Nail-gun injuries treated in emergency departments - United States, 2001-2005.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Jackson L ; Lipscomb H
• Description:
  Introduction: Speed, ease of use, and ready availability have made pneumatic nail guns a common tool used in work settings such as residential construction and wood-product fabrication. In addition, the tools are now readily available to consumers, extending to the public what had been primarily a potential work-related hazard. Methods: To characterize nail-gun injuries in work and nonwork settings, injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments (EDs) were studied by using the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC's) National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) and the NEISS occupational injury supplement (NEISS-Work) maintained by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Results: During 2001-2005, an average of approximately 37,000 patients with injuries related to nail-gun use were treated annually in EDs, with 40% of injuries (14,800) occurring among consumers. In addition, in 2005, nail-gun injuries among consumers were about three times higher than in 1991 (4,200) - approximately a 200% increase. In 2005, most injured consumers and workers were men. The median age for injured workers was 27 years, and 35 years for consumers. The diagnosis associated with 87% of the nail-gun injuries was either wound with a foreign body or puncture wound. Discussion: ED injury estimates provide a national perspective on the injuries received from nail guns and indicate how injuries from tools used in work and nonwork settings can overlap. Although training regarding safe work practices might reduce nail-gun injuries, use of sequential-trip triggers is likely to be more effective. The current voluntary ANSI standard only addresses availability of the sequential-trip triggers. Distribution of new nail guns with sequential-trip triggers without the optional contract-trip triggers might help reduce nail-gun injuries.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Diagnosis Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety Urine
• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Accident-rates Accident-statistics Accidents Construction Construction-equipment Construction-industry Construction-workers Control-technology Electrical-safety Exposure-methods Hand-injuries Injuries Injury-prevention Occupational-accidents Occupational-hazards Occupational-safety-programs Pneumatic-equipment Power-generation Power-tools Risk-factors Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Statistical-analysis Surveillance-programs Training Work-analysis Work-areas Work-environment Work-operations Work-practices Workplace-monitoring Workplace-studies

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• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  P08
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035738
• Citation:
  NOIRS 2008-Abstracts of the National Occupational Injury Research Symposium, October 21-23, 2008, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Morgantown, WV: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2008 Oct; :P08
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  NOIRS 2008-Abstracts of the National Occupational Injury Research Symposium, October 21-23, 2008, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1864701cb6780c6c0b508f07bbed2f832ffe4aa28bd50c4fb7c9fb397a9d588cf69907bec2d9e408543292a0133977da40617206c4b3972363cc3771b4897f4f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181527/cdc_181527_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 576.24 KB ]