Nail Gun Accidents (* X-rays *)

[Don Abele]

As was requested, here are some x-rays I've gathered together over the years showing the results of nail gun accidents. All of these are real x-rays. These are posted as reminders that we all need to be careful out there; whether actually using them, working near them, or just passing by. These 8 people were lucky enough to survive their accidents, many with little residual side effects.

Be well (and safe),

Doc

Here are the accompanying stories (edited to shorten post):

1: A 58-year-old carpenter was working while a colleague working above him fired nails into a board. The board broke, accidentally propelling a galvanized nail into the patient's skull. He presented without any evidence of brain damage. The nail was removed and he remains well with no ill effects.

2: A nail gun blasted a 3-inch nail right through the top of his head, piercing his brain from one side to the other. In a delicate, hour-long operation, doctors were able to remove the nail. To their amazement, no evidence of brain damage was found. The victim is expected to return to work within a week.

3: A 30 year-old construction worker was working when a nail from the nail gun he was using ricocheted off a slab of concrete and lodged itself in his brain. The worker remained conscious, and amazingly in little pain, during the transit to the hospital. Once there surgeons took 2 hours to remove the nail. Post operatively he showed no deficits and had an excellent prognosis for full recovery.

4: A 31 year-old construction worker underwent emergency surgery to remove a 3 inch nail from his right wrist. The worker was nailing a joist above his head, holding it with his right hand, when the nail gun slipped firing the nail into his wrist, below his thumb. The tip of the nail was visible just under the skin surface while the head protruded out the other side. The nail immobilzed his wrist by fusing 3 bones together. Surgeons were able to remove the nail and suspect full recovery.

5: A 27 year-old man inadvertently discharged a nail gun into the thumb of his left hand. The nail traversed the thumb. Movement of the joint was present but limited. Radiographs revealed that the retained nail was above the bone with no evidence of an associated fracture.

6: A 23 year-old worker was shot with a nail when the nail gun his father was using accidentally discharged, shooting a three and a half inch nail into his left femur. When the paramedics arrived at the scene, they found him conscious and alert though unable to bend his leg. The Fire Chief said they were able to stabilize his leg and transported him to a Boston-area hospital where surgeons removed the nail during a 3 hour operation. His recovery is expected to take some time.

7: A 25 year-old man presented to the emergency room with a nail penetrating through his left foot and shoe. X-ray revealed the nail passing through the soft tissue of the left great toe. No boney involvement was noted. The nail was removed under general anasthesia in the operating room. He has made a full recovery.

8: A 41 year-old man pinned four of his toes together on his left foot during a nail gun accident. The man was framing holding the board down with his left foot, he attempted to fire a nail into the board using a "bump and fire" technique. He missed the board and fired the nail into his foot. Due to the force of the gun firing, it bounced off his boot then struck his foot again, firing a second nail into his foot. Both nails went through his boot. He was able to remove his boot and noted the heads of the two 4-inch long nails.

And now...the X-rays...

[Waymon Campbell]

Don - As one who had a near miss thru the finger, but missing the bone, I appreciate the reminder.

Waymon...

[Ted Calver]

So....does #7 qualify as a hangnail??

[Mike Scoggins]

Don,

Thanks for sharing these. A great reminder that all tools should be used only with a dose of healthy respect.

So I guess number 8 had never heard: "Never make the same mistake twice."

Mike

[Todd Burch]

Thanks Doc. Gives me shudders... Yikes!

I went to the doc today. Updated my tetanus shot, no infection, x-ray showed healthy bones with no chips. Finger is still stiff, but becoming more usable (I'm even typing with it this evening!)

[Charles McKinley]

Thanks Doc,

As Number 8 shows the bump trigger should be replaced with a single trip trigger. This can be done with little or no cost. Especially considering the cost of an errant second nail.

Work safe,

[Jason Roehl]

Thanks Doc,

As Number 8 shows the bump trigger should be replaced with a single trip trigger. This can be done with little or no cost. Especially considering the cost of an errant second nail.

Work safe,

I believe the companies out there are required to provide a "sequential-trip" trigger at no additional cost. My framer came with one, but I had to install it (5 minutes with a pin punch and a hammer).

[Keith Starosta]

Picture #8 could definitely qualify in the catagory of "Adding Insult To Injury". Bad luck there. Thanks for the shivers, Doc!

Keith

[Don Abele]

Porter Cable offers the saftey triggers (red in color) for their nail guns free of charge. Just call and give them your model number. I replaced the triggers on my 2 framers with them. I'm sure the other companies do the same. But remember, even with the safety trigger (and a working nose/tip safety) accidents still happen.

Be well,

Doc

[Bill Grumbine]

Thanks Doc,

As Number 8 shows the bump trigger should be replaced with a single trip trigger. This can be done with little or no cost. Especially considering the cost of an errant second nail.

