Gardening Safety

Safety in the Garden

Whilst gardening is, for the most part, a healthy and pleasurable pastime, it is important to appreciate that there are also risks that can affect your health and safety.

Most gardening requires the use of sharp tools, possibly electricity or other power sources, sometimes working at height, use of potentially dangerous chemicals and even some risks that are inherent to nature itself.

It pays, therefore to plan ahead about your gardening activities and then ensure you are equipped to properly manage the risks.

Here are some high-level precautions that are worth taking. Some may need to be adapted to your specific circumstances, but you will get the idea. You will inevitably come across other situations for which you need to work out your own safety precautions.

There are well-established procedures for managing health and safety risks in just about every industry. If you are not familiar with these procedures a few minutes learning about them is time well spent and then you can apply the principles to all your gardening activities.
(See under Further Reading)

This article covers the following safety aspects of Gardening:

• Putting Safety First
• Gardening as Safe Physical Activity
• Knowing your Limitations
• Taking Care in the Sun and Heat
• Appropriate Clothing for the Job