Hand injury from portable handheld Angle Grinder

What happened? A worker was injured whilst cleaning equipment using a portable handheld angle grinder fitted with a wire brush. The rotating brush caught an edge and kicked into the worker’s gloved left hand. The glove was pulled into the rotating wire brush resulting in a deep abrasion to the hand. What were the causes? What went wrong?

• The task risk assessment was incomplete.
• The grinder was being used without the side grip handle fitted;
• No consideration was given to where to place the hand relative to the rotating brush;
• Given the operator’s position, the grinder […]

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