Power Tools And Safety Power tools have mostly taken over from hand tools all over the world, because they permit people to get more work done in an alloted period of time. Power tools work far more quickly than hand tools and without the operative having to expend much energy having to turn a handle or push a saw. However, the increased productivity that power tools deliver comes at a price: 1] you need to pay for the electricity that drives the apparatus and 2] there is an increased risk to the operative's health and safety. The price of the electricity ought to be more than easily covered by the raised productivity, but health and safety is frequently overlooked until it is too late. Individuals seem to not realize the potential dangers of an inexperienced person using a power tool. For example, a slip with a hand saw, normally means an ugly joint, but a slip with a power saw can cost a finger; a miss while hammering a nail home can cost a bruised finger or an ugly dent, but a slip with a nail gun can be like having a bullet in the leg. This is why insurance businesses have made it crucial for businesses employing trades people to send their workers on health and safety courses. Claims from inexpert workers was becoming ludicrous as inexperienced trades people gave up their old hand tool in favour of the powered option. It caused a great deal of controversy in the Eighties and Nineties in the building industry among employers and employees alike to have to send people on courses about how to use power tools. In Britain, employers were not allowed to let a carpenter use a rotary saw, for example, unless he or she could prove that they had been taught to use one. Most individuals were of the opinion that the health and safety people had gone too far. But there were fewer accidents; less time off work due to injury and not so many claims against the insurance firms. There was huge resistance in our building company from employees, when we declared that nobody could sign out a power tool unless he/she had a valid safety certificate to confirm training in the use of that particular piece of equipment. We also had a joinery shop, where traditionally every carpenter could go to create anything he needed. Then this policy came in and just one carpenter out of forty was allowed to use the tools. All of a sudden there was a rush to get safety certificates. The new regulations had hurt people's pride. They thought that they were being told that they did not know their trade, but once they were disqualified from using power tools, they were made to look like inexperienced apprentices again. So there was a rush to get a certificate and power tool businesses would send a safety specialist to the workplace to train all the relevant employees in the use of their power tools free of charge and hand out certificates.
Then our company decided to get their ISO 9000 certificate and power tools had to be given certificates of inspection as well. So now we had to employ someone to look after the power tools. Just tradesmen with certificates of competence could sign out a power tool and a power tool could only be signed out if it had a certificate to prove that it had been passed 'safe for use' within the last two months. All power tools had to have a certificate of reliability attached to it, a set of safety rules and a pair of safety glasses. That covered the firm from accusations of negligence. That was 15-20 years ago in the building industry in the UK. I am not saying all this as a history lesson, but more to point out that individuals can go to a shop and buy or hire very hazardous power tools without having to prove competence. Contractors at work have to establish that they and the tools are up to the job, but the public does not. I am not in favour of another layer of bureaucracy, but I do want to make individuals aware of the risk of not knowing how to use power tools correctly and without even the most basic safety equipment. Never use power tools without safety glasses is the first rule. Shield your eyes from splinters and flying debris at all costs. A professional would, so so should you. Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of topics, and is now involved with RX Safety Glasses. If you want to know more, please visit our site at Safety Glasses Bifocal.