The last thing you want to think about after getting injured at work is how you will pay for medical bills. A work accident can cause severe injuries, changing a worker’s future in a number of different ways. But no matter how seemingly minor the injuries, many workers face a recovery process that is neither cheap nor quick. Injured workers can claim workers’ compensation benefits to help with some of the financial challenges that can arise.
There are a lot of different ways that a worker can sustain injuries while on the job. Recently OSHA released a guide about nail gun safety, applicable to construction and carpentry workers no matter what state they work in.
Studies have shown that construction workers often sustain injuries from nail gun use. The guide OSHA released is intended to inform workers of how the injuries occur and how to decrease the risk of such an injury.
The guide emphasizes several different factors that can increase of injury:
- Double firing (unintentional firing)
- Contact and single actuation triggers
- Nail passing through wood (a blow-out nail)
- Nail ricocheting off of a metal object
- Failing to connect tip of nail gun with work piece
- Disabling safety features
Many of these factors can increase the risk of a nail gun injury.
For example, if a worker is handling a piece of wood and uses a nail gun, the nail could pierce through the work piece and come out the other side. If the worker happens to have his hand or leg there, injury could result.
Another concern is when the safety features of a nail gun are disabled or have been bypassed. Modifying the nail gun and removing those features can result in serious work injuries. In fact, OSHA standards require that equipment of this kind be “maintained in a safe condition”.
To read more about nail gun safety, click here.
