nail guns or hammers safer?

[Tim Cleary]

This may be a better question for the JLC guys, but I was wondering if anyone is aware of any statistics on the relative safety or injury rate of nail guns vs. hammers. I do have nail gun safety stats but not hammers.

The reason I ask is that one of the habitat chapters I work with has a no nail gun policy. As someone who has used nail guns forever, I find this endlessly annoying - anyone remember assembling stud walls by hand? Ugh.

But they claim it is a safety issue - can anyone prove otherwise? Also from personal experience, what do you find safer?
Thanks

[Bill White]

Let me put it like this:
I've beaten the crap out of my fingers with my hammer.
I've NEVER (yet) shot myself with the nail/staple guns, and I have 5 of 'em.
Bill

[Mitchell Andrus]

Same here. Hammer - 2, nail gun - 0.

Though... I've gotten a blister on the side of my index finger from using a nail gun for too many hours. 'zat count?.
.

[Karl Brogger]

Do they have a rule for being on a roof? or stradling wobbly trusses when nailing up bracing? or walking across the top plate? All things I'm sure are way more dangerous statistically than nail gun. Heck, I know a guy who stapled his hand to the roof to keep from falling off the back of a two story walkout. Try doing that with a hammer!

Sounds like a pack of idiots to me.

[David Peterson MN]

Definitely the hammer is more dangerous. It has bit me many times but the nail gun has yet to break the flesh. I am sure they had a nail gun injury in the past and that is why the policy is in place. Someone probably was using a nail gun for the first time and shot the nail at a bad angle through the stud and into their hand. That same person would probably hit their fingers with a hammer a dozen times in a day.

[Radek Kowalski]

I think the issue may be with safety for the others. You can hit yourself in the hand with a hammer, it it much harder to hit someone else in the hand. I understand the issue of falling hammers, I know how that goes. A nail gun can hurt the operator plus others around.

[David DeCristoforo]

I have never shot myself (or anyone else) with a hammer. I have never smashed a finger with a nail gun. Which one should we fear most?

[Bob Chapman]

This almost never happens when using a hammer
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2005-01-16-nail-skull_x.htm
I worked for an RV manufacturer for over 30 years and I was always amazed at how frequently someone would staple their finger. These were experienced people with training on their tools and regular refresher training! I believe it was a combination of rushing to get the job done and “familiarity breeds contempt.”
I can completely understand not allowing volunteers handle a nail gun.

[John Coloccia]

I'll wager that if they were called "fastener drivers", no one would object. But you want to use a nail GUN. Are you crazy?? LOL.

That's my guess. I can think of a lot of general construction tasks way more likely to injure yourself and others than a nail gu...er.....fastener driver.

Fact is, though, sure they can be dangerous. My old style, spring loaded staple gun will shoot staples across the room at high speed, enough to cut someone (don't ask how I know) and certainly enough to seriously injure you if it nails you in the eye. The question is "how dangerous"? I'll guess that more people get hurt climbing up ladders than getting bit by a nail gun.

[Jim Rimmer]

As many have pointed out, any task can be dangerous. Why HH has ruled out nail guns you'll probably never know. But given everything else that can happen on a construction site if you're not careful, maybe they should consider not doing what they do if they are that concerned with one tool.

[Cary Falk]

I have been tagged with a nail that hit some grain and shot out the side of a project into my finger. I have smashed my fingers into hamburger many a times with a shingling hatchet. I would say the hammer is more dangerous.

[Bob Vallaster]

The discussion hasn't addressed Tim's essential question which asked for statistics on the relative safety of nails gun vs hammer.
A search using 'nail gun injury statistics' shed some light. Looks like there's research to indicate that while injuries among tradesmen (framers, case-builders) has remained constant for a long while, there's been a surge in injuries to hobbyists, probably associated with lower prices and greater access to these tools. Links:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5614a2.htm
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/data.html (3rd from bottom of page)

As might be expected, most research spoke ill of guns which did not have sequential triggers (nose depressed to enable firing at trigger pull).

I'll speculate the board of directors or construction manager for Tim's local HH chapter knows most volunteers do not have background in the building trades and are likely ignorant of nail gun hazards. (Volunteers likened to the hobbyists remarked in research.) The simple route is to avoid the hazard by avoiding the tool. The bonus is cost avoidance; HH can buy buckets of hammers for the cost of a nail gun and compressor. The penalty is time consumed to nail, to set (finish nails) and to repair work spoiled by errant hammer blows. (Labor is free in the HH context.)
Another route (used by the HH chapter I have worked with) is to provide safety glasses, instruction and supervision with the tool. Yes, the chapter owns nail guns & compressors... and volunteers use them. I and other volunteers bring our own on occasion. The instruction looks like this OSHA tip sheet: http://www.osha.gov/Publications/nail-gun.html. The bonus is productivity/speed/uniformity.

As for hammer research, you're on your own, Tim.

BobV

[Michael Schwartz]

If you wear proper eye protection the potential for life changing injuries from a finish/brad nailer are pretty much zero.

Framing guns are a bit more dangerous but so hammers that get thrown or dropped by mistake etc...

I would imagine driving to a job sight one single day is probably more dangerous than a career of nail gun use.

[Chris Tsutsui]

I'm going to have to say that a nail gun is more dangerous than a hammer.

If you put a nail in and the nail deflects off a hidden knot and comes out the side into your hand or finger.

You nail fast, and put a nail into your finger. All it takes is a split second and the pull of a trigger.

I even saw a guy tape back the nozzle and fire nails across the room, yes he is a moron for doing that.

The gun can also malfunction, it's definitely more complicated than a hammer. Brads are small and achieve high velocities, you've got high pressure air, and then there's the chance of user error.

With a hammer, i'm going to have to say injuries are mostly user error.

[Rick Fisher]

I have shot myself with a brad nailer.. and hit a thumb with a hammer..

I would take shooting myself with a brad nailer any day..

Hammers hurt..