Safety risks can come up in connection to non-powered tools too
It is pretty well-known that safety is an important thing to pay attention to when it comes to the use of power tools in the workplace. However, a tool doesn’t have to be powered to pose safety concerns. Work injury risks can also arise in connection to conventional hand tools.
Some examples of things that could potentially lead to hand-tool-related injuries in the workplace, such as musculoskeletal problems, include:
- A tool being used for a purpose it wasn’t intended for.
- A tool being hard to grip.
- A worker having to take a weird position or put a part of their body in an awkward position to use a given tool for the task at hand.
- A tool having sharp edges or other potential hazards near the area where it is gripped.
- A tool not being a particularity good fit for the worker using it.
In a workplace, selecting the right hand tool for the task to be performed can help with reducing the chances of these sorts of risks being present, and thus can have a significant accident prevention value. So, careful selection when it comes to hand tool use can be a very important safety step in industries where tool use is a part of business operations.
As this illustrates, safety risks can come up in relation to all manner of different things in the workplace and there are all kinds of different ways injuries in the workplace can end up happening. When workers are injured in connection to tool use or some other aspect of their job, experienced workers’ comp attorneys can help them in their pursuit of fair and appropriate workers’ comp benefits.
Source: Safety+Health, “Non-powered hand tools,” Feb. 1, 2012