Safety Wire - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages

Although many systems purport to be more efficient than installing traditional safety wire, an advantageous by-product of the twisting method of installing safety wire is that it leaves a highly visible and easily inspectable indication that the fasteners in question are in fact properly secured.

In addition, safety wire twisting is a standard, non-proprietary technique, and tools and materials can be easily found, cheaply purchased, and mixed with other brands while still working properly (provided of course that all components are used properly and with the proper types of complimentary components and tools, if not brands).

The primary disadvantage of traditional safety wire is the time it requires to install properly when securing fasteners, although technicians who use it often can implement it fairly quickly. It also leaves behind waste products when ends are clipped off or when it is cut off of secured fasteners that need to be removed during maintenance, resulting in sharp metal bits that can easily damage soft materials or injure skin. However, the amount of waste product is relatively small, it is non-toxic, and the hazard can be mitigated altogether if technicians properly dispose of any waste product. When clipping off ends, the ends can go flying off which makes their recovery difficult and can cause injury to anyone in the immediate vicinity, such as the technician or an assistant; however, this can also be easily mitigated by using extra care or by using safety wire pliers that have a special insert that is designed to catch clipped off ends. Another disadvantage is that since the manual skill required to implement traditional safety wire is easily learned, the techniques required to maximize the retentive force of safety wire (e.g., in which direction the retentive force should be exerted, the direction of twist, proper angles for securing multiple fasteners, proper twists per inch, which type of wire to use, etc.) are often ignored by non-formally trained technicians (e.g., hobbyists) who use safety wire for their projects.