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611 Nail Gun Safety
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Nail Gun Best Practices

Always disconnect the compressed air when:

  • leaving a nailer unattended
  • traveling up and down a ladder or stairs
  • passing the nail gun to a co-worker
  • clearing jammed nails
  • performing any other maintenance on the nail gun
Nail Gun Safety - JSI

Recognize the dangers of awkward position work and provide extra time and precautions:

  • Use a hammer if you cannot reach the work while holding the nailer with your dominant hand.
  • Use a hammer or full sequential trigger nailer when working in a tight space. Recoil is more difficult to control and double fires could occur with contact triggers.
  • Take extra care with toe-nailing. Nail guns can slip before or during firing because the gun cannot be held against the work piece. Use the trigger to fire ONLY after the safety contact piece is positioned.

Recognize the dangers of nail gun work at height and provide extra time and precautions:

  • Set up jobs to minimize the need for nailing at height.
  • Consider using scaffolds instead of ladders.
  • If work must be done on ladders, use full sequential trigger nailers to prevent nail gun injuries which could happen from bumping a leg while climbing up or down a ladder.
  • Position ladders so you don't have to reach too far. Your belt buckle should stay between the side rails when reaching to the side.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

2-4. What type of nail gun should be used while working on ladders?