Garage Safety

Garage safety is something you should never overlook. In fact, when it comes to overall home safety, your garage is vulnerable to more serious hazards than any other room.

First and foremost, keep your garage floor clean! You should always have a wide, clear pathway from your walk-through door to your main garage door. Make sure you keep this pathway swept and dry. If you have a wet, greasy, or oily floor, especially on an epoxy finish, then you're simply begging for a broken tailbone... or worse.

Next, you must have adequate lighting. There’s just no if’s, and’s, or but’s, when it comes to garage safety and adequate lighting. When you're working on any project in your garage, always make sure you have enough room around your workbench area. If you're cutting a long 2X4, you don't want to pay for a new side window in your car.

Take a few moments to plan ahead. If it means parking your car in the driveway until you're finished with the cut or the whole project, then do it. Save your self the hassle as well as some money. For all garage projects big and small, remember to utilize basic safety equipment. On the top of the garage safety equipment list is eye protection. Let's put it this way, if your using a circular saw and some dust gets in your eyes, guess what can happen with the saw blade? That's right... USE EYE PROTECTION!

Always wear gloves when handling wood, metal, heated objects, frozen objects, etc. Wearing quality gloves will practically eliminate any chance of infections from small splinters or cuts from sharp objects. Moving forward, let's not forget about your ears. Since the circular saw is such a good example for just about everything, let's use it again. A circular saw is loud enough and close enough to your ears to potentially cause long-term damage.

Why take that kind of risk? Get some ear protection. You can go out and get a pair of fancy noise-reducing earmuffs from a music recording studio supply company... or, you can get a little pair of foam earplugs from your local hardware store for just a few bucks. Either way, save your ears! Your clothing can be considered safety equipment as well, especially in terms of garage safety. Try to wear long sleeves, pants, and shoes or boots. However, make sure the clothes are tight fitting. You don't want any of your clothes to get caught in a rotating tool or machine.

Now it's time to talk about fire safety in your garage. The best way to fight a fire is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Make sure to keep flammable solid, liquid, and gas substances away from your workbench area. A simple spark from grinding, hammering, or chiseling could be all it takes to ruin your life as you know it. Put a fire extinguisher in your garage. Better yet, put a couple of them in your garage. Place them by the doors, but not by flammable chemicals. Fire safety is serious, especially in terms of garage safety.

Finally, shelving is also a garage safety concern. Whether you have wall shelving, overhead shelving, tall storage racks, or whatever, it's absolutely critical that they are fastened to your garage correctly. This means they must be anchored to the studs, not the drywall. Drywall anchors aren't designed to hold as much weight as you'll probably be putting on your shelves.