Hand tools are used across gardening, home repair, and workshop projects, but injury patterns differ substantially by tool category. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) estimates counted 45,456 injuries involving hand garden tools, 12,567 involving hatchets and axes, and 140,611 involving workshop manual tools in 2024. These are estimates of product-related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments, not a census of every injury.
Contents
- How to read these estimates
- 2024 comparison by tool category
- Hand garden tools
- Hatchets and axes
- Workshop manual tools
- What changed from 2023 to 2024
How to read these estimates
The figures below come from the CPSC’s NEISS Data Highlights - Calendar Year 2024 and NEISS Data Highlights - Calendar Year 2023. The CPSC describes NEISS results as estimates based on product-related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments. Geography is therefore the United States, and the measurement period is the calendar year shown.
The categories are not interchangeable. “Hand garden tools” is one product grouping, while “hatchets and axes” is another, and “workshop manual tools” is a broader workshop grouping. A person may use more than one tool during a project, but these statistics should not be combined to estimate unique people or total DIY injuries. The age, sex, and disposition figures are reported within each product category.
The outcome measure is also specific. “Treated and released” refers to cases released from the emergency department. “Hospitalization or death on arrival” is a separate reported outcome category. The figures do not describe injury severity beyond those dispositions, and they do not measure the number of people who used each type of tool.
2024 comparison by tool category
The three categories had very different estimated totals in 2024. Workshop manual tools accounted for the largest estimate, followed by hand garden tools and then hatchets and axes.
| 2024 product category | Estimated injuries | Treated and released | Hospitalization or death on arrival |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand garden tools | 45,456 | 41,206 | 4,250 |
| Hatchets and axes | 12,567 | 12,240 | 327 |
| Workshop manual tools | 140,611 | 133,152 | 7,459 |
Source: CPSC NEISS Data Highlights - Calendar Year 2024.
Workshop manual tools had the highest count in every listed age group except none; they led among children aged 0–4, children aged 5–14, people aged 15–24, adults aged 25–64, and adults aged 65 and older. Hand garden tools had more estimated injuries than hatchets and axes in each of those age groups.
The outcome counts provide context for the totals. For hand garden tools, 41,206 cases were treated and released and 4,250 resulted in hospitalization or death on arrival. Hatchets and axes had 12,240 treated-and-released cases and 327 in the hospitalization-or-death-on-arrival category. Workshop manual tools had 133,152 treated-and-released cases and 7,459 in the latter category. These are category totals reported by CPSC, not a calculation of risk per use.
Hand garden tools
The CPSC estimated 45,456 hand garden tool injuries in the United States during 2024. The largest age group was people aged 25–64, with 22,690 estimated emergency-department-treated injuries. People aged 65 and older accounted for 16,744, followed by ages 5–14 at 2,881, ages 15–24 at 2,666, and ages 0–4 at 475.
The 2024 sex breakdown was 29,706 males and 15,618 females. The reported disposition counts were 41,206 treated and released, plus 4,250 resulting in hospitalization or death on arrival. The age and sex figures are estimates within the hand garden tools category for the 2024 calendar year.
For comparison, the CPSC estimated 35,660 hand garden tool injuries in 2023. The 2023 age figures were 908 for ages 0–4, 1,896 for ages 5–14, 2,688 for ages 15–24, 18,299 for ages 25–64, and 11,869 for ages 65 and older. The sex figures were 21,338 males and 14,322 females. In reported outcomes, 32,288 cases were treated and released, while 3,372 resulted in hospitalization or death on arrival.
The largest age group was therefore 25–64 in both years, although the reported age estimates changed between the two annual releases. The 2023 and 2024 figures should be read as separate annual estimates; they do not establish a long-term trend by themselves.
