To avoid injury from hand tools that are involved in 6 percent of compensable work injuries:
- Make sure that the tool you intend to use is the right one for the job. Don’t use a wrench as a hammer, or, say, pliers as a wrench.
- Keep tools in good condition. Broken or worn wrenches with cracked or worn jaws or electric tools with broken plugs, for example, should be repaired or discarded.
- Follow safety guidelines.
- Ground all electrical tools and cut away from the body when using knives or cutting tools.
- Keep tools in a safe place.
- Many accidents occur when tools fall from overhead cabinets, and by sharp tools carried in pockets or left in toolboxes with the cutting edges exposed.