18 Hacks To Garden Safely


, 18 Hacks To Garden Safely

Gardening can be a wonderful pastime, a chance to promote regular exercise, as well as a way to enhance your house and neighborhood, all while growing delicious and healthful fruits and veggies for you and your household.

Whether you are a newbie or an experienced landscaper, your safety and security should always come first.

While gardening or is a stress-free and generally safe pastime, some safety measures must be taken to ensure your wellbeing especially if you have health concerns such as allergic reactions or are an older adult with limited mobility along with arthritis or spinal problems. As per the centers for disease control and prevention, over 200 landscape service workers die each year due to workplace related injuries. The fatality rate per 100,000 workers in the landscaping industry is 25.1 compared to 3.8 for all industries. When viewed by occupation, fatality rates per 100,000 workers are as follows:  

Fatality rates per 100,000 workers

Occupation

Fatality rates per 100,000 workers

Tree trimmer/pruners

179.9

Pesticide handlers

15.4

Landscaping/grounds keeping workers

10.1

Other Occupations

3.8

Tree trimmers and pruners have the highest fatality rate (179.9) because this task has many safety hazards. When handling pesticides in the garden caution has to be taken so as to reduce the fatality rates that are 15.4 per 100,000 workers.

 Now more than ever we want to know what we shall do to keep ourselves during gardening. I have crafted that comprehensive list based on my extensive experience built since my childhood.

  • Warm up before starting gardening

Before you begin gardening, it’s a good idea to warm up. As you may already know, gardening involves a lot of physical exertion, and you must warm up before engaging in intense tasks such as digging. Before starting I like to take a couple of minutes to walk about my yard and stretch.

  • Avoid lengthy tasks if you have postural ailments

 Avoid lengthy tasks, such as trimming, excavating, digging, or anything else, especially for the elderly and those with postural ailments such as arthritis tendinitis, or spine problems.

  • Take breaks regularly

Moreover, you need to take a break occasionally to replenish your strength. I have installed a comfortable chair in my yard with a cooler filled with cold beverages.

  • Kneel rather than bend your spine if you have joint or back issues

One suggestion for individuals with joint pain and back issues is to kneel rather than bend their spines. This reduces pressure on the back. Consider using knee protectors for further comfort and I like using this one….

  • Use a ratchet action pruner to trim

Another suggestion for individuals with wrist problems is to trim using a ratchet action pruner. It is built specifically for trimming with minimum effort.

  • Don’t lift large objects on your own

Unless you are comfortable lifting big objects, such as large containers, avoid lifting them. If your abdomen or back is fragile, this may result in back problems and even hernias. You may try to circumvent this step using a neat method whereby you place heavy things on a big cloth and dragging it along to move some weighty garden equipment. But even when I use this technique, I make sure I keep my back straight when pulling the cloth.

  • Get enough hydration

Safeguard yourself from the sun, particularly in the summer months, to prevent heat exhaustion and sunstroke. Occasionally, if you are too busy in your work, you might not remember to stay properly hydrated.  Maintain an adequate water intake because your health should always come first. Back to my comfortable chair and cooler.

  • Cover your bare skin with protective clothing and landscaping gloves

It will guard you from allergies or poisonous plant saps and fluids, especially while pruning the branches. Use gardening gloves or any other kind of glove that protects your hands. Additionally, dependent on your job, protective gear with full sleeves may be beneficial to shield you from bugs, vermin, and chemicals, as well as from the sun if your skin is hypersensitive.

To broaden your knowledge and find the best pairs of gloves for you, I recommend you read the article I wrote about gardening gloves here.

  • Wear protective eyewear and boots or footwear

You may also utilize extra protection gear such as protective eyewear, boots or footwear, and so forth. Prevent sunburns by using sun block or protective clothes, especially if you have reactive skin.

Check my articles on protective boots and eyewear to know what is my personal choice.

  • Apply insect repellent lotions

Apply insect repellent lotions if your garden is infested with insects or bugs, which may transmit mosquito bite fever, and as we all know, insects can transmit a variety of illnesses. Additionally, try including mosquito and insect repelling plants in your yard.

  • Use the proper gardening tools instead of your bare hands

Instead of digging or raking with your hand, use a hand shovel or rake. You may be harmed by sharp items and other rubbish hidden in the earth. I usually use the Tabor Tools J16A Telescopic Metal Rake

  • Use sharpened and power tools with caution and care

To avoid injury, use equipment such as trimmers, garden shears, and blades with care. Additionally, if you’re working with power tools, take care to prevent electrocution and accidents.

