewed with you
today the importance of automotive shop safety. Today we talked about General
Shop Safety Rules and actual Shop Safety. Thank you for your time and I hope
you have a great r est of your day. Are there any questio ns?