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Toolbox Talks

Only a trained worker fires that tool

Only a trained worker fires that tool

Hand and power tools 5 min 29 CFR 1926.302

Carpentry, Ironwork, Electrical

Why it matters

Only a worker trained on that tool uses a powder-actuated tool. Do not load it until just before the shot, and do not leave it loaded and alone. Keep the muzzle against the work. Do not use it where vapors can burn, in material that chips, or through a wall you have not checked.

The talk

Only a worker trained on that tool uses a powder-actuated tool. Watching somebody else use it is not the training. If you were not trained on this tool, you do not load it and you do not fire it. The trained worker still treats it as a tool that can send a fastener where it was not meant to go. Do not load it until just before the shot. A loaded tool on a ledge is a tool someone else can bump. Do not leave it loaded and unattended. If you stop to measure or to clear people, unload it the way you were trained, or keep it in your hands. 1926.302 is the rule that keeps this tool with a trained worker.

Do not use it where the air can burn. Vapors from a solvent, a fuel, or a coating can sit in a pit, a closed room, or a low corner. If those vapors are there, this tool stays in the box. Do not drive a fastener into very hard or brittle material that can chip. A chip flies. So can a fastener that does not hold. Do not drive through a wall unless you know what is on the other side and the work is backed. Backed means something solid is behind the surface so the fastener does not come out the far side. If you do not know who is on the other side, you do not take the shot.

Keep the muzzle against the work. A tool held off the surface can fire into the open. If it misfires, follow the training for that tool. Do not point it at anyone while you figure it out. Do not look down the muzzle. Do not hand it to a partner who was not trained and ask what they think. Keep it pointed at the work, or pointed the way the training says a misfire is handled, and keep people out of that path. When the shot is done, check that the fastener set before anyone hangs work on it. A fastener that did not hold can let go later. Say so. Do not cover a bad shot by saying it felt fine.

Key points

  1. Only a worker trained on that tool uses a powder-actuated tool.
  2. Do not load it until just before the shot.
  3. Do not leave it loaded and unattended.
  4. Do not use it where vapors can burn.
  5. Do not drive a fastener into very hard or brittle material that can chip.
  6. Do not shoot through a wall unless you know the other side and the work is backed.
  7. Keep the muzzle against the work. On a misfire, follow your training and point it at no one.

Do this

  • Let only the worker trained on that tool load it and fire it.
  • Load it just before the shot, and do not leave it loaded and alone.
  • Know the other side of a wall, and that the work is backed, before you drive through.
  • Keep the muzzle against the work.
  • Follow that tool's training on a misfire, and keep the muzzle off people.

Do not do this

  • Do not use a powder-actuated tool you were not trained on.
  • Do not use it in a place where vapors can burn.
  • Do not drive a fastener into very hard or brittle material that can chip.
  • Do not shoot through a wall when you do not know the other side.
  • Do not point the tool at anyone while you deal with a misfire.

Talk about it

  1. Who on this crew is trained on the powder-actuated tool we have today?
  2. What is on the other side of the surface we might fasten, and is that work backed?
  3. If the tool misfires, what did the training say to do, and where will the muzzle point?

This is a short crew briefing. It does not replace a competent person, training, or the law.

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