Hedge trimmers, handyman traps: all the tools available in our country have been tested and approved. Yet things often go wrong when doing odd jobs. RIVM investigated how this is possible.

Men, the over-65s and people who regularly do DIY in their own homes put themselves at risk relatively often. Particularly when using power tools and climbing equipment, people are far from always working safely, according to RIVM research, the results of which were published at the end of May.

Drills and hedge trimmers

For the study on unsafe behaviour during DIY work in and around the house, RIVM had a representative group of 811 Dutch people fill in a list of questions. These concerned their experiences with ladders, steps, drills and electric hedge trimmers, among other things. The survey focused not so much on accidents, but mainly on the behavioural factors that precede (near) accidents.

'Measuring behaviour is of course difficult,' says Liesbeth Claassen, one of the RIVM researchers involved. 'To get a good picture, we asked, among other things, about situations the interviewees have experienced themselves and about their chore habits.'

Hypothetical situations

The handymen were also presented with hypothetical situations. A picture of a handyman on the stairs, for instance, who sees that a lick of paint is needed just out of reach. "If you were that handyman, would you move the stairs a bit or would you try to reach it with the brush? That's what we then ask, says Claassen.

One of the conclusions is that experienced handymen are more likely to say they have experienced an unsafe situation than people who do little or never do jobs. Men and people over 65 are also more likely to report risky situations. According to Claassen, this may be partly related to higher exposure: those who do more DIY jobs more often are simply more likely to make mistakes.

Of the participants, 20 per cent reported having experienced at least one unsafe situation in the past five years. Two thirds of this group said they held themselves responsible for this: they identified their own behaviour as the main cause of the danger. Earlier research had shown that people often actually attribute accidents to external factors, such as faulty equipment or bad luck. RIVM therefore concludes that for a better picture of safety risks in DIY, more and comprehensive research is needed.

Safety requirements

The investigation took place at the request of the Risk Assessment & Research Department (BuRO) of the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). It wondered how it is possible that so many people still get injured while doing odd jobs, even though the equipment they work with (from circular saws to handyman's ladders) generally meets safety requirements.

So it appears to go wrong mainly because of unsafe behaviour of the handymen themselves. This behaviour is related to two factors: social norms and ingrained habits. Handymen appear to take risks more often when they see others doing the same or when unsafe working methods have become routine. They admit to being less vigilant, to omitting possibly desirable protective measures or to using unsuitable tools.

Self-exaggeration

The researchers assumed that self-overestimation of handymen would also play a role. However, they found no further evidence for this optimism bias, in which handymen think they are more handy than they actually are, in the responses to this questionnaire. Previous research does show this, says Claassen. The Pippi Longstocking mentality of 'I've never done it before so I think I can do it' is a risk when it comes to DIY, she says. 'Then it turns out that people start jobs they can't handle at all.'

This is partly due to YouTube, which is full of DIY videos. This certainly has positive aspects, as such videos can be very good and instructively useful. 'But there is no quality control on them,' says Claassen. 'Anyone can put such a video online.' In many such videos, a job also seems much easier than it really is.

Safety information

The researchers also identify opportunities for improvement in the study. They place part of the responsibility for this with the manufacturers. They should better adapt the safety information accompanying their products, in the form of a manual or instruction videos, to the target group, with recognisable examples and practical instructions.

In addition, the researchers' findings could help product development and improve safety assessments of power tools and climbing equipment.

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