Many gardening injuries involve the hands and fingers.
  • Always wear gardening gloves to protect your hands against cuts, soil, insect bites and skin irritants. Leather gloves offer protection against puncture injuries from thorns and bites (insect, snake or rodent). Rinse gloves afterwards.
  • Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water.
  • Use appropriate tools (shovel or hand shovel) instead of your fingers. Buried objects such as tree roots, glass and tin can injure your hand, wrist or arm while digging.
  • Consult with your doctor about keeping your tetanus vaccination up to date. Cuts and puncture injuries carry a risk of tetanus.
  • Choose your hand tools to suit you. Avoid buying or using hand tools that feature ‘moulded’ handles that don’t fit your hand. Blisters, calluses and muscle pain can occur if the finger grips on the handle are too small or too large for your hand.
  • Keep your hand and wrist in a straight line when you use hand tools. Bending the wrist weakens your grip on the tool, which causes you to exert hand and arm muscles with greater force. This can cause fatigue and soft tissue injury.
  • Use rubber gloves when working with garden chemicals. Always inspect the rubber gloves for holes or tears before use.