How to stay safe when doing DIY

Collaborative Post | The UK has always had a do-it-yourself streak, but in recent years DIY activities appear to have boomed significantly. Between younger generations discovering new hobbies, older millennials finding their way onto the property ladder at long last, and the coronavirus pandemic causing more people to fight boredom at home, DIY has become a hugely popular activity once again.

But with the increase in DIY activity, so too have DIY-related accidents and injuries increased. According to recent NHS statistics, there were more than 8,000 DIY-related hospital visits in 2020-21, a marked increase from previous years. If you’re fancying yourself as a bit of a home handyman and looking forward to picking up tools for the first time – whether to repair your home or prepare it for sale – what should you be doing to keep yourself safe

Personal Protective Equipment

First and foremost, you should ensure you have the right safety equipment for the work you’re planning to undertake – specifically, in the form of personal protective equipment or PPE. Items of PPE are considered a last-resort item in professional workplaces and construction sites, being the final intervention between a dangerous activity and the person carrying it out. As such, they are essential for keeping you safe.

If you’re going to be doing a lot of sawing and drilling, you should be wearing safety goggles to protect your eyes from debris, and gloves to protect your hands from splinters and sharp objects. Steel toe-capped boots are great for protecting your feet from dropped, heavy objects; general workwear such as overalls and boiler suits can keep your body safe from contact injuries with hot items or irritant materials

Following instructions and advice

If you’re new to a specific task or endeavour, you should make sure you’re following instructions and advice to a tee as you progress. You can hire a consultant to give you DIY tips and advice for the path forward, while manufacturer instructions can enable you to use new and complex tools with ease.

Of course, some mistakes and accidents are unavoidable – whether due to improper advice relating to a specific part of your home, or a faulty tool malfunctioning during use and causing injury. In cases such as these, though, you may have a strong case for a personal injury claim against the manufacturer or consultant in question.

First Aid Kit

With the knowledge that accidents can happen, and that some DIY risks are difficult to mitigate, you should make sure you have the right equipment for handling minor injuries close at hand. Building a small first aid kit is a simple and easy task; include bandages, plasters, antiseptic cream for small wounds and saline eye wash in the event of irritants entering your eye. In many cases, these can help prevent a small injury resulting in a hospital visit!


​Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post