5 Safety Tips to Follow When Using a Garden Tiller

A garden tiller makes it easy to prepare soil in a garden. Plants struggle to grow in heavily compacted soil. If the soil is too compacted, they may absorb an insufficient amount of moisture and oxygen. The roots of the plants may also fail to spread. Rather than manually digging up the soil, however, you can use a garden tiller. 

Garden tillers are machines that feature a motor-driven blade. While running a garden tiller over the soil, the blade will break it up. It's a fast and easy way to break up compacted soil. Below are five safety tips to follow when using a garden tiller.

#1) Remove Rocks and Debris

Before using a garden tiller, you should remove rocks and other forms of debris from the soil. Garden tillers are only designed for use with soil. They can break up compacted soil, but garden tillers can't break up rocks, branches and other forms of debris -- at least not safely. Running a garden tiller over rocks could result in damage to the tiller or bodily injury, neither of which is good.

#2) Check for Underground Utilities

In addition to removing rocks and debris, you should check for underground utilitRnies before using a garden tiller. Many utility companies run their lines underground. There could be gas, water or power lines running underground. If you accidentally strike them with a garden tiller, you could sustain a serious injury. And at the very least, you'll lose the respective utility until the line has been repaired.

#3) Wear Hearing Protection

You should wear hearing protection when using a garden tiller. Assuming you have a gas-powered garden tiller, it will probably be noisy during use. Exposure to loud noise can cause hearing loss. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 12% of workers have trouble hearing. To protect against hearing loss, you need to wear hearing protection when using a garden tiller.

#4) Don't Leave Running Unattended

Never leave a garden tiller running unattended. Garden tillers are powerful machines. While they typically require manual operation to engage the blade, you still shouldn't leave them running unattended. Instead, shut down the garden tiller until you return.

#5) Start With a Slow Till Speed

It's a good idea to start with a slow till speed. Most garden tillers offer multiple till speed settings. The till speed, of course, is the speed at which the blade spins. To lower your risk of injury, start with a slow till speed. If it's not enough to cut through the compacted soil, gradually raise it to a faster till speed.