Hatchets and axes
Hatchets and axes produced the smallest of the three listed 2024 category totals: 12,567 estimated injuries in the United States. Adults aged 25–64 represented 7,487 of the estimate. The next largest groups were ages 15–24 at 2,343, ages 5–14 at 1,559, ages 65 and older at 1,066, and ages 0–4 at 111.
The 2024 sex figures were 11,223 males and 1,288 females. CPSC reported 12,240 cases treated and released and 327 cases resulting in hospitalization or death on arrival. The category’s age distribution was concentrated among people aged 25–64, while the male estimate was substantially larger than the female estimate in the supplied annual data.
In 2023, the CPSC estimated 12,110 hatchet-and-axe injuries. The age estimates were 147 for ages 0–4, 1,765 for ages 5–14, 1,872 for ages 15–24, 7,382 for ages 25–64, and 943 for ages 65 and older. The sex breakdown was 10,444 males and 1,665 females. Reported outcomes included 11,817 treated-and-released cases and 293 cases resulting in hospitalization or death on arrival.
The annual totals for this category were close in the two reported years, but the age and sex estimates shifted. Because NEISS values are estimates, small year-to-year differences should not be treated as a precise change in underlying risk without a longer series and additional context.
Workshop manual tools
Workshop manual tools had 140,611 estimated injuries in 2024, the largest total among the three categories. People aged 25–64 accounted for 91,375, while people aged 65 and older accounted for 26,540. The remaining age estimates were 16,942 for ages 15–24, 3,711 for ages 5–14, and 2,043 for ages 0–4.
The 2024 sex estimates were 122,520 males and 18,013 females. CPSC reported 133,152 cases treated and released and 7,459 cases resulting in hospitalization or death on arrival. The category’s broad workshop scope is important: it should not be interpreted as a count for one specific item such as a hammer, wrench, or screwdriver unless the CPSC category itself makes that distinction.
The CPSC estimated 119,798 workshop manual tool injuries in 2023. The age figures were 1,616 for ages 0–4, 3,811 for ages 5–14, 13,656 for ages 15–24, 80,314 for ages 25–64, and 20,402 for ages 65 and older. The sex estimates were 105,013 males and 14,785 females. Reported outcomes included 112,747 treated-and-released cases and 7,051 cases resulting in hospitalization or death on arrival.
In both years, adults aged 25–64 formed the largest reported age group for workshop manual tools. The 2024 estimate was higher than the 2023 estimate, but the figures remain annual NEISS estimates and do not measure exposure, sales, hours of use, or the number of active workshops.
What changed from 2023 to 2024
Across the three categories, the CPSC estimates were higher in 2024 than in 2023: hand garden tools were reported at 45,456 versus 35,660; hatchets and axes at 12,567 versus 12,110; and workshop manual tools at 140,611 versus 119,798. The largest difference in the supplied categories was workshop manual tools, while hatchets and axes changed less between the two annual estimates.
| Product category | 2023 estimate | 2024 estimate | 2023 treated and released | 2024 treated and released |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand garden tools | 35,660 | 45,456 | 32,288 | 41,206 |
| Hatchets and axes | 12,110 | 12,567 | 11,817 | 12,240 |
| Workshop manual tools | 119,798 | 140,611 | 112,747 | 133,152 |
Source: CPSC NEISS Data Highlights - Calendar Year 2023 and Calendar Year 2024.
The hospitalization-or-death-on-arrival counts also rose between the reported years for all three categories: hand garden tools went from 3,372 to 4,250, hatchets and axes from 293 to 327, and workshop manual tools from 7,051 to 7,459. These values describe reported annual outcome categories, not a forecast and not a measure of the probability that a particular project will cause an injury.
For DIY planning, the most useful reading is category-specific. Garden-tool statistics describe one product grouping, hatchet-and-axe statistics describe another, and workshop manual tools cover a broader class. Keeping the geography, calendar year, estimate status, age bands, sex categories, and emergency-department outcome definitions attached to every number prevents the comparisons from being read as more precise than the CPSC data supports.