The Power of Safety With Power Tools
When it comes to Do It Yourself type jobs around the house, power tools are both a blessing and a potential curse. The key point in that previous sentence is "potential", because there doesn't need to be a downside to them. The key is to know how to use them properly and to never let your guard down or get complacent of over confident while using them. If you don't focus and treat power tools with respect 100% of the time, you're just asking for trouble. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but eventually fate has a way of catching up with you. So why tempt fate? Just get familiar with your power tools and the right way to use them and keep a sharp eye and a sharp mind while using them and you can have a long lived love affair with your tools while also keeping all your fingers, toes and other appendages.
Let's take a look at a number of specific safety issues you should always keep in mind to keep you, and anyone working around you, safe.
1. Safety Goggles or Glasses - Your eyes deserve the highest degree of caution and protection when working with power tools or chemicals. After all, if you lose a finger, you have 9 more. If you lose an eye, you've lost HALF your vision! It's just not worth taking the risk. Make sure you get good quality safety glasses that properly cover your eyes to protect you from dust and debris, wood and metal shavings, fiberglass particles or chemical splashes.
2. Ear Protection - If you plan on doing a lot of work with power tools, you need to protect your ears. Power tools generate a lot of noise, and even though you might think it's not a big deal, continued exposure to such loud noises will eventually take its toll on your hearing. If you don't want to get the full on ear muffs, getting some simple, inexpensive ear plugs will be enough to protect you.
3. Know Your Tools - Know what your tools are designed to do, and know what kind of tool you need for the job at hand. If the two don't match, don't try to 'wing it' and make it work. Having the right tool for the right job makes things much easier all around. And while it's understandable that you might not have the perfect tool each time, trying to 'wing it' may well cost you more in time and aggravation than either getting the right tool (purchased, rented or borrowed), or doing the job manually (God forbid!) And of course the biggest danger when using a tool outside of its scope of work is that you may well put yourself in danger by doing so. So don't do it.
The three very basic safety guidelines outlined above are simple, yet if you make sure you follow them, you will have a much lower likelihood of finding yourself in the emergency room WISHING you had followed such simple steps. It may be a cliché, but clichés typically come about because they actually have a lot of merit behind their message. So don't forget this one: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
Let's take a look at a number of specific safety issues you should always keep in mind to keep you, and anyone working around you, safe.
1. Safety Goggles or Glasses - Your eyes deserve the highest degree of caution and protection when working with power tools or chemicals. After all, if you lose a finger, you have 9 more. If you lose an eye, you've lost HALF your vision! It's just not worth taking the risk. Make sure you get good quality safety glasses that properly cover your eyes to protect you from dust and debris, wood and metal shavings, fiberglass particles or chemical splashes.
2. Ear Protection - If you plan on doing a lot of work with power tools, you need to protect your ears. Power tools generate a lot of noise, and even though you might think it's not a big deal, continued exposure to such loud noises will eventually take its toll on your hearing. If you don't want to get the full on ear muffs, getting some simple, inexpensive ear plugs will be enough to protect you.
3. Know Your Tools - Know what your tools are designed to do, and know what kind of tool you need for the job at hand. If the two don't match, don't try to 'wing it' and make it work. Having the right tool for the right job makes things much easier all around. And while it's understandable that you might not have the perfect tool each time, trying to 'wing it' may well cost you more in time and aggravation than either getting the right tool (purchased, rented or borrowed), or doing the job manually (God forbid!) And of course the biggest danger when using a tool outside of its scope of work is that you may well put yourself in danger by doing so. So don't do it.
The three very basic safety guidelines outlined above are simple, yet if you make sure you follow them, you will have a much lower likelihood of finding yourself in the emergency room WISHING you had followed such simple steps. It may be a cliché, but clichés typically come about because they actually have a lot of merit behind their message. So don't forget this one: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
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