Tools - Handheld Equipment

Mechanical hand held equipment (including hand-held power tools) can cause serious injuries, including sprains and strains, open wounds, fractures and amputations. Some injuries can result in death.

The most common mechanical equipment injuries are to hands and fingers, which may be cut, sprained, dislocated, broken, crushed or severed by machinery or tools. A large number of eye injuries are due to mechanical equipment.

Key Success Factors

In managing workplace safety when operating handheld tools, remember the following:

• Guards are attached to mechanical equipment and must be used to protect you from the moving parts of machines. Machine guards must never be removed by the operator, and if a guard is damaged or missing, the machine must be taken out of service until it can be repaired or replaced. 
• Locking Out of equipment is one way of preventing machinery or electrical current becoming operational during maintenance. A lock is attached to the machine switch so that it can't be turned on.
• "DANGER" tags are used to tag out – prevent further use of the equipment and warn other workers about hazards associated with. The unsafe state of the equipment. It cannot be re-commissioned until the repairs have been initiated and signed off as safe to use either by a qualified person or the person who tagged out the equipment.
• "OUT OF SERVICE" tags determine that the equipment can no longer be operated until it is repaired. Out of Service Tags are used as a preventive measure.

Typical Hazards

Typical hazards associated with using hand held equipment includes:

• Movement of materials being handled when operating equipment
• Hot parts – moving parts generating heat
• Fire and explosion – gas, vapours, damaged cables
• Electricity – water near power, damaged cables
• Slips, trips and falls – poor housekeeping 
• Manual handling – awkward posture, heavy objects
• Noise – motors, shearing sounds