Hand tools

Overview

Back in the Pleistocene era, you needed only one tool to cut meat, scrape skins, chop wood, dig holes, hammer, and defend yourself against wild animals: a hand axe. Today, hand tools range from cant dogs and grub hoes to nail guns and “varmint killers.” You will find requirements for safely using these hand tools (and many others, too) in Oregon OSHA’s general industry, construction, agriculture, and forest activity rules. There are no requirements for hand axes, however.

All available content

Publications

Checklists
- Hand tools and equipment
  Checklist for hand tools and equipment.
  English
Fact sheets
- Powder-actuated tools
  Covers Oregon OSHA's requirements (in construction, general industry, and agriculture) for using powder-actuated tools.
  English 01/09/2015
References
- Rules with requirements
  We get many calls and emails from employers asking the same question. It begins: “Which of your rules have requirements for…” You can finish the sentence with words like “recordkeeping,” “employee training,” and “written documents.” To answer those questions, we’ve organized these rules requirements into a filterable, sortable, searchable table.
  English 05/10/2019

Education and training

Rules and rule-related

Final Rules
Interpretations
- Portable electric grinders
  03/21/1994
Program Directives
- Tools: Powder Actuated Fastening
  Purpose: To provide specific interpretation as to when magazine-fed, explosive power-operated hand tools are considered loaded.
  A-023 01/16/2013

Video Resources

Borrow from the Resource Center

Hand and Power Tools
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Borrow DVDs about Hand and Power Tools from the Resource Center