The workplace should be an area of safety for all employees. Employers are required to not only provide adequate protection from possible harm that might befall workers amid potentially dangerous circumstances, but they must also train all employees on equipment that could be detrimental to safety if not used in the right way.
Safety is especially important when it comes to nail guns. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that 37,000 people have to seek treatment at an emergency room every single year because they sustained an injury related to a nail gun. These fairly common devices could pose a host of safety hazards. Not using the proper precautions could result in a nail discharging without the user meaning to pull the trigger, a nail could be used on an inappropriate surface and go careening around the area, or certain safety features might even be deactivated in a bid to unnecessarily increase productivity. Thankfully, a new report provides some insight into how to safely use these devices.
Employers need to take steps to make sure that certain safety measures haven’t been disabled. Many nail guns now come with what’s known as a full sequential trigger. This basically ensures that the individual has to pull the trigger every time they want to nail something. However, it’s possible to tinker with components in a bid to enable constant firing. What you might gain in speed, though, would be lost in safety, and injuries can more easily present themselves the faster a job is carried out. It’s up to employers to do what they can to educate about this important safety issue, and it’s up to employees to check the nail gun every time they work.
The company should also instruct employees as to how to operate these devices. This training should offer an in-depth look at proper working procedures and illuminate workers as to what could go wrong. Such instruction should be available in multiple languages in order to accommodate persons who don’t speak English as their primary language. Training should also enlighten workers as to unique procedures that might be geared toward each specific workplace. Enacted policies should be followed by workers at all times, and any circumvention of these rules ought to be corrected at once.
Workers also need to be given adequate safety equipment, including things like eye and hearing protection. Certain shoes might be worn so as to further protect a worker’s feet from a stray nail. And finally, workers should understand reporting policies and be encouraged to report any incidents.