Does a 4" 110v angle grinder have to be fitted with a dead mans switch? We recently had an incident where a member of staff plugged in a 110v angle grinder which was left turned on immediately started up, causing a near miss. I can find information in BS EN 60745 (hand held motorised electric tools) that states that the switch shall have two separate and dissimilar actions before the motor is switched on (e.g. a switch which has to be pushed in before it can be moved laterally to close the contacts to start the motor). Which our grinders have! The standard also says "For grinders and disc type sanders with a rated capacity greater than 55 mm diameter, switches shall be so located or designed that inadvertent operation is unlikely to occur during lifting or carrying". I would appreciate others views on this.

Hi Ian We have approximately 50 of the grinders on vehicles they are all Bosch and are CE marked and are less than 5yrs old. I am thinking of putting some sort of internal memo out to inform the users to ensure that they have turned the grinder off before unplugging! We have published an equipment note to all users and all users have received training on the use, they also have regular training to ensure their continued competency on all equipment we carry on our vehicles.

Have a look at regulation 14 of PUWER to asceratin if you are complying with it. At my last workplace we had to decommison a bench grinder as it did not have a seperate conrol for re-starting in the event of a power failure. i.e if the power supply came back on line the bench grinder would automatically restart without any input from an operator obviously not desirable and in contravention of PUWER reg 14

Just out of interest - just finished reading the new SHP magazine and noted on page 11 a case where a person died from being struck in the face from an exploding grinding disk from a hand held grinder. Quite an unfortunate incident but it just goes to show the dangers of such equipment.