Work safe,

Actually, the bump trigger should be replaced with a little common sense!!! Why on earth would anyone want to speed up the process when they are nailing so close to body parts?

Reading through this I can see that a number of these instances were genuine accidents, whether self inflicted or not, but some, like this one, are just sheer stupidity. It reminds me of the number of people I know who sawed into their leg with a circular saw because they:

A) had to stand on one foot while balancing the board on the other raised leg while making the cut

and

B) had to demonstrate their machismo by shoving the saw through the board as fast as possible.

Ditto for idiots who start their chainsaws by yanking the cord in one direction while yanking the saw in the other.

Why is anyone surprised when people who work like this end up in the hospital? Why do we cry out for more safety devices that often add to the cost and decrease the efficiency of a tool because of people who are going to defeat those safety devices anyway with a lack of forethought?

We all have an accident sooner or later. Some of us are more fortunate than others in that we escape with less of an injury. Some accidents are not preventable, but most are due to poor work habits, lack of planning, whatever. My worst injury in the shop to date required six stitches, and I was doing something stupid. I should have known better, and I did know better, but I chose to do the stupid thing because it was more convenient, and saved me a few minutes of time. HA! I lost all sorts of time going to the doctor, getting sewn up, and then recovering and healing up. And I was fortunate that all I have is a scar, which is right there on my hand to remind me, "You'd better not do something stupid again".

I once saw a sig line that said, "The difference between genius and stupidity is that there is no limit to stupidity". How true that is, and we all suffer from it from time to time, but in the end analysis, the best safety device we have is between our ears.

Sorry that this turned into a rant, but not sorry enough to delete it. ;) Oh and Chuck, this isn't directed at you, I just found your comment convenient to tag on to.

Bill

[Glenn Clabo]

The combination of intelligence in different people has less impact than the combination of stupidity, because non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid people.
Livraghi

[Rob Russell]

Ditto for idiots who start their chainsaws by yanking the cord in one direction while yanking the saw in the other.



How about the ones who starting their chain saw by holding on to the cord and DROPPING the saw?

Gives me the willies just thinking about it.

[Rick Prevett]

Two words.

Heebie. Jeebies.

rick
-who doesn't even work with the danged things-

[Stan Smith]

Well Doc, a common thread was that there was no brain damage. I guess that presupposes something? Okay, I'm sorry, it's not funny. I was making some cubbies for my tools out of wafer board scrap. I was holding two pieces together and shot a finishing nail through the tip of my finger. I'm only surmising that a brain scan taken of my head immediately prior to the accident would have shown a blank space where my brain was supposed to be. I was also glad that it was only a brad.

Stan

[Chris Padilla]

Rick got it right...yowzer....

Doc, I see no deviaton of the nail from its intended path. Not even bone deters it! All these nails look perfectly straight.

Wow...powerful tools...powerful tools....

[Lynn Kasdorf]

begin hideous tale...

This reminds me of the story, perhaps an urban legend, about a guy was found dead with several dozen holes drilled in his head, and an electric drill nearby.

One can only imagine that this poor soul decided to end it all by drilling a hole in his head. Imagine his chagrin when he completed the hole and realized that he was still alive! So he drills another and another and eventually discovers that you can live with large sections of your brain missing. He eventually bled to death.

...end hideous tale

Regarding those nail gun accidents- I notice that they all recovered nicely. Pretty amazing. So I guess I dont need to be THAT careful...
:rolleyes:

Thanks for the post and the reminder. I'm doing some rennovation currently and using my PC nailer (with the single shot trigger!!).

[John Shuk]

Owwwwwwww!

[Don Abele]

I've had a few people ask why the nail didn't shatter the bones. I knew it was because of the force and speed it exits the gun and small penetrating surface area, but I wanted more specifics and here's what I found:

A pneumatic nailer firing nails at 120 psi can produce exit velocities of up to 1400 feet per second - that's 954 miles per hour!!!

By the way, Mach 1 (the speed of sound) is only 1116.4 feet per second (at sea level).

A-MA-ZING...

Be well,

Doc

[Jason Roehl]

I've had a few people ask why the nail didn't shatter the bones. I knew it was because of the force and speed it exits the gun and small penetrating surface area, but I wanted more specifics and here's what I found:

A pneumatic nailer firing nails at 120 psi can produce exit velocities of up to 1400 feet per second - that's 954 miles per hour!!!

By the way, Mach 1 (the speed of sound) is only 1116.4 feet per second (at sea level).

A-MA-ZING...

Be well,

Doc

Just to put that in perspective, many handguns fire at around that velocity and even less. A typical .45 caliber round is around 900 fps.

