Most Common Metalworking Injuries

Metalworking is a hazardous profession that requires safety precautions and training. Workers deal with sharp materials and complex machinery every day.

Metalworkers must operate metal fabrication shop machines with careful techniques to avoid the most common metalworking injuries. Proper routine and PPE are essential to navigating this career successfully and safely.

Wounds from Project Materials

Workers use hazardous products so frequently that material handling injuries are among the most common in metalworking. Because many fabrication materials require employee contact, it is not uncommon for metalworkers to experience an injury from large metals.

Hand Abrasions

Fabricators, assemblers, welders, and machine shop workers handle sharp products routinely, and their hands are often the most vulnerable to injury. Without essential work gear, employees’ hands become much more susceptible to cuts and abrasions. The severity of a sheet metal gash ranges from minor to ghastly and depends on the equipment worn at the time of injury, if any.

Most metalworking facilities require all employees to wear personal protective equipment. Wearing high-quality gloves can safeguard employees’ hands against lesions.

Eye Injuries

Eye injuries are among the most preventable injuries that occur in metalworking facilities, and yet they continue to be common. Metal debris, sparks, dust, and other fragments can injure unprotected eyes.

A durable pair of goggles protect metalworkers’ eyes and prevent injury-related loss of sight. There are several goggle types, each catering to a particular environment. Select a pair of goggles that are optimal for your shop’s most common eye hazards, whether they are chemicals or metal fragments.

Burns

Metal is highly conductive, so it gets hot quickly. Metalworkers are likely to encounter hot metals numerous times throughout their career. Their likelihood of injury depends on how carefully they handle these metals.

Nevertheless, burns are all too common in metalworking environments. Burns are another type of injury that emphasizes the importance of gloves for fabrication workers.