Because power tools are so common in construction, workers are constantly exposed to a variety of hazards. The very tool that makes their job easy and efficient may one day be the cause of a tragic accident. It is good to be reminded of good-sense safety practices.
Considering how often they are used at construction sites, powered hand tools cause relatively few hand injuries in the industry. In 2012, hand injury claims amounted to only about 4.5 percent of all injury claims accepted for the industry as a whole.
It should not come as too much of a surprise that saws, drills, and nail guns account for most of the injuries (67 percent). However, let’s take a look at the top 10 most dangerous portable power tools:
(Source: OR-OSHA)
The exposed moving parts of power tools need to be safe-guarded. Belts, gears, shafts, pulleys, sprockets, spindles, drums, flywheels, chains, or other reciprocating, rotating, or moving parts of equipment must be guarded.
Machine guards, as appropriate, must be provided to protect the operator and others from the following:
Safety guards must never be removed when a tool is being used.
Follow these rules when using circular saws:
Check out this short audio clip by Dan Clark of the theSafetyBrief.com talks about some innovative table saw technology.
See the video clip on this technology.
Protect your hair, scalp, and head. Pull back long hair in a band or a cap to keep it from getting caught in tools or moving parts. Be extremely careful with long hair when using a drill or drill press.
Power tools must be fitted with safety switches; they are extremely hazardous when used improperly. The types of power tools are determined by their power source: electric, pneumatic, liquid fuel, hydraulic, and powder-actuated.
The following hand-held power tools must be equipped with a constant-pressure switch or control that shuts off the power when pressure is released:
These tools also may be equipped with a “lock-on” control, if it allows the worker to also shut off the control in a single motion using the same finger or fingers.
The following hand-held power tools must be equipped with either a positive “on-off” control switch, a constant pressure switch or a “lock-on” control:
It is recommended that the constant-pressure control switch be regarded as the preferred device.
In construction, extension cords suffer a lot of wear and tear. Most often, the damage is only to the insulation, exposing energized conductors. When a person handling the damaged cord contacts the exposed wires while holding a metal tool case or contacting a conductive surface, serious electrical shock can result, causing a fall, physical injury, or death.
When a worker at a construction site inspects an extension cord and determines that it needs to be repaired, who can repair it?
Anyone who is qualified can do the repair. The worker does not have to be a licensed electrician to repair a typical extension cord. However, he or she must have the knowledge and skills to repair the cord correctly, understand the hazards involved in making the repair, and be able to describe what could happen if the repair is done wrong. The employer is responsible for determining if the person is qualified. The basis for the determination is normally from the electrical industry perspective. (Source: OR-OSHA)
The term "ground" refers to a conductive body, usually the earth. "Grounding" a tool or electrical system means intentionally creating a low-resistance path to the earth. When properly done, current from a short or from lightning follows this path, thus preventing the buildup of voltages that would otherwise result in electrical shock, injury and even death.
Under certain conditions, even a small amount of electric current can result in fibrillation of the heart and death. An electric shock also can cause the user to fall off a ladder or other elevated work surface and be injured due to the fall.
Three-wire cords contain two current-carrying conductors and a grounding conductor. Any time an adapter is used to accommodate a two-hole receptacle, the adapter wire must be attached to a known ground. To protect the worker from shock and burns at work, make sure electrical powered tools have a three-wire cord with a ground. To avoid hazards:
Since neither insulation nor grounding protects you from these conditions, use other protective measures. One acceptable method is a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI).
A ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), is a fast-acting circuit breaker designed to shut off electric power in the event of a ground-fault within as little as 1/40 of a second. It works by comparing the amount of current going to and returning from the equipment along the circuit conductors. When the amount going differs from the amount returning by approximately 5 milliamperes, the GFCI interrupts the current.
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