INITIAL SAFETY CODE FOR EXPERIMENTAL SOLID-PROPELLANT PREPARATION AND MOTOR CONSTRUCTION

1. Overall safety: All my actions will have safety foremost in mind. I will never become complacent, and will always be prepared for an accident. I will recognize that a mixture can ignite at any time, and act accordingly.

2. Work location: My work location for compounding of low-sensitivity propellant will be a minimum of 75 feet from any inhabited building, with distance to increase appropriately depending on the amount and type of material being used. All materials will be locked in proper storage facilities when not actually being used. Finished propellant/motors will be stored in a proper magazine.

3. Neatness: I will keep such area where propellant compounding is being carried out, clean and neat at all times. Oxidizers, powdered metals, and other ignition hazards will be treated with appropriate care to minimize the danger of accidental ignition, with special care taken to avoid "dusting" of fine material. I never will have more than one open container of chemical within this area at any time.

4. Chemicals: I will become familiar with the associated literature, including MSDS's for each chemical used. I will not use "makeshift" chemicals, but instead will obtain technical-grade or appropriate/equivalent purity for propellant compounding. I will learn about chemical incompatibilities and avoid them (examples: ammonium compounds with chlorate compounds; aluminum and any nitrate). I will never make substitutions simply to see "if this works", but instead will engineer mixtures to meet the preselected criteria.

5. Training: The initial phases of my work will be performed under supervision of a knowledgeable person, one who has been properly trained in that which I am doing. My initial work will involve mixtures that have been well-characterized by others and have found to be minimally sensitive. I will study regularly to learn more about the nature of my propellant and motor work.

6. Amounts: I will work with small amounts of materials. For well-characterized minimal-hazard mixtures I will make no more than can be used within a reasonable length of time. Uncharacterized experimental mixtures will be made initially in quantity not to exceed one gram, until the mixture has been properly characterised as to sensitivity and other hazard.

7. Safety equipment: I will use proper safety equipment, including eye protection, respirator, and flame-resistant clothing, at all times. A water-type fire extinguisher of appropriate size will always be at hand, excepting for mixtures for which water would create a greater hazard than ignition.

8. Legal: I will work in compliance with federal, state, and local laws. The local authorities having jurisdiction will be aware of my activities.

9. Testing: I will test the (impact and friction) sensitivity of mixtures using the smallest practical amounts of the mixture. I will carefully note and avoid any mixtures that are unduly sensitive. I will test any motor design at least three times, by proper static test, before committing that motor to flight.

10. Motors: rocket motors will be constructed of materials properly selected and engineered. I will not use makeshift materials. Each rocket motor will be designed so that its failure mode is longitudinal, and testing of such motors will be performed in a vertical mode until the propellant has been properly characterized. Strength of the casing material itself will be a minimum of 1.5 times the maximum expected stress.

11. Waste: I will dispose of scrap material and flammable waste from my operations properly, by remote ignition, on a daily basis or more often. Scrap and waste will not be allowed to accumulate.

12. I will carry out any other procedures needed to minimize properly the hazard to myself, to others, and to my surroundings.