Top 5 Most Dangerous Tools,

[The Medway Handyman]

Just seen this on the Popular Mechanics site.

They reckon;

Circular Saw. Chain Saw. Table Saw. Nail Gun Ladder.

I'd agree with that lot & add our favourite - angle grinder,

[George]

Bored are you David? Anyway in answer to your question...tools are only dangerous in the wrong hands.

[SantaUK]

Drilling with a core drill without a clutch?

[Rod]

What meaning of most dangerous?

If most injuries, I'd put up a "knife", or, given my own recent experience, "saw" (thinking any ordinary handsaw). Past experience would probably include "hammer" (as in squashed nail time).

I think that the fear factor of the big, heavy, powerful power tools helps to encourage greater care - especially among people who use them less frequently.

Not that many years ago I'd probably have put up "bacon slicer" as a suggestion, but rules and regs seem to have been tightened up a lot.

[The Medway Handyman]

No, just putting off starting a job :-)

[The Medway Handyman]

As in "Do not let your children sit on the bacon slicer..."?

[Roger Mills]

Q: What happened to the worman who sat on a bacon slicer? A: Disaster! [as in dis-assed her]

Alternatively: She got a little behind with her orders!

Sorry!

[dom]

Dangerous by severity of injury or frequency of injury, or some combination of?

A stat an American friend quoted is that more people in the US are injured in chainsaws accidents than handgun accidents.

In the UK virtually all pro users have and wear the protective trousers, boots and headgear *all* the time - I'd expect the kickback and swing-through injuries to be rather slanted towards domestic accidents without the safety kit being used.

Also in the UK, I think we have to separate tool-related accidents into professional accidents (where the user has had training) and is working with tools not widely used by non-professionals - and those diy accidents with a heavy domestic slant - for instance professional electrical engineers and electricians very rarely get shocks.

Talking to a retired GP friend, he said eye injuries from grinders for sheer frequency - both pro and amateur - all too easy to skip the eye protection when only using a grinder "for a moment".

"Falls from height" I believe tops the Health & Safety Exec' list - but that includes "improvised ladders" - and the vast majority (90% IIRC) of falls in the workplace happen to people that don't normally use ladders as part of their job, and are improvising (probably chair

• box etc).

I think the reputation of table saws (& more so spindle moulders) are unjustified with modern safety features (and if following the rules of safe operation).

Nail guns I have great respect for, and I've still had my paslode send a 90mm nail flying through the air when it encountered a very hard knot hidden just beneath the surface.

[John Stumbles]

As in "Please do not sit on the bacon slicer as we are getting behind with our orders" !

[Rod]

Was I really the first person to mention bacon slicer in this thread? Sorry folks!

But as we are here....

Man walks in to a butchers and asks for a side of beef. As he waits for it to be prepared he inquires " Wheres that young lad that usually helps you out?" The butcher replies "I had to sack him" " why?" " He kept putting his dick in the bacon slicer!" " Really?" "Yeah" " that couldnt be good for your bacon slicer?" " Yeah i know, i had to sack her as well."

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd agree. Most saws are pretty safe if you use common sense - apart from chainsaws. Angle grinders have a mind of their own.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Table saws, spindle moulders, and chainsaws all look dangerous and sound dangerous.

the greatest risk is from things that seem innocuous, like grinders, and ladders.

Or even a carving knife.

I have cut myself more times than I care to mention on knives of one sort or another. Even on a sheet of paper!

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "The Medway Handyman" saying something like:

Big stick.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember John Stumbles saying something like:

My uncle was a butcher and stuck his todger in the bacon slicer. Until she got the boot.

[dom]

Agreed. Although I did have a link to an accident report, where a US woodworker, having mislaid his Stanley knife, attempted to cut monofilament fishing line using a running table saw.

I've also heard it said that when you no longer feel anything when you hear the noise of the table saw spinning-up - then you're ready for your accident.

But then that's part of the 3 classic groups of accident victims - inexperienced novice, complacent professional - and that other group "shouldn't be allowed near tools".

Of that website of woodworking machinery accident reports (which has been taken down unfortunately), 80% were the "shouldn't be allowed near tools" category, and 20% were the "bad luck, and could happen to almost anyone in a careless moment".

[Steve Walker]

Oooh - I thought it was just me that had a momentary chill when firing up big, nasty tools.

[Andy Burns]

I still remember the sound of the table saw from my school's woodwork room starting up, I only remember one pupil ever being allowed to use it.

[Stephen Howard]

Buffing machines. The 'Rotty' of power tools.

Regards,

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Steve Walker" saying something like:

Probably spouted by one of those home-spun philosphers the Yanks are so fond of.

I just get on with the job and I've always had a great deal of respect for big things that whirl, stamp, punch, etc. Nothing compared to Ma Nature, though.

[Unbeliever]

None of them are really dangerous in themselves - it's only when they are used by an untrained or careless operator that they become "dangerous".

BTW, a ladder is not a tool - it's a piece of access equipment and can neither harm nor injure - injury is only caused when an idiot falls off it (for any number of unsafe practices) and comes into contact with the ground.

Unbeliever