5 Woodshop Safety Tips To Reduce Injuries
The top priority you should have at all times is woodshop safety. These woodshop safety tips reduce woodworking hazards but still let you effectively work.
You’ve undoubtedly heard the stories of woodshop injuries, some even life-threatening.
There’s a lot going on when you’re working on a woodworking project and thus many ways you or your visitors can be injured in your shop.
Safety has to be a top priority if you want to be able to enjoy woodworking and creating amazing things out of wood for a long time.
Let’s have a look at the top 5 woodshop safety tips that you should implement.
Note: this is NOT a comprehensive list of all safety-related essentials you need to have. Later posts will cover power tool safety such as using guards and aids, as well as personal safety equipment you need to use.
Establish Woodshop Rules And Enforce Them
Having woodshop rules will help ensure that you and everyone that visits the shop know what is expected of them.
I’ve even seen these or similar woodshop safety rules posted on entry door(s) or on the workshop wall as a reminder to all visitors and the woodworker.
No distractions
No one should interrupt you when you are using power tools. Even just the act of coming into the woodshop can cause you to look away at the wrong time, so the rule could be: if you hear a power tool in use, wait until it stops before entering the woodshop.
Getting distracted when you are in the middle of ripping a wood board in half or running pieces through a planer is the last thing you want. The moment you lose your concentration on the task at hand is when something bad can happen.
This also applies to your furry friends. Pets don’t belong in a woodshop for your own safety. It’s also not good for them with the noise, dust and other hazards.
No food or drink in open containers
Even with good workshop dust collection and filtration, some dust will still be around. Some wood dust is especially toxic which you don’t want to have end up in something you’re drinking or eating.
It’s best to restrict your eating and drinking to outside the woodshop. Take a break and either go outside or into the house to have a snack or drink something.
But since you do need to stay hydrated especially during hot summers, get yourself a thermos with a lid or a sealed water bottle. Don’t use a standard travel mug, as most of those don’t have a cover over the entire top where you put your mouth to drink (only a cover over the hole).
An alternative would be to place your drink container or snack just outside the woodshop, so you can easily open a door and grab it.
Personal protective Equipment (PPE) At all Times
Everyone in your woodshop needs to have eye, ear and nose protection including yourself! Refuse to allow anyone to help you or be in the space if they are not properly protected.
Make sure of course to have a set of personal protection items for your visitors. Disposable earbuds of course are best as well as disposable liners for a dust mask. Get a couple of cheap pairs of safety googles or glasses as well.
If you are moving rough lumber around, wear sturdy gloves. For finishing your projects have a box of disposable latex, vinyl or nitrile gloves on hand and a proper mask with cartridges for the finish you’ll be using.
Or use a non-toxic finish such as Odie’s Oil.
No Impaired Woodworking
No one should be in your woodshop while impaired. No exceptions!
Combining being under the influence of alcohol, recreational drugs or over-the-counter drugs with power tools is dangerous. Your reactions times will be slower and it will impair your judgement and likely make you do dangerous things you normally wouldn’t do.
Being tired or sick is also dangerous for the same reasons mentioned above. While it may be tempting to spend a day in the workshop while at home sick with the flu, you’ll be home longer if you injure yourself.
No loose clothing, hair, jewelry
Loose clothing, neckties, long hair or dangling jewelry is a recipe for disaster. Getting any of these caught in a power tool will have disastrous results.
Clothing should be tucked in where possible. Avoid open jackets (zip them or button them up) and sweatshirts. Skin-hugging shirts or t-shirts and jackets are best.
Make sure long hair is tied up as you don’t want to get it caught in any equipment. Just google “hair caught in drill press” if you have a strong stomach! (I did while writing this article and regretted it)
Remove jewelry. I don’t even wear my watch or my wedding band in the woodshop, so they don’t get caught on something.
And don’t wear a tie or at least tuck it into your shirt so it’s out of the way. Yes, it sounds strange to be doing woodworking while wearing a tie, but there may be times when you want to do something quickly before heading to work or when you come home.
Have Enough Woodshop Lighting
You need to have adequate lighting. This will make sure that you can see everything you’re doing and that nothing will be hidden in the shadows.
What you can’t see, could hurt you very badly. Plus you need the lighting to check for flaws when sanding and finishing your work.
Nowadays it makes sense to invest in LED lighting to save on your electric bill and have bright consistent lighting. There are formulas for calculating how many fixtures you need. You can retrofit older fluorescent fixtures into LED quite easily.
I used these easy to mount, very bright fixtures in my garage workshop and it made a huge difference in brightening up the space so I can see everything more clearly. They also are plug and play. I just converted the existing garage light socket into an outlet and plugged them in.
Keep in mind local regulations a