Keep the nail gun pointed at the work
Hand and power tools 5 min 29 CFR 1926.302
Why it matters
A pneumatic nailer fires faster than you can move. A finger on the trigger and the muzzle pointed at a leg, a hand, or another person is how nails end up in people. Disconnect the air to clear a jam, and leave the trip set the way this site requires.
The talk
Do not point the muzzle at anyone. That includes you. Do not point it at your leg, your free hand, or the person on the other side of the stud. A pneumatic nailer does not give you time to jump. While you walk, take your finger off the trigger. A nose that bumps your knee, a ladder, or a stud will fire if the trigger is held down. Carry the gun with the muzzle aimed at a clear spot of floor only when that is the safe direction you were shown, and never at a person. If you are not set to shoot, the finger stays off the trigger.
If the gun jams, disconnect the air before you clear it. Keep your hand off the muzzle. A nail can still leave the gun while you dig at the nose. Do not cup the nose in your palm to see if it is clear. Disconnect the hose first, then clear the jam with the tool you were given, with your hand out of the line of the muzzle. Do not leave a connected gun unattended. A gun on a bench with the air still on is live. If you set it down, disconnect the air, or do not set it down. Do not use the hose to hoist the gun up to a scaffold or a roof. Carry it or hand it up. The hose is not a lifting line.
Know which trip the gun is on. Sequential trip means the nose has to be on the work and then you pull the trigger, one nail at a time. You release and do it again for the next nail. Contact trip can fire if you hold the trigger and bump the nose. That is faster, and it is also how a bump against a leg fires a nail. If this site requires sequential trip for the work you are doing, do not switch it. Do not change it to contact trip so the nailing goes faster. Leave the gun the way the site set it for that work.
Key points
- Do not point the muzzle at anyone, including yourself.
- Take your finger off the trigger while you walk.
- Disconnect the air before you clear a jam, and keep your hand off the muzzle.
- Do not leave a connected gun unattended.
- Do not use the hose to hoist the gun.
- Sequential trip fires one nail after the nose is set and you pull the trigger.
- If the site requires sequential trip for this work, do not switch it.
Do this
- Point the muzzle only at the work, never at a person or at yourself.
- Walk with your finger off the trigger.
- Disconnect the air and keep your hand off the nose when you clear a jam.
- Disconnect a gun you are not holding.
- Leave sequential trip on if that is what this site requires for the work.
Do not do this
- Do not point the muzzle at your leg, your hand, or another person.
- Do not walk with your finger on the trigger.
- Do not clear a jam with the air connected or your hand on the muzzle.
- Do not leave a connected gun on a bench.
- Do not hoist the gun by the air hose or switch off sequential trip.
Talk about it
- Which guns on this crew are contact trip, and which work today requires sequential trip?
- Where do we disconnect the air when a gun jams?
- Who has seen a connected gun left on a bench this week?
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