Decades of research and calls for more nail gun safety

April 1987: University of British Columbia medical researchers John Le Nobel and Peter Wing identified 1,977 nail gun injuries between 1973-1982 from claims filed with British Columbia's Workers Compensation Board. They investigated 32 cases where men shot nails into their knees, reporting their findings and expressing concerns in Clinical Orthpaedics. A third were hurt during their first week using the tool. The researchers called for more training and "stricter regulation," recommending: "a triggering method that would permit only single firing of nails, rather than a rapid succession, would improve safety."

October 1992: Drs. Nick Kenny, PR Kay, and JF Haines of the Orthopaedic Surgery Department at Trafford General Hospital in Manchester, England, report in the British Journal of Hand Surgery on three cases of nail gun injury to the non-dominant hand. They stress the tool's hazards and discuss possible complications of surgical nail removal.

December 1993: Drs. Kenny, Haines and Donal O'Donaghue, report that during a 14-month period, the emergency department saw 12 patients with industrial nail guns injuries.

"Some patients said that the contact pressure required to activate the gun was low, and occasionally a gun would misfire with simple movement through space and without being in contact with a solid structure."

"All patients required surgical removal of the nails, which in some cases had penetrated deeply. … All patients stated that they had received training in the use of nail guns but they considered it inadequate.

"The pattern of these injuries … suggest that the safety mechanisms on the guns and the protective clothing worn by operators of the guns do not prevent injuries. We call for a review of operator training and the design of both the safety mechanisms and the protective clothing worn by operators."

March 1995: Doctors at the Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee, writing in the Journal of Trauma, discuss the case of a 32-year-old man who shot himself in the heart, lung and aorta with a nail gun after a co-worker accidentally hit his nail gun with a beam. Authors (Kenneth W. Kizer, then of the UC Davis School of Medicine, and three others) conclude: "Given the remote settings in which these devices are often used, we would concur with (Dr. Nick) Kenny's suggestions that increased attention be directed toward the prevention of nail gun injuries through enhanced operator training and a review of the device's safety mechanisms."

September 1996: Two doctors from the University of Texas Health Science Center report four consecutive cases of nail gun injuries to the eye. Three of four recovered good vision after surgery. They nevertheless recommend using safety glasses and adhering to safety precautions, saying such injuries can have "disastrous visual consequences."

July 1997: In the Journal of Trauma, Dr. Giampiero Alberico of the Emergency Department of S. Massimo Hospital in Penne, Italy, describes the case of a 54-year-old hurt while trying to attach metal plates to a wall in his yard with a nail gun. The man felt a sharp pain in his neck and fell to the ground. He thought he was hit by concrete fragment, but an X-ray found a nail entered his neck and became lodged in his lung. "Additional safety mechanisms should be introduced to reduce the risk of injuries," he wrote

December 1999: Drs. Anne-Corinne Beaver and Michael L. Cheatham of the Surgical Education Department at the Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida report in the American Surgeon that during a 20-month period, eight patients were admitted to their Level I trauma center with potentially life-threatening nail gun injuries to their brain, eye, neck, heart, lung and femoral artery.

They say that nail guns have "significant potential for causing severe debilitating injury and death." These findings, they add, indicate a need for improved safety features and user education. They also predict: "The incidence of nail gun injuries will likely continue to rise with increased use of these tools by both the construction industry and the weekend do-it-yourselfer. … Manufacture of nail guns with permanent safety features and improved training of nail gun operators is warranted."