Section 39.23. Handtools

(a) General. Handtools should only be used if in a safe condition. If unsafe conditions are discovered, they should be immediately reported to the foreman, who shall have them corrected.

(b) Handles. Wooden handles of handtools should be of the best straight-grained material. Handles which become excessively burned or worn, or which are cracked or badly splintered should be removed from service. Reference should also be made to subsection (e).

(c) Heads. When repaired in the shop where used, the heads of all handtools requiring handles, except blacksmith tools, should be substantially fastened to the handles by experienced persons in order to eliminate the hazard of improperly fastened heads flying off. No tools or stencils with mushroomed heads should be permitted in service. This applies to tools owned by the workmen themselves as well as company tools.

(d) Storage. No handtools should be permitted to lie on the floor, ground, or working platform when not in use for any length of time, but should be kept in the proper receptacles or storage places. Axes, hatchets, adzes or knives should be placed in receptacles provided for the purpose. For temporary purposes only, the cutting edge of the tool should be driven into a flat in places where persons will not trip over them or lodged vertically in corners or racks where they timber far enough to hold the tool in an upright position.

(e) Specific tools. Specific tools should also conform to the following:

(1) Striking handtools. Handtools should always be struck with wooden, soft metal, rawhide or rubber hammers or mallets if the part receiving the blow is case hardened or tempered. Such hammers or mallets should also be used where inflammable or explosive gases or vapors are present. Sheets of brass or other soft metal may be used to receive blows, but should not be battered to an extent which would create a hazard of flying particles. Hand striking tools which show any signs of cracking should be removed immediately from service. Hammers and hatchets with corrugated driving faces for driving flat-headed nails should not be used for driving brads or nails with rounded heads because of the increased hazard of flying nails. A machinist’s hammer should not be used for driving nails, and a carpenter’s hammer should not be used for machine work.

(2) Wrenches. Wrenches should conform to the following:

(i) All wrenches should properly fit the nuts, bolts, or other objects they are used to turn. Unless closed wrenches are used, the practice of using thin pieces of material as shims to make an oversize wrench fit should not be permitted. A wrench should be put on so that the jaws do not spread and cause slippage.

(ii) Wrenches should not be used as hammers.

(iii) The use of wrenches which have excessively worn threads, nuts, or pawls, or battered or defective jaws or handles should be prohibited.

(iv) The practice of tightening bolts, nuts, clamps or other fixtures on moving machine parts with wrenches while the machine is in motion should be prohibited.

(v) Monkey wrenches should always be placed on the objects to be turned so that the wrench faces forward in the same direction that the handle is to turn.

(vi) Safety release or ratchet-type wrenches should be used only in opening drop bottom cars or wagons.

(3) Keen edged or pointed tools. Care should be exercised in the use of adzes or draw knives to insure that no part of the body is close enough to the point being worked on to be endangered by a slip of the tool. When cutting with a hand knife, the direction of the cut should always be away from the body. Keen edged or pointed tools, such as axes, hatchets, adzes, saws, knives, chisels, bits, lineman climbers, or similar tools should not be carried in a manner which endangers the bearer or persons passing him, nor should a long screw driver or other pointed tool project from a pocket when carried.

(4) Files. All hand files should be provided with handles. The tine of a file should not be used as a center punch.

(5) Wood chisels. Wood chisels should be provided with substantial handles. If struck with mallets, a metal or leather band should be placed at the end of the handle to prevent spreading.

(6) Screwdrivers. Screwdrivers of proper sizes should be used at all times by workmen requiring them. Screwdrivers should not be used for purposes for which they were not intended. Those which are bent, or which have rounded corners or splintered handles should be removed from service. A screwdriver should never be held in one hand and the material being worked on in the other, as it may slip and injure hands.

(7) Picks, shovels, forks, bars, rakes, and hoes. Picks and shovels should always be stacked or struck into the ground so that the handles stand upright; horizontal storing should be permitted only where it creates no tripping hazard. The handle of a shovel should never be pushed on with one’s body, as this may cause one to rupture himself. Forks should be stacked or stuck into the ground so that the handles stand upright. They may also be hung, handles down, in pegs on walls. Rakes and hoes should always be stood or hung with the head off the ground and the handle pointing downward. Crowbars should always be laid flat in places where persons will not trip over them or else lodged vertically in corners or racks where they cannot fall over. Ordinary crowbars should not be used to move cars; specially adapted bars should be provided for this purpose. All dull or broken ended crowbars should be removed from service. When using a crow or pinchbar to move weights, the hands should be so placed that they cannot strike other objects as the bar moves under pressure.

(8) Compressed air tools. In the use of compressed air tools, care should be used to prevent the tool from being shot from the gun. When momentarily out of use, the gun should be laid in such position that the tool cannot fly out if the pressure is accidentally released. When not in use, all tools should be removed from the gun. In disconnecting a compressed air tool from the air line, care should be exercised first to shut off the pressure and then to operate the tool to exhaust the pressure remaining in the hose. Compressed air hose or guns should not be pointed at or brought into contact with any person.