  • Hide dangerous products and tools from children

Leave pesticides, chemicals, chain saws, and other potentially dangerous items out of reach of young children. When I was a child, I never knew where my father kept those.

  • Take precautions against illnesses and hazardous chemicals.

Never use your hands to clean your face or eyes while being in the garden. There is a possibility of transmitting a poisonous chemical or perhaps a pathogenic organism to your skin, lips, or even eyes. If you have done this by accident, quickly and properly cleanse your face or the afflicted area with water.

  • Keep waste away from windows and living spaces

Waste and other odorous materials should be kept away from windows and living spaces. Utilize a closed compost bin instead.

  • No gardening during rain, drizzles, and thunderstorm

Resist garden work during times of very brief rain, mild drizzles, and thunderstorms, since the allergen content on the surface, such as pollen grains as well as other pathogens, is extremely strong at these times. Particularly avoid carrying your child during this time if your child suffers from allergic asthma or any comparable condition.

  • Wear a face mask.

While applying a pesticide, either organic or synthetic, use protective clothes and a face mask. If you lack a mask, at the very least put a handkerchief or rag over your mouth and nose. I would recommend you to use

  • Carefully wash yourself after gardening

After you’ve finished gardening, carefully ash all exposed areas before approaching your living space. Wash thoroughly if you have touched the potting mix with your bare hands and between your toes and beneath your nail beds.

How to Make Your Garden Safer

Accidents may occur in your garden for a variety of reasons. Occasionally, individuals take shortcuts, and there may be a shortage of training or knowledge necessary to do the task securely. Inadequate awareness of possible hazards, a need for planning and preparation, and, naturally, poor luck, such as being in the wrong location at the wrong time, are all contributing reasons to gardening accidents.

If you wish to avoid similar incidents and make your yard safer, following those 13 vital recommendations for your garden may help:

  1. Create a garden that requires minimal attention and labor.
  2. Minimize tripping hazards including loose pavement slabs, unraveling hosepipes, and uneven terrain.
  3. Utilize surfaces that offer a secure footing.
  4. Avoid going into the garden, if possible, when the weather is icy and slippery.
  5. Make a point of avoiding leaving sharp instruments lying about. Keep them out of reach of youngsters.
  6. After youngsters are done playing in them, drain your swimming pool.
  7. Determine which plants are toxic and keep children and pets away from them.
  8. Don’t ever use electrical equipment in adverse conditions.
  9. To avoid electric shocks, utilize a residual current device. Whenever a cable or flex is severed, it interrupts the flow of power.
  10. Keep substances such as fertilizers and insecticides locked away. Simply because something is labeled organic does not guarantee safety for children to touch.
  11. When operating machinery, always use protective gear such as masks, hard helmets, gloves, and steel toe-capped footwear. Tuck away loose clothes.
  12. Don’t ever leave a grill unattended, and always ensure that the flames are quenched before retiring for the night.
  13. If you have the slightest doubt about the safety of doing a task, contact experts.


Avoid Gardening Hazards Hours spent bending over watering plants or lugging large sacks of mulch and other gardening supplies may strain your back or cause spinal injury. Try to use a mobile garden or kneeling stool to avoid back issues. When working near to the ground, this may help protect your back, knees, and joints.

Purchase a wheelbarrow to assist you in transporting heavy items about the garden. If you need assistance loading large items into your wheelbarrow, get assistance; alternatively, split the weight into fewer, more manageable components. Load hefty items properly. For instance, bending your knees prior to lifting something heavy is a nice idea.

When you’re having fun gardening, it’s extremely simple to overstretch oneself. This may result in severe muscular and back discomfort in the future. Every once in a while, doctors suggest standing up to stretch. Have some water, get rest, and allow your muscles to recuperate.

Wear shoes with grip, that fit snugly on your feet, and that provide cushioning and ankle support. If the ground is slick, wearing flip flops or walking barefoot may result in a severe fall that may result in back injury.

Blisters and heat fatigue should be avoided. Sun exposure for an extended period of time is detrimental to your skin. Protect sensitive regions such as the back of the neck or the face. If you are not cautious, the heat may also induce sickness and heat stroke.

Before venturing out for gardening, apply sunscreen, ideally SPF 30+. When working, you may perspire out the sunscreen, so refresh every two hours. Provide sufficient protection for your skin. If you want to plant for a prolonged time, wear a hat, a long-sleeved shirt, and sunglasses.

