Progressive Distributor - Who needs two thumbs anyway?

Who needs two thumbs anyway?

Horror stories about hand and power tool accidents point out the need for tool safety training. Savvy distributors step up to the plate and deliver.

by Richard Vurva

It must be a guy thing.

It sounds sexist, but it’s usually men who get off by telling horror stories about guys with missing thumbs, fingertips and other assorted body parts caused by hand and power tool accidents.

Tool accidents are no laughing matter, of course. But getting people to talk about co-workers they know or stories they’ve heard about on-the-job injuries is an effective way to get them thinking about hand and power tool safety. It’s also one of the techniques that trainers use during safety seminars.

“Basically, hand tool safety is about using the right tool for the job,” says Bob Servo, Midwest regional manager for Stanley Industrial, who helped put together Stanley’s “Give Safety a Hand” safety training program.

Mention safety to some workers and you’ll be met with a glassy-eyed stare. Listening to some geek rattle off safety procedures from a manual is about as exciting as being hit over the head with a hammer (Caution: Not recommended by tool manufacturers).

Servo has learned that one of the best ways to liven up a tool safety demonstration is to involve the audience in the demonstration.

“We’ll hold up a screwdriver with the tip broken off,” he explains. “Someone will talk about how a guy was using a screwdriver to pry something off, the screwdriver broke and he went flying backward and got four stitches in his head.”

Servo includes such stories in his safety demonstrations to illustrate a simple point. A screwdriver should be used for two things: Tightening screws and loosening screws. It’s not a pry bar, not a chisel.

“If you use humor, they remember stories of their own,” he says. “You want them to remember, so the next time they’re doing a job they stop and think, maybe I should get the right tool.”

Tool tales
Here are real examples from end-users who were injured because they used the wrong tool for the job, acted carelessly or (in some cases) were downright dumb. Including examples like these in a safety presentation can help get the attention of your audience.

Sean: “A friend of mine became complacent while sawing plywood on his table saw. He sawed his left thumb off. He was able to have it reattached, but he has severe nerve damage. At least he can still hitchhike home if he has to, though.”

Blair: “Here’s my entry into the ‘dummy me’ sweepstakes. Building the base for a crate at work, I knelt down to pick up an air-powered nail gun. I had the bad habit of always picking it up with the trigger on. It slipped out of my hand, hit my leg and POW! A 2.5-inch screw-shank nail right in my thigh. Fortunately, it missed the bone, so I was able to twist it out.”

Jason: “One time my Dad was working on his tractor, fixing his front-end loader. He cut off the head of a 1-inch bolt and then crawled under the tractor to get to the next one. He forgot about the red-hot bolt head on the floor and laid his arm on it. Now, he has a permanent 1-inch hexagon ‘tattoo’ on his left shoulder.”

Bill: “There isn’t a day goes by that someone on the crew doesn’t tell of some accident. My own recent goof-up cost me the end of two fingers while I was trying to open a section of an aircraft hangar door that slides to the side. My ungloved hand and fingers became caught in the opening mechanism and took the end of the thumb and the pointer finger off. It didn’t hurt until I looked at it in the sunlight and air. Ooooh, lots of blood. I recommend using gloves at all times.”

Mark: “I was working in a plant where safety glasses were optional. Luckily, I had mine on when I got hit in the face by a 5-foot piece of 1 1/2-inch black iron pipe that was ejected from a machine. My wire frame glasses saved my eye. The glasses were destroyed and my nose was broken in two places. I got a nasty cut across my face, but I can still see, thanks to the glasses.”

Accept no substitutes
Effective safety presentations reveal unsafe practices. One of the most common is when workers use the wrong tool for the job.

Ian Parkhill, president of the North American subsidiary of German tool manufacturer Wera Tools, says an effective way to demonstrate the need to use the right tool is to show what can happen when the wrong tool is used.

“As an example, we’ll show them one of our insulated tools for electric work and then show them a standard screwdriver that happened to get too close to a live wire,” he says.

It’s not a pretty sight.

“There are a lot of graphic presentations you can use to make the presentation more interesting,” Parkhill says.

It also leads to increased sales.

Following one Stanley safety presentation, a plant manager accompanied Servo around the plant inspecting workers’ tool boxes for tools that needed to be replaced.

“In one instance, a guy had an adjustable wrench where he had welded a ballpeen hammer on one end and two screwdriver shafts hinged to the sides. He built himself a four-in-one tool,” Servo says.

The plant manager ordered him to throw out the old tool and buy a new hammer, adjustable wrench and some screwdrivers.

Cut out the shortcuts
Another cause of accidents is when workers take shortcuts, like removing or disengaging safety guards on power tools, according to Stan Rodriguez of Makita U.S.A.

“A lot of guys will take a nail and jam it in to keep the guard on a circular saw open,” he says.

“It just comes down to taking a little extra time. The reason guards aren’t in place is because it would take a little more time. The reason material isn’t secured is because it would take a little more time. Just slow down a little bit and take the extra steps so you’ll be around to do the same job tomorrow.”

Can’t get end-users to listen to you preach about safety? Remind them about the story of the man with the missing thumb. Think how long it takes him to get the job done.

“If you can get that point across,” Rodriguez says, “you’ve done a lot.”