Although, most pneumatic nailers I've seen are only rated for 100psi, 120 psi would dramatically shorten their life. (I'm in the trades, so I've seen quite a few).

[Scott Neblung]

Don,

Thanks for posting the write up and the pics too.

I just saved it all and forwarded it to our companies safety personel who will distribute it to others....with the suggestion that it be a *tool box safety discussion item* for next week.

I think it's well worth the guys actually seeing what they could be going to a hospital to have removed rather than preaching it.

This will be seen and talked about by well over 120 field hands in my company alone....likely more.

Thanks again....

Scott

[Chris Padilla]

This is good one to bump up now and then! :D

Note that the date of the last post was over 4 years ago! :)

[Mike Monroe]

As one who has scar in the palm of my left hand from a Senco propelled 16d nail, I can relate. Ouch, ouch, and ouch!

[Brad Shipton]

This is the reason Hilti nailers that shoot thru steel for decking have sensors to tell if there is steel below or not.

Brad

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Don, Thanks for the safety reminder. The warning extends to all the tools we use in our hobby/job as a reminder to be always on guard and to listen to our "little warning voice". Alan

[Tim Morton]

I am going to pose a question....how come in #8 the foot looks to be in a natural flexed state? I would think that shooting 2 nails thru your foot would cause the bones to snug together:confused::confused: And It seems unlikely that the 2 nails would be so symmetrical...i call photoshop on that one.

[Bill Wyko]

Picture #4 I did the exact same thing when I was a framer. The tip of the saftey hit the top plate and the nail went through the air and right through my hand. No x-rays. Boss said pull it out and get back to work if you want a job.:mad: Hurt like hell for weeks after that. I'd be willing to bet that person did the exact same thing.

[Ben Grunow]

Nah Ted, thats just a regular toe nail.

[Per Swenson]

Just a thought,

The number of Hospital and Urgent Care visits is

no where close to the actual number of nail gun punctures.

Granted getting nailed in the noggin is gonna need some attention,

but, I have witnessed loads of appendage punctures just shaken

off.

Per

[Jacob Reverb]

I bet #6 was a bit uncomfortable! :eek:

[Don Abele]

I am going to pose a question....how come in #8 the foot looks to be in a natural flexed state? I would think that shooting 2 nails thru your foot would cause the bones to snug together:confused::confused: And It seems unlikely that the 2 nails would be so symmetrical...i call photoshop on that one.

Tim, the nails were fired in sequence using the "bump" technique. In post #18 I explained why it didn't shatter the bones.


...A pneumatic nailer firing nails at 120 psi can produce exit velocities of up to 1400 feet per second - that's 954 miles per hour!!!...

Trust me, these are all real x-rays I collected during my 10 years of practice. Most came from medical journals, a few from seminars. I even have a couple from my patients as well.

Be well,

Doc

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Doc,

While waiting to be drafted in 1967-68 one of the many jobs I had as I job hopped looking for that high paying job all teens want, was working in a chair factory where they manufactured upholstered chairs. I worked in the framing department where the frames were assembled. I've stapled the first two fingers on both my left and right hands together with 2 1/4" staples. The first time I went to the ER for the removal. The 2nd time I cut the head of the staple off with a pair of diagonal cutters.slid my finger off the staple remanants still attached to the chair frame..removed the two pieces of staple from the frame and continued working. Later on a break, I cleaned the wound, pour mecurochrome (sp?) on it and covered it with a bandaid. It's amazing how fast that can happen....the pneumatic staple gun bounced both times and fired a 2nd time....even though it had a safety on the nose of the gun.

[Don Abele]

Ken, safety noses are only one additional layer of safety but do not prevent double firing, especially when shooting larger nails/staples at higher pressures. The kickback pushes the gun away and your natural instinct is to push back (with finger still on the trigger).

I respect the power of my nailers and have shot thousands of framing nails - I NEVER bump fire (mainly because I don't want to have to post my own x-ray :o).

I'm currently in the middle of a home remodel and was framing a new wall several weeks ago. I was in a tight spot and the nailer bounced back, hit the adjacent stud and bounce back forward. As is a common statement, "it happened so fast"...I wound up with 3 nails in the stud :eek: Well, at least it won't move now.

Be well (and stay safe),

Doc

[Chris Padilla]

Doc,

At least you can also move...away from it...since you weren't tethered to the wall! ;)

[Chris Holder]

Just a thought,

The number of Hospital and Urgent Care visits is

no where close to the actual number of nail gun punctures.

Granted getting nailed in the noggin is gonna need some attention,

but, I have witnessed loads of appendage punctures just shaken

off.

Per

As one who shot through the meaty part of his heel with a roofing nailer, I can appreciate that. Yet my foolishness knew no bounds in that, in addition to simply pulling it out, I refused to get a tetanus shot. Lucky I didn't get blood poisoning.

