Manual Drills
Twenty years of CPSC NEISS emergency-room records for this consumer product category, combined with demographic breakdowns, multi-year injury trends, and matching recall notices.
Home Communication & Entertainment · CPSC Code 829
Down 58% over 5 years
The verdict
Manual Drills carry a danger score of 22/100 (low risk), driven by roughly 192 ER-treated injuries a year that are declining by about 58% over the last five years.
- 22/100
- danger score (low risk)
- 192
- ER visits per year (avg)
- 0.0%
- end in hospital admission
- 25-34
- most-injured age group
Every figure is rendered from the CPSC NEISS record for product code 829 - last data year 2023.
PlainSafety danger score
How this 22/100 score is built
The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for manual drills - no opinion, no editorializing:
- Injury volume192 ER visits/yr
- Severity (hospitalization rate)0.0%
- Fatality rate0.00%
- 5-year trend-58%
See the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.
What the CPSC Data Shows
Manual Drills (CPSC product code 829, in the Home Communication & Entertainment category) generate an estimated 192 emergency-room visits every year in the United States, adding up to roughly 3,641 ER-treated injuries across the 19-year span from 2005 to 2023. PlainSafety derives a danger score of 22/100 for this category (low risk), combining raw injury volume, demographic reach, severity of outcome, and multi-year trend. The five-year trajectory shows that injury counts are declining by about 58% over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2008 (524 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2023 (18 estimated visits).
The single most common ER diagnosis for manual drills is laceration to the finger, accounting for approximately 811 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by foreign body to the eyeball (310 cases). The 25-34 age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 901 cases over the NEISS window, and males appear slightly more often than the opposite sex in that cohort. Severity outcomes from the NEISS disposition field show that 0.0% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer.
Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 0 consumer incident reports filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 20 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how manual drills fail in real households. Every figure on this page comes from CPSC-published data: NEISS projects national estimates from a probability sample of about 100 U.S. hospital emergency departments, while SaferProducts.gov collects voluntary reports from consumers, manufacturers, and clinicians. The danger score, trend indicators, and demographic breakdowns update automatically when CPSC releases a new yearly NEISS file, which is why this page is dated 2023-12-31. For regulatory context, consult CPSC recall notices and the SaferProducts.gov public database linked below.
Annual Injury Estimates (2005–2023)
Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only
Who Gets Injured?
| Age Group | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | 6 | 6 | |
| 5-14 | 5 | 0 | |
| 15-24 | 203 | 189 | |
| 25-34 | 769 | 132 | |
| 35-44 | 782 | 60 | |
| 45-54 | 331 | 0 | |
| 55-64 | 286 | 171 | |
| 65-74 | 299 | 0 | |
| 75+ | 383 | 16 |
Most Common Injuries
| Body Part | Diagnosis | Est. Injuries |
|---|---|---|
| Finger | Laceration | |
| Eyeball | Foreign Body | |
| Hand | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Finger | Puncture | |
| Hand | Laceration | |
| Hand | Other | |
| Finger | Hematoma | |
| Hand | Puncture | |
| Finger | Fracture | |
| Wrist | Strain, Sprain | |
| Hand | Fracture | |
| Shoulder | Strain, Sprain | |
| Finger | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Shoulder | Other | |
| Toe | Fracture |
Severity Breakdown
ER Visit Narratives
Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.
42YOM PRESENTS AFTER HE WAS USING MANUAL DRILL AND CUT RIGHT INDEX FINGER. DX: LACERATION OF FINGER
58YOF-PATIENT WAS WORKING TO HELP CLEAN UP THE GARAGE @ HOME AND AN ANTIQUE HAND DRILL FELL OFF OF A TOP SHELF AND STRUCK PATIENT ON TOP OF HER HEAD CUTTING SCALP. DX: SCALP LACERATION
82YOM REPORTS THAT YEST HE WS DRILLING A HOLE WITH A CORDLESS DRILL WHEN IT TWISTED OUT OF HIS HAND CAUSING HIM TO HAVE IMMDIATE WRIST PAIN ON THE RIGHT. OCCURRED AT HOME. DX: RIGHT HAND PAIN;RIGHT WRIST PAIN
78YOM, PRESENTING TO THE ED FOR INJURY OF FINGER. PT STATES ACCIDENTALLY DRILLED THROUGH FINGER. DX:PAIN OF LEFT HAND, INJURY OF FINGER OF LEFT HAND
12YOM WAS USING A HAND DRILL AND IT SLIPPED AND HIT PT IN HIS ELBOW. DX L ELBOW PAIN
26YOM PRESENTS TO ED W CO FB IN RT EYE STATES HE WAS DRILLING A HOLE IN HIS CEILING FOR ELECTRICAL TO GO THROUGH THAT AREA AND FEELS LIKE HE GOT SOMETHING IN HIS EYE DX: FB ON THE CORNEA RT EYE
25YOM EVAL OF L THUMB AFTER INJURING W/ A DRILL BIT 30 MIN PTA, PT R HANDED, DRILL BIT INTO THUMB & CUT EXTENSOR TENDON DX LACERATION L THUMB, LACERATION OF EXTENSOR TENDON W/ OPEN WOUND
90 YOM CUT FINGER ON A DRILL PRESS DX: LACERATION FINGER
24YOM REPORTS HE WAS DRILLING WHEN THE BIT SLIPPED AND LACERATED 4TH DIGIT. DX DIGIT LACERATION
51YOM USING A DRILL INJURED FINGER DX LACERATION FINGER
18MOM FATHER DROPPED A DRILL ON PT EYE, ABRASION TO CORNEA; DX LEFT EYE INJURY
45YOM EVAL OF LAC TO LIF, PT STS WAS DRILLIN INTO 2X4 WOOD W/HAND DRILL& WENT THRU WOOD ACCID WENT INTO FINGER DX LAC OF L INDEX FINGER
Product Recalls
Search for active and past recalls related to manual drills on the CPSC website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How dangerous are manual drills?
Based on 20 years of CPSC data, manual drills have a danger score of 22/100 (low risk). An estimated 192 ER-treated injuries occur annually in the U.S. related to this product category.
What are the most common injuries from manual drills?
The most common injury is laceration to the finger, accounting for approximately 811 injuries over 20 years.
Are injuries from manual drills increasing or decreasing?
Down 58% over 5 years.
Who is most at risk for manual drills injuries?
The 25-34 age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 901 cases recorded over 20 years. Males are more frequently injured in this age group.
What happens when someone is injured by manual drills?
Of all ER visits involving manual drills, approximately 0.0% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (100.0%) are treated and released from the emergency department.
How can I report a safety problem with manual drills?
You can file a consumer incident report at SaferProducts.gov, the official CPSC reporting portal. Reports help the CPSC identify emerging hazards and trigger investigations or recalls. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772.
Related Products in Home Communication & Entertainment
Safety Guides
What this means for you
Treat the 22/100 score as relative risk between products, not your personal odds of injury.
- See where this category ranks against every other tracked product. Full rankings
- Injuries cluster in the 25-34 age group, take extra care if that describes your household.
- Check for active recalls on this product before you assume it is safe. CPSC recalls
NEISS estimates ER-treated injuries from a national probability sample of hospitals; they do not capture injuries treated elsewhere or not treated at all.
Data: CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments. This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, scored, and verified.
