The most rewarding projects often leave the biggest messes, even if cleanup is a small price to pay. If you don’t know how to handle sawdust carefully, you could end up with painful splinters, respiratory troubles, and other occupational hazards. To stay safe on your next construction or home improvement job, consider the following tips.

3 Safety Tips for Handling Sawdust

1. Wear Protective Gear

When working with sawdust, there are some potential issues. The tiny, abrasive particles could fly into your eyes, get lodged in your skin, and even enter your respiratory system as you breathe. To avoid the irritant, you’ll need to protect your body while you’re working with wood. Wearing safety goggles, thick gloves, closed-toed shoes, pants, and long-sleeve shirts will save you a significant amount of pain and hassle.

2. Wash Exposed Clothing

Remember to take care of the clothes that protected you during the job—sawdust safety doesn’t end when you leave the site. Your clothing could contain small particles of wood, which could easily fall into carpet fibers or get lodged in other articles of clothing.

To ensure your total safety, remove your dirty clothes as soon as you leave the worksite and wash them in a separate load to avoid cross-contamination.

3. Invest in Workshop Essentials

If you’ll be working with wood fairly often, it pays to invest in tools specifically designed to reduce hazards. For example, when sanding or whittling, a downdraft table works by pulling the particles through various openings with the help of a vacuum or dust collector. Best of all, this machine will immediately clean up after you as you work. You should also invest in an air filter for your workshop that’s specially designed to trap airborne sawdust, eliminating it from moving through your HVAC system.

If you’re looking for quality sawdust, turn to GI Shavings LLC of Hallandale, FL. This garden and barn supply company is happy to cater to clients in South and Central Florida, and with the capacity to produce 2,400 bags of wood shavings a day, they’ve been doing so for over 20 years. For more information on their offerings, visit the website. You can also call them at (754) 300-4684 to inquire about wood shavings today.