Angle grinders used with cutting discs expose workers to a range of severe additional hazards.
Safe work procedures should ensure that, wherever a safer alternative cutting tool is available or can be obtained, an angle grinder is not used as a cutting tool. Angle grinders are one of the most dangerous hand tools in the manufacturing metal products industry. Kickback, where the disc is thrust away from the object it is grinding, can result in severe cuts to hands, arms, head, torso and legs. Discs can shatter or explode, sending pieces flying across the workshop. A boilermaker was thrown backwards more than 2 metres when a disc exploded, seriously injuring his hand.