Adherence to health and safety rules, like the use of personal protective equipment, is primarily associated with professional work. Construction workers who are professionally engaged in carrying out various types of renovation and construction work should absolutely use helmets and protective clothing, protection when working at heights, or special equipment that guarantees the reduction of work risks. However, we often forget that the same rules should be applied during minor home repairs, even if we do them ourselves, without the help of specialists. How to take care of safe work at home?
The most important rules for safe work in home renovation
Home renovation work can be carried out without the use of specialized tools, the best example of which is painting walls, but even in seemingly safe situations it is worth taking appropriate precautions. According to occupational health and safety principles applied in a variety of work environments, not only should the direct risk of mechanical injury, falls or contact with hazardous chemicals be considered a hazard, but also the risk of dirt, scratches, tripping or damage to the workplace. A common-sense approach and the ability to anticipate the consequences of actions taken will therefore play a huge role. It's difficult to cut yourself with a paint brush or tape securing the doorframe, but it's much easier to fall off a ladder or stool (which should definitely not replace the former) and dislocate an ankle.
Consistent with the above definition, when preparing for a home renovation, it is worthwhile to determine the scope of the work to be done at the outset and prepare accordingly in terms of safety features and precautions to avoid danger during the work. Home do-it-yourselfers should familiarize themselves with the operating instructions for all the tools they use and use them not only in accordance with certain safety rules, but also with common sense - when driving nails, it is worth protecting your hands from accidental impact, even if the very act of operating a hammer seems childishly simple.
What protective accessories are worth using for home renovation?
The range of health and safety clothing and accessories available in our store is very wide, and many of the products will not be applicable in a home environment, but even home DIYers can ensure safer working conditions by reaching for the right accessories.
Among the health and safety products necessary for home renovation are certainly protective clothing and footwear. Made of sturdy, easy-to-clean materials, pants, shirts or sweatshirts will provide much more safety at work than old, tattered sweatpants without pockets for small tools or shoes that do not protect feet from injury. The worst mistake you can make when preparing for home renovation work is to neglect protective clothing - even if it's actually old work clothes, it's worth it to be practical and safe. Working in slippers, socks or sandals, short shorts and no shirt is a simple way to a higher risk of accidents.
One of the most important issues that is often forgotten when it comes to home renovation work is the need for proper hand protection. While even experienced renovation workers often forget about gloves, if you don't work with drills, cutting tools and or hammers on a daily basis, it's worth ensuring that your hands are properly protected from injury. Work gloves should, of course, be properly selected for the type of work performed, so that they allow a firm grip on the tools, protect against cuts when working with a saw or file, but also do not get wet in case of contact with water, plaster or various types of adhesives.
An interesting accessory useful during home renovation work are dust masks. This is another category that home DIYers often forget about, and one that has a significant impact on their health and safety. Inhaling dust created by cutting, sawing, sanding or smoothing surfaces can be very harmful to the health of the lungs and the entire respiratory system, and even the cheapest disposable mask can effectively protect against them.
Safe home renovation - when is it worth stocking up on health and safety accessories?
Simple renovation work often requires minimal effort, and it is not difficult to forget basic health and safety rules when doing it. However, simple accessories such as protective clothing, specialized gloves, earplugs, protective masks or even specialized tools can be extremely helpful during both small fixes and large home renovations, and it's not worth passing them by completely. It is worth remembering that, just as in the case of specialists performing renovations on a daily basis, the home DIYer embarking on simple renovation work creates his own safe workstation and should follow certain rules there.
Working at home, we define our own health and safety rules, and although additional accessories may often seem unnecessary, in practice they can protect against painful mistakes and injuries. So it is worth taking care to implement appropriate precautions even in a perfectly familiar home environment.
