5 Things To Keep In Mind For Safe Metalwork Handling

There are a lot of hazards in the workplace if you don’t have enough knowledge of the potential risk when you go about carelessly. It’s best that you prioritise safety all the time because every situation has a unique set of dangers, just like the ones that you get when you handle metalworks for a living.

This task requires that you observe proper safety precautions because given a metal’s hard and sharp nature, it can inflict some serious injuries when you’re just trying to do your job.

As such, if you want to handle metalworks safely - ensure that you keep these five things in mind to practice safe metalwork handling.

1. Keep an eye on your eyesight

While handling metal machinery, it is important to get protective equipment - especially for your eyes. Metal polishing can cause a rogue metal debris shooting straight to your eyeball which can seriously injure your eyes, or cause blindness in worse scenarios.

But protective equipment for your eyes is not limited to just goggles, because when you are bonding two pieces of metal together, you are posing a threat to your eyesight by exposing it to the brightness that welding machines omit. Hence, it is crucial to wear protective goggles or a welder’s helmet to protect your vision.

2. Wear a respirator or protective mask

Some metal treatments can contaminate the very air that you breathe in, and cause serious harm to your respiratory system. Heavy metal poisoning should especially be avoided due to its harmful health consequences,,

Hence, when handling metalworks that could possibly contaminate the surrounding air, make sure that you do it in a well-ventilated place. But even so, you should have a respirator or a mask over your nose and lips to make sure that you don’t breathe those harmful metal particles into your system.

3. Wear heavy-duty gloves

Sheet metals, given their thin profile, can easily cut through your flesh if you happen to glide your flesh across its sharp edges, regardless if you did it on purpose or by accident.

But that’s not all – sheet metals are also highly conductive to thermal energy and can easily burn your skin off if you handle it without checking if it has been exposed to an open flame or direct sunlight. That’s why it’s good practice that you always sport some heavy-duty gloves when you have to handle sheet metals (or any metal with sharp edges, for that matter).

4. See to it that metal machineries are well-maintained

Equipment that are engineered for various metalwork purposes are manufactured to function well. But if they are not maintained decently, they can sometimes malfunction, delivering results that it wasn’t meant to.

In a worse-case scenario, poorly maintained metal machineries can compromise your safety and cause serious injury. This should be avoided at all cost by ensuring proper maintenance is observed, and if repairs have to be done, it’s best to have it taken care of as soon as possible.

5. Equip yourself with appropriate knowledge

You don’t have to bear painful injuries to know that metalworks should be handled cautiously, and you can learn more about them by reading through various learning materials on safe metalwork handling.

Alternatively, if you’re not the reading type, you can book your slot with construction training on “Apply Workplace Safety and Health in Metalwork” offered by Wong Fong Academy (WFA), an educational institute based in Singapore that provides you with the necessary trainings to make sure that you are competent towards workplace safety, as well as equipped with competent skills to handle and deal with metalwork safely.

Metalwork handling is an arduous and hazardous duty without the proper safety precautions and protective equipment being worn. For a start, you can follow these above-mentioned steps to ensure safe metalwork handling.