Nail Guns Are Number Two

After ladders, nail guns are the second most dangerous piece of construction equipment, according to The Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America. Accidents with nail guns send about 37,000 people to the emergency room each year. A post from LHSFNA’s Director of Occupational Safety and Health looks at the process by which safety standards for this technology – which many people know from the “pop! pop! pop!” they hear at roofing or construction sites – are being set, and finds it wanting. Among the issues: how the standards characterize the relative safety of “sequential” over “contact” triggers, and how much weight is being given to an industry trade group vs. input from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America is a consortium with both management and labor trustees.