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 about electrical work. In most cases you will need to get a licensed electrician to run new circuits if your existing space doesn’t have enough to tap into.

You may also want to consider having emergency lighting if your space doesn’t have any windows or you are working at night. Then when the power goes out you can grab the portable light that automatically comes on during a power outage. Then find your way to the exit without tripping over something.

Keep A Tidy Woodshop

The last thing you want is to trip over something or slip on a patch of sawdust. Working with wood is inherently messy and keeping on top of the mess is crucial. 

Sawdust

You should invest in an good dust control system. Even if it is just a shop vacuum that you move between tools as you use them.

Regularly sweep your floor as well, either with a broom or a shop vacuum. 

wood scraps

Keep wood scraps off the floor, so that no one will trip or step on them. You need to have a scrap box close to your saws that you can toss offcuts into easily. And have a wood storage system for those scraps that you are keeping.

If you’re wondering what to do with all the sawdust and scrap wood, be sure to check out: wood-scraps-and-sawdust/”>8 Great Ways You Can Reuse wood Scraps and Sawdust

Oily rags

Dispose of oily rags from finishes properly to avoid spontaneous combustion.

Your woodshop is filled with lots of combustable products such as wood and finishes and an oily rag can start a fire in no time.

tools

Put away tools on a pegboard or other storage system to keep them organized.

Promptly pick up any dropped tools as stepping on them can be a trip hazard.

Electrical cords

Also be careful of electrical cords, especially extension cords on the floor.

You may want to consider hanging them from the ceiling, dropping down to your power tools. You might consider getting a handy hanging reel with a long extension cord.

Proper Storage For Materials and tools

A good way to ensure you have an accident-free woodworking day is to store everything in your woodshop properly. This goes in hand with the tip above about having a tidy shop.

It also will improve your efficiency in finding things.

Heavy Items

Make sure to store heavy materials and tools close to the floor. This avoids having them fall in case of an earthquake or when you are trying to take them down. You also avoid reach issues that could damage your back.

Lumber racks

Store long pieces of wood on a lumber rack, either built by yourself or one of the many commercially available lumber rack systems.

Ensure that lumber racks are tilted towards the wall so that lumber doesn’t topple off or add some type of stop at the front edges of the rack to avoid having materials fall off.

Combustible materials

Store all combustible and explosive finishes in a proper fire-proof cabinet or consider getting rid of these combustible materials and using water-based finishes, etc. instead.

While you are at it, you may find you have old cans of paint and finishes that you don’t need anymore. Bring these to your municipal hazardous materials drop-off location for proper disposal.

Your tools

Ensure that your most frequently used tools and materials are within arms reach to avoid needing to use ladders or stepstools.

Arrange the sharp tools so that you don’t cut yourself while reaching for other tools. Ideally all sharp tools should either have individual blade guards or be put in a rack (which you can easily make yourself) that covers the sharp edges.

Be Well-equipped For Emergencies

Injuries may still happen, even minor ones such as getting a splinter in your hand or speck of sawdust in your eye.

First Aid Kit

Have a well-stocked first aid kit at the ready in the workshop.

And learn how to use it: take a first aid course so you know what to do in an emergency.

Emergency phone

Make sure you have a phone in your woodshop, whether it be an extension landline phone or your cellphone.

Have numbers for emergency services (usually 911 in North America), poison control centre and other important numbers such as electrician, power utility and plumber handy.

However turn the ringer off on your phone (either landline or cellphone) to avoid distractions.

Fire extinguisher

There are lots of opportunities for a fire to break out in your woodshop. Mix highly flammable sawdust and wood scraps with combustible wood finishes and brush cleaners and sparks from power tools and you have the makings of a fire or even explosion.

The above mentioned advice to keep a clean woodshop will help but you also need to be prepared for the unexpected fire breaking out.

So have a fire extinguisher next to the major exits of the shop so you can grab one while heading towards the door.

Obviously if the fire is already out-of-control and the extinguisher is not enough to control the fire, leave and call the fire department.

Also ensure there are two ways out of your woodshop – even if it is a window. Usually woodshops are located at ground level so crawling out of a window shouldn’t be an issue. Just make sure any exits are well maintained and free of any obstacles blocking them.

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Woodshop safety is achievable with some simple steps to make the working environment safer.

The proper habits combined with proper safety gear will also help to increase safety without compromising your ability to create woodcrafts you can be proud of!