Trauma doctors and the Canadian Safety Council are warning people to keep their hands away from their snowblower blades after four people were severely injured following the latest storm.

Many parts of New Brunswick were blanketed with 40 centimetres of snow in the last week and that caused many people to haul their snowblowers out of their garages to clear their driveways.

The helpful snow-clearing machines can also be dangerous. According to the Horizon Health Network, hand injuries relating to snowblower use are up right across the province this winter.

Shelley Woodford, the trauma co-ordinator at The Moncton Hospital, said snowblower-related accidents are normally caused by people putting their hands too close to the blades.

"Mostly what we are seeing is people obviously are trying to correct the snowblower being blocked in the chute or the blade itself being blocked," she said.

"And then they will end up with injuries to their fingers or their entire hand and so it becomes a serious event when that happens for sure."

Woodford said many of the people who were injured thought it was safe to use their hands to unclog their machines because they had turned the engines off.

But Catherine Benesch, a representative on the Canada Safety Council, said the blades can kick back in after debris is removed.

"Even after you have turned off the engine, the auger blades inside the snowblowers can continue to rotate for quite a few seconds and the injuries are not very nice injuries, they can result in crushed or broken bones and finger amputations,” she said.

At least one person in Moncton lost the use of their hand this week because of an accident with a snowblower.

Benesch said she recommends people always wait for five seconds after they turn their machine off and then use a stick or a broom to clear debris out of clogged augers and shoots.

And she said operators should wait at least five seconds for the snowblower to shut down completely before going near the blades.