Sorry about the pun, but there appears to be a very serious problem occurring in the states, so much so that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have got involved and are beginning to demand that more is to done about the growing trend for people who are carrying out home improvements, but instead of using the traditional hammer and nail, they are using the heavy duty nail guns that we see on the DIY shows and on building sites.

In fact the figures quoted by the CDC show that since 1991 the amount of nail gun related injuries has grown by over two hundred percent, with a massive 37,000 or more per year between the years 2001 and 2005, and yet with the same time frame, work related injuries for the same tool have remained the same, proving their point about the need for something to be done with the home improvement sector.

So why is there a rise in these injuries since 2001? The simple answer would have to be the availability of these tools, only in the past five years or so have the tools come down on price enough to make them affordable additions to the family home, yet these things are seriously dangerous and really do not have a place in the average home. The list of injuries are varied too, hands, feet and legs being struck by a nail fired by one of these guns.

Maybe there should government health warnings on tools of this nature, otherwise it could get out of control.

Source  [The Register]