Your guide to safety equipment for concrete cutting and drilling

Eye and face protection

It is vital that you protect your face when cutting or drilling concrete. Small pieces of concrete, or even the dust created from such work, can cause serious damage to your face, eyes and respiratory system without adequate protection. Types of gear for protecting your face include:

Safety glasses:

These are similar to normal glasses but with reinforced, strong lenses and, sometimes, side shields.

Safety goggles:

A standard form of eye protection, safety goggles are made of flexible plastic and are secured with elastic, covering your entire eye region.

Eye shields:

Frameless with moulded lenses, these are designed to be easily worn over prescription glasses.

Face shields:

These create a barrier in front of the entirety of your face, protecting it from any flying debris. However, face shields are not enclosed so dust and airborne particles can still reach your eyes and mouth.

Respirators:

These cover your mouth and nose to protect you from inhaling potentially harmful airborne particles. With concrete cutting and drilling, silica dust exposure is a serious risk which can cause respiratory disease; to ameliorate this risk, wet cutting techniques should be used or, if this is not possible, your workers should wear health and safety approved dust mask respirators.  

Head protection

On a work site, particularly when dealing with a heavy, dense material such as concrete, it is crucial to have head protection. Any injuries to your head are likely to be serious, meaning head safety gear which is in good condition should always be worn. Options include:

Hard hats:

For optimal safety, industrial safety helmets should be used for construction work, such as concrete cutting and drilling. These offer the best protection and will keep workers safe from falling objects and hits.

Industrial scalp protectors:

These will protect your head against knocks and bumps.

Hair caps/nets:

These keep hair out of your face and way.

Hearing protection:

Work sites can be notoriously noisy and so, for the long-term health of your hearing, you should wear protective equipment for your ears. Both earplugs and earmuffs can be used to great effect to keep sound levels comfortable and preserve your eardrums.

Hand protection

Heavy duty gloves and hand protection should be worn at all times when working with concrete and concrete cutting equipment. Potentially injurious materials and razor-sharp equipment make concrete work highly dangerous for hands and fingers, meaning strong, good-fitting safety protection should be worn at all times.

Gloves and gauntlets:

These should be sufficiently heavy duty and worn at all times during concrete cutting work to protect your hands and fingers.

Wrist cuffs and armlets:

These offer extended protection to your forearms.

Foot protection

The grounds of a work site can be full of sharp objects and spiky debris which could cut through everyday shoes. What’s more, falling objects and the frequent usage of heavy equipment can also pose a danger to insufficiently protected feet. Features of safe footwear include:

Reinforced toe caps:

If something falls on your foot, your toes are the most likely part to get hit and injured. Steel reinforced toe caps, or another equally strong material, will ensure your toes don’t get crushed.

Strong soles:

Safe footwear should have strong soles to prevent piercing debris getting through. Steel reinforced soles offer particular safety reassurance.

Anti-static:

Anti-static and non-conducting footwear is important in case of contact with electrical cables and for preventing the potential buildup of static electricity.

Comfortable:

Construction, concrete cutting and drilling work will inevitably require workers to be on their feet for extended periods of time. This means that comfort is key when it comes to your footwear.

Concrete Drilling Services provide specialist concrete cutting and drilling services to customers across the North West. We combine excellent standards of workmanship from our skilled team with the latest technology and equipment to give you precise, high quality results. If you have any questions about our services, or if you would like to discuss your requirements with our knowledgeable team, get in touch today.