Is This the Right Way to Use a Nail Gun?

He’s not wearing eye protection or safety gloves and his nail gun posture is a repetitive stress injury waiting to happen.

Oh, and one more thing. “He” is Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada. So I guess we should add operating a nail gun without training to the list of violations.

The Moral: Nail guns and other dangerous tools should be operated only by the workers trained to use them, not by politicians.

NAIL GUN SAFETY

3 Reasons to Pay Attention

  1. Nail gun injuries are responsible for over 37,000 ER visits each year
  1. Construction workers are especially vulnerable to nail gun injuries
  1. Nail gun injuries are usually not fatal. I stress the word “usually.” There are exceptions like the 26-year-old Idaho construction worker who was killed when he slipped and fell while framing a house with his hand on the trigger of his nail gun. The nosepiece hit his head as he fell, driving a 3-inch nail into his skull.

KNOW YOUR TRIGGERS*

Nail guns use 2 basic controls: a trigger and a contact safety tip located on the nose of the gun. Trigger mechanisms differ by:

  • The order in which the controls are activated; AND
  • How many nails can be fired by a single squeeze of the trigger.

There are 4 kinds of trigger mechanisms:

1. Full Sequential Triggers are the safest because the trigger will fire only when all of the controls are taken in the right order.

2. Contact Triggers which fire a nail when the safety contact and trigger are activated in any order.

3. Single Sequence Triggers which like full sequential triggers, will only fire when the con­trols are activated in a certain order. First, the safety contact tip must be pushed into the work piece. Then, you must squeeze the trigger. To fire a second nail, you only need to release the trigger.

4. Single Actuation Triggers which like contact triggers, fire a single nail when the safety con­tact and trigger are activated in any order but also fire a second nail by releas­ing the trigger, moving the tool and squeezing the trigger again without releas­ing the safety contact tip.

10 NAIL GUN SAFETY DO’S & DON’Ts

There are 10 things to do/not do to ensure safe use of nail guns:

DO make sure you know how your nail gun trigger works before using it

DON’T bypass the nail gun safety mechanisms

DO follow all safe work procedures and manufacturers’ instructions when operating a nail gun

DON’T leave your nail gun around unattended

DO check the trigger, safety contact and other mechanisms before you use the nail gun

DON’T use a nail gun that is broken or not working properly

DO shoot nail guns away from your body and co-workers

DON’T use a nail gun without eye protection and safety gloves

DO tell your supervisor immediately if your nail gun isn’t working right

DON’T use a nail gun if you’re the Prime Minister of Canada (or, for that matter, in any other job if you haven’t received nail gun training)