I am refering to the starting benches designed by the Meroke RC Club and published by AMA.
http://www.meroke.com/safetybench.htm
We have two of these and have been using them almost two years and have had two incidents.

The first was a pilot put down his ignitor, it started to roll, he reached for it and was nicked by the prop.
He admits it was his fault. It sent our safety officer into a tizzy and he wanted to do away with them.

The other day a prop came off and struck the pilot in the forhead. Luckily no serious injury.
Again the safety officer got into a tizzy and moved the benches off of the flight line and temporarily baned their use.
If the pilot had been on the ground the prop probably would not have bounced but there would have been rocks and dirt flying around.
One prop or a lot of grit, more chances to get into the eye, - which is more dangerous?
Leaning over and in front of the prop or just in front of it - which is more dangerous?

Has any one else had problems they relate to the benches? What did you do about them?
A couple of suggestions made were requiring safety glasses and carpeting the front of the bench to reduce bounce.
Both are good ideas, the safety glasses should already be required - bench or ground.
I always wear safety glasses when flying. I have worked in dangerous industries and had safety preached at me regularly.

Is our safety officer being over zelous? Am I being to cavalier?
I admit certain precautions need to be made with the benches but being erect instead of kneeling during a start up seems a lot safer to me, no matter what happens.

Thanks,
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