Tools Do Not Suffer Fools Gladly
One day a few summers ago, my friend Ollie was prowling around his yard on a lawn tractor when he became distracted while attempting to back up. Problem is, the machine wasn’t in reverse. After a head-on collision with some innocent lawn furniture, the tractor came to rest on top of Ollie. Although his pride ended up in intensive care, Ollie wasn’t injured.
He’s a lucky guy. Last year about 90,000 Americans landed in the hospital due to accidents involving lawn mowers and other gardening equipment, according to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Danger also lies elsewhere in the toolshed. Each year, nearly 84,000 do-it-yourselfers cut themselves with power saws. And roughly 42,000 hammer-wielding Americans whack a body part hard enough to end up in an ER. These numbers add up to a simmering male health problem. After all, we’re usually the ones who insist on rolling up our sleeves when chores and home projects involve whacking and cutting things.
But tool-related accidents rarely occur because the head flies off a hammer or a blade comes loose, says electrical engineer John Drengenberg, manager of consumer affairs for Underwriters Laboratories, the nonprofit company that tests and sets safety standards for tools, appliances and other consumer products. By Drengenberg’s estimate, 98% of these mishaps occur because of human error.
Some basic mistakes we make when doing home repairs and lawn maintenance are obvious, such as failing to wear goggles and other protective gear or forgetting to attach a safety guard when using a tool with a sharp blade. But tool-time calamities often occur simply because a guy does not give the job at hand his full attention.
“The most important piece of safety equipment is your mind,” says Steve Thomas, co-host of PBS’ hit home-improvement show “This Old House.” “Whenever you pick up a tool, you should strive for and achieve a Zen-like concentration.” Thomas holds up his co-host, Norm Abrams, as a model of focus. “When Norm is in the workshop, the guy is a Zen master. As a result, he has all his fingers.”
In other words, trying to replace a dimmer switch between innings of the ballgame while balancing your checkbook and talking on the cell phone is a recipe for trouble.
Haste is a related problem, says Drengenberg. Rushing while you trim the hedges or clean the gutters so you can take the kids to soccer practice or hit the links can have disastrous results. Some men, in particular, are burdened with an unhealthy sense of overconfidence when it comes to using tools, notes Drengenberg. If you’ve seen one circular saw, you’ve seen ‘em all, right? Wrong. The safety tips featured in all manuals include information that can help keep your limbs intact. What’s more, Drengenberg adds, he frequently hears men say that they want every safety enhancement imaginable--for products their wives and kids might use. “But then they’ll say, ‘I don’t need any of that for my tools,’” he says.
Some weekend handymen take this indifference toward safety a step further, by altering protective features to make the equipment more convenient--and more dangerous. Scott Wolfson, spokesman for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, says it’s not uncommon for a consumer to buy a power tool, then shave down the third prong on its plug so the device can be run on an old-fashioned electrical outlet. To them, Wolfson offers a statistic: Each year, about 30 Americans are electrocuted while using power tools.
“You need to upgrade the outlet, not downgrade the tool,” says Wolfson. Any time you plug in a power tool, it should be to an outlet equipped with a ground fault circuit interrupter, which protects against electricity leaks. (You can buy a portable circuit interrupter at most hardware stores.)
Too bad there isn’t a device that prevents leaks in concentration while working with tools. As for Ollie, he now has to pay a guy to cut his grass--his wife forbids him to use lawn-care equipment.
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Massachusetts freelance writer Timothy Gower can be reached at tgower@attbi.com. The Healthy Man runs the second Monday of the month.
