May 7, 2007—From 2001 to 2005, some 37,000 individuals were treated annually in emergency departments for injuries related to nail gun use, with 60 percent of those injuries occurring among workers, according to Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Among injured workers, 2005 data showed most were men, with a median age of 27 years. In 87 percent of these cases, the injury was either with a foreign body (i.e., open wound with retained nail or other object) or puncture wound (i.e., open wound, excluding those with retained foreign body).
Among 1,500 workers hospitalized for nail-gun injuries in 2005, approximately 60 percent had foreign-body injuries and 35 percent had puncture wounds, whereas overall, more patients had puncture wounds than foreign-body injuries. However, most patients with nail-gun injuries were not hospitalized; 26,900 workers (94 percent) were treated and released from emergency departments in 2005.
For more information, see the MMWR Web site.
