Fit the guard, wear goggles with a face shield, and hold an angle grinder with both hands; do not fit a woodworking saw blade to cut wood

English is a site editorial draft, not independently verified or professionally approved.

Cost: The source estimates a few dozen yuan for goggles and a face shield, and one or two extra minutes for checks and disconnecting power before changing a disc. These estimates are unverified. Consistency matters when removing the guard or working one-handed seems easier.
In plain terms: Broken discs can become projectiles, and inappropriate saw blades can cause kickback. The source describes two fatal Chinese accidents involving saw blades and missing guards: one involved a femoral artery and the other a carotid artery. The official reports support these accident descriptions; broader independent safety review remains pending.
Benefit: Canadian and Queensland safety guidance supports inspecting the tool and disc, using the manufacturer’s guard, matching disc dimensions and speed ratings, securing the workpiece, protecting the eyes and face, and using both handles with stable footing. Disconnect power before changing attachments. Do not grind with a cutting disc. Wait for rotation to stop before setting the tool down; direct sparks away from people and flammable materials.

Queensland’s alert describes discs designed for an edge speed around 70 m/s. Fitting a 356 mm disc to a 230 mm grinder can raise this to at least 120 m/s. It reports a February 2016 fatality after a broken disc struck a worker’s chest; it does not establish that this particular victim had fitted the oversized disc in the separate example.

The Chinese source reports a 2019 Harbin fatality after a toothed saw blade caught clothing, and a 2024 Shenzhen Futian fatality after kickback while cutting a wooden door frame without a guard or auxiliary handle. It attributes a prohibition on saw chains, woodcarving blades and toothed saw blades to GB 3883.3-2007. The official reports have been read in the relevant sections. The national standards catalogue currently marks GB/T 3883.3-2007 as withdrawn and records its conversion to a recommended standard in 2017. The investigation’s historical citation must not be presented as a current mandatory requirement. The official platform dates withdrawal to 1 May 2026. It lists GB/T 3883.203-2025 as a related standard; the catalogue marks that hand-held grinder/disc-polisher/disc-sander standard current from the same date. Its full clause text is unavailable through this catalogue, and the precise replacement scope remains unverified.

Korean emergency-department data from 2011–2018 included 8,697 adult injury visits, 4,603 involving grinders; reported hand and head proportions were 46.4% and 23.0%. The adjusted odds ratio was 2.073 (95% CI 1.877–2.290) for EMR-ISS ≥9 versus 1–8, combining moderate and severe injuries. Severe alone was defined as ≥16. This compares injured ED patients, not injury probability per tool use; the study lacked an exposure denominator. The Mianyang authors’ abstract describes 36 hospitalized patients (36 eyes) over two years; 10 had postoperative best-corrected visual acuity below 0.05. This is a selected inpatient series, not a population incidence or an estimate of prevention effectiveness. The following Turkish and Japanese figures remain translated source claims, with indexed abstracts discovered but their full pages not successfully read. In a Turkish hospital’s 742 acute hand/forearm injuries over one year, 82 reportedly involved angle grinders; all but eight occurred outside work and 44% involved retired people. A Japanese trauma centre reportedly saw 15 grinder injuries in 2017–2018, nine involving misuse such as saw blades for wood; two patients lost an entire finger and one lost part of a finger.
Evidence grade: C in the source. Safety guidance and accident reports do not quantify the reduction achieved by following the checklist. The source’s medium benefit rating is editorial judgment, reflecting potentially severe consequences within the exposed group.
Notes: Follow the tool manufacturer’s instructions and appropriate training. The Harbin investigation quotes the manual’s prohibition of toothed blades and requirement for a guard, and describes a hand saw at the scene. Secure loose clothing, dangling jewellery and long hair. Its cross-references for dust/noise protection and major-bleeding first aid still need checking before publication. The intended beneficiaries include the operator and nearby helpers; this is not a complete operating or emergency-care manual.
Sources (preserved from the Chinese source; access and verification differ):