Gardening is a wonderful way of beautifying your home. Health and safety should always be your priority when you are outside working with tools, plants, chemicals, insects and lots more harmful things. Gardening may seem safe but it can lead to injury or illness if completed without the appropriate care. This weeks blog will give you some tips to keep in mind to maintain the optimum safety when gardening. Below are 3 gardening safety tips to help keep you safe and healthy whilst gardening.
1: Wear Gloves
By wearing proper gardening gloves you will protect your skin from coming into contact with any harmful irritants. The smallest of cuts can develop into a hand infection. They protect you from thorny objects, insect bites, blisters, fertilisers, pesticides, bacteria and any other skin irritants that live in the soil. Rubber gloves are essential when working with garden chemicals. Gloves also protect you from sharp garden tools harming you. With all gloves make sure to inspect them for tears or small holes before using them.
2: Use Tools Not Your Hands
Using garden tools instead of your hands will not only protect your hands but also make your job much easier. Garden tools drastically reduce your workload and put less strain on your body. There may be buried objects in the soil which can injure your hand or wrist while working. Use the appropriate tools instead of your hands like a large or small hand shovel. It is important to use tools for their intended purpose. Tools that feature handles which don’t fit your hand may cause blisters, calluses and muscle pain. When your hand is too big or small for the tool it may cause blisters, calluses and will put lots of stress on your hands which can lead to muscle pain and serious injury. Choose garden tools to suit you.
3: Keep A Good Posture
Posture refers to the different body positions you are in whilst gardening. Bad posture can lead to muscle pain and serious injury. There are lots of things you can do to ensure this doesn’t happen to you. For example, kneeling instead of bending will result in less back strain, wearing knee pads will give you added comfort and put less strain on your kneecaps, when lifting objects make sure you engage your legs and not your back and hold objects close to your body when moving them. It is important to take breaks regularly to walk around and stretch because when your body stays in the same position for too long it can lead to serious muscle pain and worse serious injury.
Visit us online today at dfg.ie to see our full range of garden machinery & tools and get what you need to keep your garden looking beautiful all year long.