Don’t Get Nailed by a Nail Gun

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Michigan State University
• Description:
  In 2013, a male carpenter/laborer in his 30s died from head injuries after a C Pak, 33-degree clipped head paper taped, 3-inch by 0.131 smooth nail from a Model F350S Paslode pneumatic nail gun entered his eye socket and lodged in his head. The Paslode nail gun had a sequential trigger, but the trigger had been "swapped out" with a contact trigger. He was reattaching the entry wall to the garage wall. He reached around the entry wall while hanging around the corner using his right hand to hold the wall and his left hand (non-dominant) to hold the nail gun to nail inside of the wall joists back towards his body. A nail was found to be partially embedded in one of the entry wall studs. This could have been the result of a "double fire" or a nail that had not been removed from the stud as the wall was being repositioned. He was not wearing eye protection. He died several days later in the hospital. All pneumatic (air, gas, or electric) nail guns rely on two basic controls: a finger trigger and a contact safety tip located on the nose of the gun. Trigger mechanisms vary based on: 1) the order in which the controls are activated, and 2) whether the trigger can be held in the squeezed position to discharge multiple nails OR if it must be released and then squeezed again for each individual nail. Combining these variations gives four kinds of triggers: Full Sequential trigger: the safety contact tip must be pushed into the work piece then the user must squeeze the trigger to discharge a nail. Both the safety contact tip and the trigger must be released and activated again to fire a second nail. Single Sequential trigger: the safety contact tip must be pushed into the work piece. Then, the user squeezes the trigger to discharge a nail. To fire a second nail, only the trigger must be released. Contact trigger: fires a nail when the safety contact and trigger are activated in any order. Single Actuation trigger: trigger will fire a single nail when the safety contact and trigger are activated in any order. A second nail can be fired by releasing the trigger, moving the tool and squeezing the trigger again without releasing the safety contact tip. Some nail guns have a selective trigger switch, which allows the user to choose among two or more trigger systems. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Construction Industry Equipment Design Hazards Nail Guns Pneumatic Tools Safety Practices
• Publisher:
  Michigan State University
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Lay Publication
• Place as Subject:
  Michigan ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066685
• Citation:
  East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, 2020 Mar; :1-2
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  Michigan State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Don't get nailed by a nail gun
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0c5e9907e0a5b08d7e3f4ffb7b1cffa6dcf3c4cbd1cebce145fe0de50c7c9e7298bccc86f8db4caf45e0af2e20f00548d0e6cd47ae4b7c0a4f94d5644ed6ac03
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/230989/cdc_230989_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 326.05 KB ]