As water poured in he carefully sharpened and cleaned the tools before undertaking the repairs that eventually saved their lives. The moral is to buy good tools and take care of them. You'll live with those dikes and needle nose pliers for weeks on end. Buy cheap stuff and your blood pressure will skyrocket every time you can't clip a lead close to the board. Keep them organized - get a little toolbox to keep them from falling onto the floor and getting lost.
Some engineers complain that others swing by when their lab space is unattended and steal things.
Tools have a terrible habit of mysteriously disappearing. One solution is to make each engineer and technician purchase their own tools. This might be a bit draconian, though. I have had pretty good luck by keeping my space neat, and making it clear that things will not disappear. This works in a small company, but I'm afraid that in a large organization such tactics may be in vain.