Gettin’ Nailed
- May 12th, 2010 (by Woodrow)
- In: Bathrooms, Kitchens, Other Improvements, The Bad
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I’ve been biting my tongue on this topic for a while. Now it must be told: Thousands of professional contractors and thousands more homeowners are taken to the emergency room each year with nasty embedded projectiles in their heads, hands, and bones from “contact-trip” nail guns. Forty percent of the injuries which require hospitalization occur to to-it-yourselfers. It’s funny in a sick way. The guns use compressed air or explosive charges to blast projectiles at 1,400 feet-per-second, equal to the firing capacity of a .22 handgun.
This Just In…
You might make the evening news. This L.A. construction worker survived after six nails smashed into his skull and spine. The Sacramento Bee reports there were 1,890 nail gun injuries to laborers who lost work between 2003 to 2006 in California. If the pros can’t handle contact-trip guns, why would a CPA in Fresno want to give one a whirl on his bathroom addition?
Hat Rack Installation
Looks like an owie to me. If you decide to keep it, you can carry your hat behind your head when you work in the cellar, building a gaming room. (BTW: There are 14,800 incidents a year among nonprofessionals, according to This Old House. Most are simple, painful, puncture wounds that won’t require hospitalization unless they get infected.)
Trimming Your Fingernails
This is bound to leave a mark. From Tripshy Farm in Tasmania, the homeowner explains: “The nail gun shot twice, one nail that went into the bottom plate and then the stud, a second nail that hit the side of the first nail, then changed direction, went through the bottom plate and into my fingers.” (Hope it’s feeling better, mate.)
Preaching to the Choir
Yep, I played the eye card. I’m sure you all know this stuff and I’m ranting where a whisper would do. The New York Times reports that sequential-trip trigger guns–while still as dangerous as you are–are the way to go.
FYI: 36,000 people visit emergency rooms every year to receive treatment for wounds caused by chain saws. I refuse to hold the saws accountable.
5 Responses to “Gettin’ Nailed”
You nailed it, ‘bro….I learned decades ago to leave the power tools to the pro’s, right after a trip to ER when doing an asphalt tile roof job for my then mother-in-law using a pneumatic staple gun. The real challenge was getting my foot and Adidas tennis shoe un-stapled from the plywood under the asphalt tile. Those 3″ long staples are freekin’ deadly, and I’ve still got the dual puncture woods above my little toe to remind me.
Nail guns don’t hurt people, people hurt people…or something like that. I work on construction job sites where I see very casual use of nail guns by seemingly smart people all the time. These same people would never casually handle a handgun like this, but the connection is lost on them when they handle nail guns….a similar disconnect is my wife who is afraid to drive the riding lawnmower, but has no problem driving 70 mph in her suburban, while talking on the phone, applying make up in the mirror, and dealing with the kids in the back seat!
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omg,the pic of the eye is hurtin’me..
Oh I was doing all right until that eye pic. I pray that is photoshopped…How could someone say “Hey, ya, I will let you take a picture instead of getting me help because there is a nail stuck in my eye, go ahead.” That guy should shoot arrows or play darts, his aim is spot on in the bullseye.