When possible, seek shelter and use an umbrella on occasions when the sun is very strong. Reduce the amount of time you spend gardening.

Consume plenty of water and other cool drinks but avoid alcohol and caffeine. These beverages are diuretic in nature and may result in dehydration.

Tilling the soil and dealing with plants may expose you to a variety of unpleasant insects. Avoid ticks, which may be disease carriers. Use insect repellent and protect your skin to avoid bites. Pants should be tucked into socks, and a cap should be worn. Inspect yourself before entering the house to ensure that you are not bringing bugs and insects into the house with you.

Use insecticides and fertilizers with caution. Seek professional advice at your nearest gardening centre and then use them, or stay safe by using organic mulches and fertilizers. If you choose to use chemicals in your garden, always read the directions and warning warnings carefully. Keep dogs and children away from the area.

Sharp gardening equipment, prickly plants, pebbles, and soil debris may all cause cuts and scratches. Carefully protect your hands and forearms by wearing thick gloves. Consider renewing your tetanus vaccination, which is advised every ten years, prior to engaging in intense gardening labor.

How to Use a Lawn Mower Safely

The noise of lawnmowers starting up in gardens around the country is one of the first indications that summer has come. Spring reawakens grass from its inactive winter condition, requiring lawnmowers to be brushed off and utilized to trim it down to an appropriate length.

 However, these lawnmowers may be hazardous to the operator’s health and welfare. According to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC)’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) that collects current injury data associated with consumer products from U.S. hospital emergency departments across the country, the numbers of accidents in the gardens are increasing day by day.

It is estimated that there are over 37,000 Americans who suffer a power mower- related injury each and every year. This also leads to almost 90 deaths per year related to power mower injuries.

To safely use a lawn mower, it is imperative to first unplug it and never touch the blade without appropriate gloves. Keep the petrol away from ignition and power sources as well as human skin and make sure that the mower has not been in contact with water and its cable is not defective.

The blade will provide the greatest immediate danger to health. Anything intended to cut will often have no difficulty slicing through fragile human skin.  Due to the very fast rotational speed of a lawnmower blade or blades and their precision, they may represent a danger not only while they are stationary, but also when they are spinning, causing severe harm to anybody who comes into touch with them.

While certain lawnmower models are driven entirely by human effort, the overwhelming majority are fueled by either gasoline or electric power, both of which pose health and safety concerns due to their power sources.

Petrol is highly flammable and may cause a fire or explosion if not kept properly or if it comes into touch with a catalyst or other ignition source. A petrol mower’s exhaust is prone to get heated and inflict burns if it comes into touch with a person’s flesh, such as their hand or leg, as well as intake of hazardous gases released into the air.

Electricity poses a danger of electrocution if the equipment’s wiring is defective or broken, or if the machine comes into touch with water. This is especially probable with lawnmowers, which are often moved violently and are constantly used outdoors.

The cable may be damaged when it travels through hard stone terrain, is pulled taut, bears the weight of the mower while kept in the shed, and the mower is put on top of the cable, squashing it, and so on. Concerning water, a sudden deluge of rain may result in a spark from the mower or an extension reel.

How to Safely Use a Chainsaw

Please check the article I wrote specifically dedicated to the chainsaw safety

The chainsaw’s most apparent hazard has to be the chain itself. Because the fast-spinning chain is meant to break through hard wood, it would easily take care of delicate human bodies, and thus it is critical that the chain never comes into contact with an individual or whatever else it is not intended to cut, such as the chainsaw’s own power supply if it is an electric chainsaw.

Even coming into touch with a hard surface, such as a concrete floor, may cause the chain to snap and fly away at great speed, posing a severe harm if it strikes someone.

As with other tools and equipment, proper maintenance is critical to a chainsaw’s proper functioning. Not only should the saw be kept lubricated at all times, but all guards and safety measures should be present and operational. Using a chainsaw is hazardous enough without the added risk of an accident caused by damaged or defective equipment.

Numerous power tools are loud, and chainsaws are among the noisiest. Chain Saw has a sound intensity of almost 109DB and when running it for only two minutes without ear protection can cause complete hearing loss. It will be used in close proximity to the user’s ears, making ear protection necessary to avoid hearing loss. Even brief exposure may result in permanent damage.

Additionally, they generate a significant amount of vibration in the hands as the engine whirls, the chain spins, and the saw slices through the hard wood. Using appropriate protection gloves in conjunction with regular rest intervals can assist to mitigate vibration and possible harm to the chainsaw operator.

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