DIY Safety Equipment Everyone Should Own

Unfortunately, DIY safety equipment is low on the list of most people’s priorities prior to carrying out any sort of DIY work around their home. Thankfully, you’re one of the smart ones, because the very fact you’re on this page means DIY safety is a priority for you, and you want to give yourself the best chance of reducing the risk of hurting yourself when carrying out your DIY tasks at home.

So first off, give yourself a pat on the back that you’re unlikely to be another statistic and unlikely to be one of 220,000 people a year in the UK who injure themselves doing home DIY tasks.

And then next, have a look at my DIY safety equipment list that every sensible DIY’er should have in their toolbox to reduce the risk of injuring or hospitalising themselves, and making DIY tasks around the home a much safer experience.

Below is a handy table of contents. Clicking on any of the article headers below will jump you straight to the place on this page you are interested in. I am an Amazon Associate, and earn commissions on qualifying purchases.

DIY Safety Equipment – The List

For convenience, I’ve listed the best DIY Safety Equipment that every home should have in the table below and a brief outline of key features. I’ll go through each product in detail further down the page, as well as looking at the pros and cons of each.

The Essentials:

For me, every person who does any sort of DIY should have these at hand when doing DIY in or around their home.

1. Safety Glasses. Safety glasses will protect your eyes from being contaminated with flying debris. Without safety glasses, you run the risk of something hitting your unprotected eyes, and damaging them.
2. Safety Gloves. Whilst they are by no means a fail safe, safety gloves can reduce the risk of serious cuts, punctures and abrasions when working with sharp materials or tools.

The Nice To Haves:

The following DIY safety equipment is nice to have, but not strictly essentail.

1. Steel toe capped boots. Owning these depends on how far you go with your DIY exploits, but they are really handy to have especially if you are working with and lifting heavy or sharp materials. They are also great for gardening.
2. Safety Helmet. Only really applicable if you are working with things above head height, but handy to have just in case.

1. Safety Glasses

You only get one set of eyes.

In the majority of cases, if you damage your eyes, you’ve damaged them for good.

According to Vision Matters, some 30,000 eye injuries occur every year as a direct result of DIY activities.

Don’t be that person who loses their sight because you thought it would never happen to you.

My best advice is to go with branded safety glasses from a company known in the industry, like the DeWalt safety glasses below for example.

These safety glasses are extremely lightwight, ideal for wearing for extended periods of time. The lens are also made using scratch resistant, impact resistant polycarbonate, ensuring your safety glasses stand the test of time.

You can check the price or purchase this at Amazon.co.uk by clicking here: DeWalt Safety Glasses (Amazon.co.uk)

What Should I Use Safety Glasses For?

Safety glasses are one of the most important DIY safety equipment you can have in your toolbox. Safety glasses should be worn when:

• Cutting and sawing, either manually of using jigsaws, circular saws etc.
• Working with jackhammers or breakers.
• Painting.
• Drilling holes in wood, walls or metal.

I’ll be honest, I’ll stick my safety glasses on for almost every DIY task I do, because I value my eyes and my eyesight. I’ll even wear my safety glasses for gardening and painting (especially whilst painting ceilings).

2. Safety Gloves

Safety gloves will offer you some protection from cuts and abrasions, but will also protect you from the little annoying things like splinters from wood.

But they are also equally as good for gardening, taking rubbish to the tip, and other tasks where there is a risk to your hands.

When working with wood, I’ll always use my safety gloves.

You can check the price or purchase this at Amazon.co.uk by clicking here: Safety Gloves (Amazon.co.uk)

What Should I Use Safety Gloves For?

Safety gloves should be used for additional hand protection anytime you are:

• Using sharp tools, such as stanley knives and saws.
• Carrying or moving sharp materials, like wood or metal.
• Gardening.

The ‘Nice To Haves’

The following 2 items on my DIY safety equipment list are steel toe capped boots and head protection.

Whilst these are by no means ‘essential’ like safety glasses and safety gloves, they are simply ‘nice to have’, in case the situation or DIY task warrants extra protection.

3. Safety Boots or Shoes

Safety boots are great whilst doing DIY tasks like gardening, removing old tiling from bathrooms or kitchens, or generally working with heavy objects that if dropped onto your feet, would cause substantial damage.

Recently, I was using a jackhammer to remove an old brick border in my garden. I was of course wearing steel toe capped boots for the occassion, and I was sure glad I was – on no fewer than 3 or 4 occassions, the bricks I was picking up to move to another part of my garden crumbled, and parts of the brick fell onto my safety boots.

No doubt if I had been wearing ordinary trainers or shoes, these bricks versus the bones in my feet would have had a clear winner and left me in considerable pain.

The important thing to remember when looking for decent safety boots is remembering to select boots that have steel toe caps. Like these for example:

The boots above have steel toe caps, and are designed to be lightweight and comfortable just like any other shoe or boot. They are waterproof, and also include upside protection (like standing on a nail for instance).

If you decide your DIY escapades warrant safety boots, you’ll end up amazed at how many times you actually use them.

You can check the price or purchase this at Amazon.co.uk by clicking here: Steel Toe Capped Safety Boots (Amazon.co.uk)

4. Safety Helmet

This really is a nice to have, and is more suited to a more professional level of DIY’er, but a safety helmet will protect your head from heavy items falling onto it.

I don’t own a safety helmet at home, so I can’t recommend one, but if you are doing DIY where there’s a potential of objects striking your head, or your head hitting a static object, a safety helmet is always advised.

Safety helmets are available from Amazon and all good DIY stores.

Summary

DIY safety equipment is usually low down on the priority list when thinking about doing any DIY related task in and around your home.

Unfortunately, most people only take DIY safety seriously after a near miss or worse, sustaining an injury during a DIY task.

Near misses and injuries will nearly always result in people taking safety more seriously. Frustratingly, it’s a similar story across this website with a variety of different topics – people will only take action after something affects them or their family.

However, you are here on this page, and whether you are being reactive or proactive, my best advise is to go and invest the £10 or £15 in safety glasses and safety gloves as an absolute minimum, in order for you to continue doing your DIY tasks safely and effectively.

Other Articles You May Like

Here’s a small selection of articles you may also like from this site related to DIY safety equipment:

• DIY Safety – Working With Jackhammers

Here’s the complete list of products and links mentioned on this page.

• DeWalt Safety Glasses (Amazon.co.uk)
• Safety Gloves (Amazon.co.uk)
• Steel Toe Capped Safety Boots (Amazon.co.uk)

Here’s the sources used for this article:

• NHS England – DIY Accident Stats
• Vision Matters – DIY Eye Injuries

Questions & Comments

If you have a question or a comment on this article on DIY safety equipment, please use the comments box below.

I’ll try my best to reply to each and every one of your questions, comments and suggestions.

Stay Safe. Stay Secure.