Would you ever trade the spoon for a fork when eating a soup? Probably not. So why would you choose a tool for your workplace that compromises on efficiency and safety? Read on to learn how to choose the right safety tool.
The right safety tool improves efficiency and provides a safer work environment at the same time by preventing accidents and even hazardous events like fires and explosions through emitting sparks.
Unrelated to the environment, a tool always has to be suited for the job it should perform, otherwise accidents can occur. But the need for the most fitting tool grows even stronger when the place of work is a hazardous or explosive environment as chemical, oil or gas industries as well as aircraft maintenance, radar transmission center maintenance or water treatment facilities.
Here, non-sparking and non-magnetic tools are an absolute necessity. Due to invisible gases or fumes a single spark can be enough to create a huge explosion that results in damage of infrastructure and injuries.
Safety tools, however, are non-sparking thanks to the softer material used in their fabrication. As a result, to extract pieces, less energy is required and therefore, these aren’t hot enough to ignite the gases. Another critical characteristic of safety tools is its non-magnetism which is achieved by smaller percentage of iron in the tool. This is especially valuable in environments where very sensitive electronic devices are used – laboratories and such for instance.
Before you decide on a tool, you need to know exactly what requirements it has to live up to. For that, it helps to ask the right questions such as : "For which task should it be used?" or "Who will use the tool and in what environment?" and so on. Knowing the answer to these questions helps you to avoid mistakes in purchase. As a next step, the tool's properties can be derived from the answers to said questions. Does a tool for example have to be especially light or will it have to withstand a great amount of stress? Or will the tool be used during long hours so that the ergonomics of a tool come into play more? Or even more so, will the tool be used in an explosive environment and has to fulfil the criteria of never emitting sparks, no matter the strain it's under?
As you probably realized by now, a lot of thought has to go into the purchase of a tool. This might be off-putting at first sight, but remember, it is all for the cause of safety and efficiency. The good news is that AMPCO Safety Tools can help you even shorten the time effort of the purchase.
AMPCO Safety Tools invests in the highest quality of non-sparking, non-magnetic, corrosion resistant as well as wear resistant hand tools since 1922 and manufactures today the widest range of said tools.
For the production of high performance aluminium bronze and speciality copper alloys tools, AMPCO uses a patented technology called MICROCAST®. This process has many benefits such as a better homogeneity through fine and uniform grain size and therefore a higher wear resistance.
Although most of the alloys containing beryllium don't pose a health risk, some manufacturing, processing and recycling processes can produce suspended particles that can lead to serious lung diseases. As a safety precaution, AMPCO Safety Tools carries out regular checks of their tools and provides safety data sheets related to each material to ensure customer guidance.
For AMPCO Safety Tools, producing the safest and most fitting tools for any given task is our highest goal. Are you ready to step up your efficiency and safety at your work place together with us?
Learn more about this topic in our "Ultimate Guide for the Appropriate Use of Safety Tools".