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Using Hand Tools Safely
For tool retailers it is worth making sure their customers are aware of all the issues concerned with using hand tools. If a customer has a bad experience with a tool, even if the fault is their own, they may not return again. However using leaflets, posters and just talking to them about safety will not only help to keep them happy but may also lead to additional sales, instead of buying just one tool to do several jobs they may see the sense of buying the precise tool for each job.
Golden Rules
Some hand tools are so ubiquitous that we barely think of them as tools at all, the simple screwdriver kept in a kitchen draw for changing plugs would be one example, because of this there is a tendancy to use these simple tools for virtually any job that comes up, regardless of its suitability. Put simply there are four rules for safety with hand tools: use the correct tool for the job; be sure it is in a safe condition; use it safely; store it safely. It is in these areas that the retailer can help the consumer.
Painful Possibilities
The types of injury that hand tools can cause are frighteningly varied, mainly because unlike many large power tools the way the tool is used and handled plays the largest part in causing any mishap - essentially the damage they can do is limited only by the ingenuity, or stupidity of the user.
One estimate is that hand tool mishaps cause one in twelve compensatable workplace accidents.
Typical injuries include: puncturing yourself when your hand slips on a loose handle; using a dull knife, or the incorrect cutting tool for a job, slipping and slicing through fingers; Using the wrong hammer for a job and cracking fingers; or trying to use a misfitting spanner and bruising knuckles; failing to wear eye protection when using tools that create flying debris, which can result in all kinds of eye injuries, including blindness.
Getting It Right
It is easy to dismiss these kinds of accidents as only happening to the stupid or the unlucky, but we all have days when we are a little stupid or a little unlucky. The real shame is that it just takes a little simple logic to avoid these accidents. The first step is to ask three simple questions:
1. Is the tool in good condition?
2. Do you really know how the tool should be used?
3. Is it really the correct tool for the job?
Worn tools are a major hazard, and being aware of the correct maintenance can save a lot of problems, sharp, clean, well oiled tools will always work better and cause fewer accidents. A chisel that has not been kept sharp can splinter and send shards of broken metal flying, causing cuts and getting into the eyes, and of course if it is not kept sharp it will not cut well and could easily slip. In this example the retailer can benefit by making sure the customer knows about maintaining the chisel, maybe they need to buy a whet stone as well?
Making Choices
The most obvious role the retailer plays in ensuring hand tool safety is helping the customer get the right, and best, tool for the job.
Important factors that aren’t always taken into account include making sure the balance of the tool and the size of the handle suit the user.
Ergonomics experts make several recommendations to hand tool designers which are worth taking into account when looking at new tools. They include offering tools in multiple sizes, where possible making sure they can be used with both hands at once, that they have ambidextrous handles and that the handles are bent to ensure the wrist can be kept straight. They also recommend that handles should be four to five inches long, plus a little more if they are commonly used by glove wearers and the handle shape should be circular or oval. The handle should be made of good non-porous and non-slip material which is slightly compressible for grip as well as having texture for the same reason. Not all tools will have all these features and they may not all be crucial for every job or every user. The more time someone spends doing a particular task the more important they become, a workman doing a particular sort of task all day will find that if the handle doesn’t fit his hand properly, or the tool isn’t as sharp as it could be, or a number of other factors, they will feel the strain and it could possibly end up in a serious injury or strain that could stop them from working at all.
A Little Extra
Even with the best tool, brand new and unused there is room for extra safety. Having the correct provision for storing tools and making sure they are kept in the right place is a major way of improving safety. If a tool packed away it can’t cause a cut, trip, or fall on anyone, and of course tool storage is an additional sale for the retailer.
Personal protective equipment is another worthwhile add on, and it is well worth a retailer’s while making sure the customer has considered buying gloves/goggles/shoes to go with their new tools, and in terms of safety it is more than worthwhile for the customer.
Clearly this is just a simple summing up, the subject of hand tool safety has as many complications as there are types of hand tool. What this proves is just how easy it is to take the whole subject for granted, now there are power tools for so many jobs it is important not to forget how beneficial using hand tools can be, especially when using them safely.
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Airstream Communications