Hammers, screwdrivers, pliers: their injury risks are often underestimated and dismissed. The truth is that manual tools on our industrial worksites are dangerous. Consider this: a review of the data compiled by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for work injuries reported in the years 2015 to 2021 reveals that each year workers suffer injuries in 100,000 work accidents involving hand tools on the job. (And this total reflects only those injuries reported to the government.) Read, Arciniega-Rocha, R.P.; Erazo-Chamorro, V.C.; Szabo, G. The Prevention of Industrial Manual Tool Accidents Considering Occupational Health and Safety. Safety 2023, 9, 51 (Table 1).
As the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) explains, manual tools “…are often underrated as sources of potential danger. Hand tools may look harmless, but they are the cause of many injuries.” OSHA estimates that eight percent (8%) of all “workplace compensable injuries” are the result of hand tool accidents.
How Can Manual Tools Cause Harm? Hand Tool Injuries
As for the severity of the injuries suffered by an industrial worker from a manual tool accident, things can vary widely. Circumstances surrounding the accident itself as well as things like the speed with which medical treatment is provided make each work accident unique.
However, as a general rule, hand tool injuries where the tool is operated by a worker and not by an outside power source (i.e., a manual tool), involve:
Amputation
Any hand tool that has the ability to cut materials of any kind (plastic, wood, metal) has the propensity to sever a finger, hand, arm, toe, foot, etc. This includes manual tools like saws, chisels, or knives with their ability to slice or shear.
Blindness or Vision Loss
Any manual tool in operation opens up the opportunity for extraneous materials to fly into the work environment, endangering not only the eye of the worker using that hand tool but also others on the job nearby. Bits of flying wood chips from a hand saw on a construction site can cause blindness or vision loss, for example.
Cut or Puncture Injuries
Any hand tool with a blade has the ability to cut or puncture a worker with serious consequences. Even an ordinary utility knife used to open containers on the loading dock can cause severe bodily injury. According to the National Library of Medicine, cuts and punctures are not the same thing:
A cut is a break or opening in the skin. It is also called a laceration. A cut may be deep, smooth, or jagged. It may be near the surface of the skin, or deeper. A deep cut can affect tendons, muscles, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels, or bone.
A puncture is a wound made by a pointed object such as a nail, knife, or sharp tooth. Puncture wounds often appear to be on the surface but may extend into the deeper tissue layers.
Cuts and punctures can result in permanent harm to the body’s muscular or nervous systems, resulting in serious infections if not properly treated (like sepsis) or life-altering injuries like numbness or paralysis of one or more limbs.
Broken Bones
The greatest risk for a fracture or broken bone caused by a manual tool on the industrial jobsite involves a heavy manual tool left unattended that falls from a height and hits the worker victim, or slams into a worker after being thrown or tossed by someone. The weight of some wrenches, pliers, and obviously hammers, can cause serious fractures and even fatal injuries on the job.
Death
Manual tool accidents involving industrial workers can be deadly. When severe bodily harm is involved from things like blunt force trauma in a falling hand tool or a severe cut with significant blood loss or later infection, the worker can die from an injury caused by something as unremarkable and traditional as a hammer, sledgehammer, or knife on the worksite. For more, read Blunt Trauma Injuries in Industrial Work Accidents.
Keeping Workers Safe from Hand Tool Injuries on the Job
Workers in Illinois and Indiana have a legal right to be protected from harm as they work by duties established by law and placed upon their employers who sign their paychecks as well as others with possession, custody, or control of aspects of the jobsite. This includes those who design, manufacture, market, sell, distribute, or provide any manual tool to a worker at the workplace. Read, Who Is Responsible After Worker’s Power Tool Accident?
Additionally, there are established industrial standards that define safety protocols for various industries. While these do not have the force of a statute, they can be used by an injured worker to prove a breach in the duty of care that caused their work accident injury. One example here are the standards set up by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
Workers should expect things like:
Personal Protective Equipment
Proper personal protective equipment (PPE) for the manual tool and the task itself. This will include things like eye goggles, safety glasses, or face shields. See, 29 CFR 1915.153(a)(1) and industrial standard ANSI Z87.1. See, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Industrial Workers.
Hand Tool Housekeeping and Upkeep
Tools on the worksite must be repaired, maintained, or replaced as necessary before being made available to the worker. No worker should be allowed to work with a tool that is broken, warped, worn, dull, or otherwise damaged. Read, Workplace Housekeeping and Serious Accidents on the Job: Duty of Care.
Oversight of Defective Tools or Recalls
Moreover, the worker should never be allowed to work with a manual tool that is subject to recall. As for example, the April 2023 recall involving 2.2 Million DeWALT, Stanley FATMAX and Craftsman Fiberglass Sledgehammers for being an “impact injury hazard.”
Justice for Workers Hurt by Manual Tools on the Job in Hand Tool Accident
Hand tools powered only by the worker using them are widespread on all sorts of industrial worksites here in Illinois and Indiana. In fact, almost every industrial worker in our part of the country will reach for a hand tool at some point during their workday.
Metalworkers need things like hammers to shape hot metal. Electricians use pliers to cut wires. Demolition work on a construction site will require shovels and sledgehammers. And of course, carpenters’ toolboxes are filled with manual tools like cutting saws; claw hammers; knives; and chisels.
To learn more about hand tools in various industries, including their historical origins, read Hartenberg, Richard S. and McGeough, Joseph A. “hand tool”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Sep. 2023.
The size and power of a manual tool may be diminished when compared to larger, comparable tools with external power sources. A handsaw pales in comparison to the size and energy of a circular saw, for instance.
Nevertheless, there is a need for all those with the responsibility to keep workers safe from harm on the job to respect the unique injury risks that manual tools pose at any workplace. If these duties are breached and someone gets hurt, then they can be held responsible for what has happened.
For any worker victim and their loved ones who suffers a serious injury on the job in a manual tool accident, there are laws in place to provide them avenues for justice in the aftermath of that event. This includes workers’ compensation claims as well as possible causes of action against various parties who may have legal liability for what has transpired.
Damages may be available not only to the worker but to their family members that include medical expenses, lost wages, lost earning capacity, physical therapy and rehab costs, loss of consortium, and more.
For details, read:
- Work Accident in Illinois or Indiana: Workers Compensation Claim vs. Personal Injury Damages
- Wrongful Death Damages After Fatal Work Accidents in Illinois or Indiana
- Loss of Consortium Damages in Illinois or Indiana Work Accidents
- Loss of Earning Capacity Damages After Accident in Illinois or Indiana
- Catastrophic Injuries in an Accident: Damages for the Loss of a Normal Life.
Manual tools on an industrial worksite can cause severe injuries. Employers and other parties have legal duties to keep people safe from bodily injury in tool accidents on the job. Please be careful out there!