[Roger Warford]

Thanks Don for the original post (in 2004!) and Chris for reviving it. I stumbled across this sometime ago while lurking in the shallows. As one new to WW and all the cool toys I never dreamed my nail gun was so dangerous! This was a good reminder to respect ALL power tools.

I don't do any framing, but stick to smaller brads and staples. Yet even with those I'd prefer not to find myself more attached to my work than I had intended! :eek: I've already learned to keep my hands away from the side of the piece I'm nailing. Seems some of those brads have a mind of their own and will make a right turn half way in, looking for escape! :eek: A couple of close calls have been enough to keep me very mindful now.

But now that I think about it, even a hammer in my hands tends to be a bit dangerous. I've probably had more injuries from it than any other tool! :rolleyes:

[Bill Edwards(2)]

This guy was touting this as safe: :eek:

http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/FR8/28W3/F5FEUBVL/FR828W3F5FEUBVL.MEDIUM.jpg

[Peter Kuhlman]

I have witnessed this a few times. Was in the emergency room myself for a stupid mistake sawing old painted boards and got a paint chip in my eye - no safety glasses!! Any how, a guy shows up, with a leather glove on his left hand and a framing nail sticking out both sides. Luckily, he missed the bone. Amazingly, no blood at all. This is a very common accident. What kind of scares me is my 23 guage pin nailer. It is a Senco and has absolutly no safeties. It will fire every time I pull the trigger. Had a couple near hits when picking it up and almost shooting myself in the leg.
Pete

[Don Abele]

Bill, that appears to be one of those small propane cylinders used for camping equipment. Here's a good one for them. They sell (quite legally) an adapter that allows you to refill them from a larger propane cylinder. Now, here's where it gets dicey...ALL of the small cylinders I have ever used (and I do a lot of camping) all say NOT to refill them! Amazing.

Be well,

Doc

[Paul Girouard]

Ugh this is a old thread , I'd delete it if it where mine. I don't even want to think about what "could " happen with a nail gun . I know it does happen , but this is fear mongering , spine chilling , sicking ,etc.

Can't we just "know" that shooting ones self or being shot is bad:confused: :(

I don't really want to even think about it , really ! I use to many nail guns , and I KNOW , like all power tools / tools in general / heavy things / they ALL have one mission , to hurt anyone who takes them ( collectively or alone ) lighty!

As Don sez , Be safe , ;)

[Chris Padilla]

Seems some of those brads have a mind of their own and will make a right turn half way in, looking for escape!

Roger, actually due to their size, the grain of the wood can deflect them. Wood like oak that has early and late growth (one is much denser than the other) are CLASSIC for deflecting these small brads. That is one good reason to not use you hand close to where you are nailing because you might just get a nasty surprise.

However, I've had brads deflect when nailing MDF, too, so in general, it pays to keep your mitts away from the general area you are nailing.

[Don Orr]

I'm one of the guys on the other end of these X-Rays, the Tech. I've seen a few of these accidents in person. Had a guy who drove a 2" staple into his elbow. Not sure how though. He ended up doing OK.( I didn't do X-Ray for long before I got into CAT Scan & MRI.) You colud always tell when the first heavy wet snow hit-guys with bloody wrapped up hands from putting them in snowblowers in the ER for Xrays and more. One guy came in with his hand all wraped up and told me it was from his tablesaw. Then he kind of hung his head and admitted it was not the first time:(. Crazy stuff.

Sure makes me extra careful, thanks for the reminder.

[Matt Newton]

I'm a firefighter, and as my 9 year old son likes to tell me, "If it wasn't for stupid people you wouldn't have a job." :D Oh, and by the way, I've managed to hit appendages with my brad nailer on several occations. I guess I'm not getting any smarter:(

[Tim Morton]

Tim, the nails were fired in sequence using the "bump" technique. In post #18 I explained why it didn't shatter the bones.


Doc

I wasn't questioning the bones breaking...I was questioning that the nails looked to perfectly aligned as if the foot wouldn't have moved at all after the first shot, and I was also questioning why there was a normal amount of gap between the toes and the nail didn't cinch them together closer. But I said all this before I read that you were doctor and got these from another doctor that you know. I assumed you came up with these on the internet.

[Jim Dunn]

Why did it take longer to remove the nail from the leg than the brain? I guess an orthopedist makes more money the longer the job takes?

Make me look at my nail guns with renewed respect. I think it's really the compressors fault:)

[Danny Thompson]

Momma . . . ?

[J. Z. Guest]

Well, thanks for doing a post that makes me NOT want to buy a tool! :D

I'll never have a nailer like that. Maybe a small electric brad nailer.

It does seem that people only shoot themselves with the huge framing nailers. I never see X-rays of people who've shot themselves with an 18 ga. brad nailer. Weird.