The 3 most dangerous and common accidents that workers using angle grinders may encounter in working sites

Angle grinder is a useful tool for construction work or DIY items at home. However it may also cause dangers and accidents if it is not carefully used by its handlers. Injuries and worse case, even deaths were recorded due to the misuse of angle grinders.

Although there are no official record of accidents and injuries caused by angle grinders in Hong Kong, the statistics from other countries can still show how dangerous an angle grinder can be. For instance, there were nearly 25,000 injuries while using this tool in United States in 2008. Two years later in Australia, 117 injuries with angle grinders, including 31 serious injuries were recorded and applied for compensation claims. Additionally, a man died due to accidentally cutting his leg with an angle grinder whilst working at home in the United States.

In order to prevent these injuries, you should know more about the causes of the accidents first. For angle grinders. There are three potentially dangerous situations for workers in construction job sites: burst disk, kickback and flying sparks while workers are using them at the construction sites, including burst disk, kickback and flying sparks:

1. High operational speeds, unguarded and oversized discs on angle grinders can increase the potential for disc bursting. When a disc bursts, fragments can fly outwards and injury the worker and anyone near him;

2. Whilst cutting or grinder, Angle grinders can kickback when it grabs or jams on the material. Kickbacks will cause the tool to accidentally hitting the worker;

3. A large amount of sparks is produced while using angle grinders. If there are flammable materials around the working environment, they may catch fire from the flying sparks creating a potential fire hazard.

What should you do next after understanding the causes of the accidents? The next to do is to check and choose the right metal cutting tools for the workers.

Stay tuned for the next articles about tips in choosing the right tools for the right jobs.