Nail Gun - Safety

Safety

In the United States, about 37,000 people every year go to emergency rooms with injuries from nail guns, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Forty percent of those injuries occur to consumers. Nail gun injuries tripled between 1991 to 2005. Foot and hand injuries are among the most common. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that treating nail gun wounds costs at least $338 million per year nationally in emergency medical care, rehabilitation, and workers' compensation. Often personnel selling the tools know little about the dangers associated with their use or safety features that can prevent injuries.

Injuries to the fingers, hands, and feet are among the three most common, but there are also injuries that involve other body areas and internal organs. Some of these injuries are serious and some have resulted in death.

All kinds of nail guns can be dangerous, so safety precautions similar to those for a firearm are usually recommended for their use. For safety, nail guns are designed to be used with the muzzle touching the target. Unless specifically modified for the purpose, they are not effective as projectile weapons.

The most common firing mechanism is the dual-action contact-trip trigger, which requires that the manual trigger and nose contact element both be depressed for a nail to be discharged. The sequential-trip trigger, which is safer, requires the nose contact to be depressed before the manual trigger, rather than simultaneously with the trigger. Approximately 65% to 69% of injuries from contact-trip tools could be prevented through the use of a sequential-trip trigger, according to the CDC.

There is recoil associated with the discharge of a nail from a nail gun. Contact triggers allow the gun to fire unintended nails if the nose hits the wood surface or a previously placed nail following recoil. Nailers with touch tip (contact) triggers are susceptible to this double firing. According to a 2002 engineering report from the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), the recoil and firing of the second nail occurs well before the trigger can be released. Acute injury rates are twice as high among users of tools with contact triggers.

In September 2011 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) issued a nail gun safety guide that details practical steps to prevent injuries including use of tools with sequential triggers, training prior to use, and use of appropriate protective equipment such as eye protection.

Research aimed at reducing nail gun accidents among frame carpenters, among the heaviest users of nail guns, is ongoing.