How much time is safety worth? A comparison of trigger configurations on pneumatic nail guns in residential framing

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dement, John M. ; Kucera KL ; Lipscomb HJ ; Makrozahopoulos D ; Nolan J ; Patterson D
• Description:
  Objective: Nail gun injuries are among the most common in wood frame construction. Despite evidence that the majority of injuries from unintentional firings could be prevented with a sequential trigger mechanism on the tools, the safer trigger has not been embraced in the fast-paced residential construction industry. An experiment was conducted in an attempt to realistically evaluate the magnitude of productivity concerns. Methods: Ten journeymen carpenters built a yard shed on two occasions, using nail guns with two different trigger configurations, alternately, under controlled conditions. Mean differences in time required, nails used, and proper placement were evaluated considering the trigger used and whether the building was the carpenter's first or second project. Results: The sequential trigger tool required a mean of 10 additional minutes of active nailing time, which represented 10% of mean nailing time (97 minutes) but only 0.77% of the total mean work time (1,298 minutes) to construct each shed. No significant differences were observed in nail count or placement. The majority of the time variability was related to who was using the tool, rather than the type of tool in the person's hand. Conclusions: Productivity concerns should focus more on improving the skill of the carpenter rather than on the trigger mechanism. Failure to place tools with the safer trigger configuration, which requires the nose piece to be depressed before the trigger is pulled, in the hands of workers does not make sense given the frequency and potential repercussions of injuries associated with the use of these tools in wood framing. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Construction Materials Occupational Health Safety Wood
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Construction Construction-equipment Construction-industry Construction-materials Construction-workers Equipment-design Equipment-reliability Injuries Injury-prevention Pneumatic-tools Safety-climate Safety-engineering Safety-equipment Safety-research Tools Wood-products Woodworkers Work-practices

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• ISSN:
  0033-3549
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; Missouri ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  481-486
• Volume:
  123
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040857
• Citation:
  Public Health Rep 2008 Jul-Aug; 123(4):481-486
• Contact Point Address:
  Hester J. Lipscomb, PhD, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3834, Durham, NC 27710
• Email:
  hester.lipscomb@duke.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training. Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Public Health Reports
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f166e45b888ce56d87b1d4761c3f1bdf39ab79172b887f96e83c5675d9aea15f0e2058086b8983abdf97d1df1cd1b9c60fb1802a614f2d341649a1fa0811bd4a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193575/cdc_193575_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 460.89 KB ]