Serious injury and fatality investigations involving pneumatic nail guns, 1985-2012

Details

• Personal Author:
  Albers, James T. ; Hudock, Stephen D. ; Krieg EF ; Lowe, Brian D.
• Description:
  Background: This article examines serious and fatal pneumatic nail gun (PNG) injury investigations for workplace, tool design, and human factors relevant to causation and resulting OS&H authorities' responses in terms of citations and penalties. Methods: The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) database of Fatality and Catastrophe Investigation Summaries (F&CIS) were reviewed (1985-2012) to identify n=258 PNG accidents. Results: 79.8% of investigations, and 100% of fatalities, occurred in the construction industry. Between 53-71% of injuries appear to have been preventable had a safer sequential trigger tool been used. Citations and monetary penalties were related to injury severity, body part injured, disabling of safety devices, and insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE). Conclusions: Differences may exist between construction and other industries in investigators interpretations of PNG injury causation and resulting citations/penalties. Violations of PPE standards were penalized most severely, yet the preventive effect of PPE would likely have been less than that of a safer sequential trigger. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Morbidity Mortality Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident Investigation Accidents Author Keywords: Pneumatic Nail Gun Construction-industry Construction-workers Equipment-design Hand-tools Injuries Morbidity-rates Mortality-rates Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Pneumatic-equipment Pneumatic-tools Power-tools Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-practices Struck By Tools Traumatic-injuries Traumatic Injury Trigger Safety Work-environment Workers

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  164-174
• Volume:
  59
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047239
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2016 Feb; 59(2):164-174
• Contact Point Address:
  Brian D. Lowe, PhD, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1090 Tusculum Ave., Mail Stop C-24, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  blowe@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d735aa62b66ef65b2694f1df6606642f56f5729ed46247a3bab882559417ec16e9f11492bba9479c5cc2c66e370027b1d41f3c5b26f41dd80d3d2018a71a6789
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202386/cdc_202386_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 313.26 KB ]