Keeping the Space Running

• Cleanup Checklist and Cleaning Schedule
• Trash, Recycling and Hazardous Waste
• Building Systems
• Reporting a Building Problem

Cleanup Checklist and Cleaning Schedule

WMI is run entirely by volunteers. Nobody is paid to clean up, so every member cleans up after themselves. The rule is simple: leave every area as good as or better than you found it.

Before you leave: checklist

• Tools put back where they belong.
• Your work area swept or wiped down.
• Your project and materials stored in a designated area or on a cart, labeled with your name and the date.
• Walkways and shared workspaces clear.
• Any trash can you filled emptied. See Trash, Recycling and Hazardous Waste.
• All food and food trash taken out of the building with you.
• If you used the conference room: tables wiped, trash out, room reset to its default arrangement.
• Doors secure behind you.

Cleaning supplies

Cleaning supplies are kept in the utility closet and near the main work zones. Ask if you are not sure where something is.

To be confirmed: the current location of the utility closet and cleaning supplies, and how to report when supplies run low.

Area-specific cleanup

Some areas have extra steps (for example dust collection in the Wood Shop). Those are on each area's overview page and in the equipment SOPs.

Cleaning schedule and cleanup days

WMI holds spring and fall cleanups where members pitch in on the bigger jobs. They are announced on Discord and listed on waukeshamakers.com.

To be confirmed: whether there is a recurring schedule for shared cleaning tasks (floors, restroom, dust collector bins) and who covers them.

Take initiative

If you see something that needs doing, do it. Your effort keeps the space welcoming and working for everyone.

Trash, Recycling and Hazardous Waste

Trash

• If a trash can is full, empty it. Do not leave it for someone else.
• Take trash to the dumpster area behind the building. Ask if you do not know where to go.

Food waste

Take food and food trash with you when you leave. Do not leave food waste in the trash cans overnight.

Rodents chew on wires, nest in power supplies and leave droppings behind. Food left in the shop invites them in. This applies everywhere, including the conference room after an event.

Aluminum can recycling

Drop aluminum cans in the can recycling bin near the lockers. All proceeds go to the makerspace and help fund tools, materials and workshops.

To be confirmed: whether other materials (cardboard, paper, plastic, scrap metal) are recycled, and where.

Hazardous waste

Paint, solvents, finishes, oils, batteries and similar materials must never go in the regular trash or down a drain.

• Oily and solvent-soaked rags can catch fire on their own as they dry. Never leave them balled up in a trash can.
• Lithium batteries can start fires if crushed or punctured. Keep them out of the trash.

To be confirmed: where members should put used rags, leftover paint and solvents, and dead batteries at WMI, and how the shop disposes of them.

See Fire Safety and Hot Work and Chemical Safety and Safety Data Sheets in Shop Safety.

Building Systems

This page will describe the building's systems and what members need to know about them: where the electrical panels are and how breakers are labeled, how the compressed air system works, how heating and cooling are controlled, and where the water shutoff is. It will also say which of these members may touch and which are handled by the board or the landlord.

One rule already applies: never block electrical panels, sprinkler heads or fire extinguishers.

This page is being written. Until it is published, report any building system problem to a board member (see **Reporting a Building Problem**).

Reporting a Building Problem

If something is wrong with the building (a leak, a door that will not lock, lights or power out, heat or air conditioning not working, damage to the space), report it so it can be fixed.

Emergencies first

If anyone is in danger, call 911. Evacuate the building for fire, chemical spills or other hazardous conditions. See Emergency Information in Shop Safety.

How to report

• Post on Discord or message a board member in #general.
• Or email info@waukeshamakers.com.

Say what the problem is, where it is, and when you noticed it. A photo helps.

If a door will not lock or close properly, do not leave the building unsecured. Tell a board member right away.

Broken tools are different

If the problem is with a tool or machine rather than the building, see Tagging a Tool Out of Service and Reporting It in Shop Safety.

Who fixes what

Members report problems to the board. The board decides what WMI handles itself and what goes to the landlord.

To be confirmed: which building problems are the landlord's responsibility under the lease, and whether members should ever contact the landlord directly.