Excessive nails are often used on construction projects. Nails are certainly essential for many construction projects that involve wood materials that are used for such things as framing a building. Many sites while inspecting for stormwater compliance, we often see nails scattered aimlessly throughout a project. Sometimes we may think there are as many nails on the ground as it may have taken to complete the project. Welcome to our final blog in our June safety month series.
We certainly understand how dangerous nails can be. It is estimated that more than 100 billion nails are used each year in the United States. Every time a construction worker uses a nail gun, it creates a high degree for possible injury. One OSHA study recently performed that 2 out of 5 residential carpenter apprentices experienced a nail gun injury over a four-year period. The Bureau of Labor Statistics informs us the construction industry has reported in the past over 140,000 hand injuries alone.
Using nails, and especially a nail gun during construction projects can be dangerous. Here are five things you can do to reduce workers risk for injury.
- Keep hammer clean and handle free from being split or damaged.
- Keep nail gun equipment, supply lines for air, and electricity lines for the gun in good shape and maintained.
- Ensure the nail gun safety and trigger functions properly.
- Ensure materials being nailed will property seat and become secure.
- Carefully discard used nails in the appropriate receptacle for disposal.
There are many reasons why nails might end up on the ground, and unfortunately most just cannot be avoided. Falling out of a worker’s pouch is the first culprit. This frequently happens due to the active work of climbing ladders and high frequency movement from place to place on a particular work site. Many times, nails are accidently hit by the hammer and kick out so to speak and fly away. As previously mentioned, working with a nail gun is certainly dangerous and probably the most used mechanical device on a vertical construction project.
Nail guns are highly productive and can also from time-to-time jam or miss fire. A jammed nail gun sometimes requires disassembling to discover the reason for the jam. At this time, most likely the current line of nails or the nail coil is removed and in many cases these nails are likely to be discarded. To reset the nail gun, a fresh new set of nails is reinserted to resume the work.
Nails can become a continued hazard if they become accidentally abandoned on the construction site and eventually reside in their final resting place for a long period of time. Most nails that are used during construction, particularly for the internal framing of homes or buildings have a high degree to rust or become corroded. Workers should ensure they have adequate footwear so a nail will not penetrate their foot while traversing a construction site.
KCI is a professional organization focused on helping construction and industrial clients maintain stormwater compliance. When you use us for your stormwater management, you can be assured we will always take safety seriously. Call us today 888-346-7779.
