The Miami injury firm of Klemick and Gampel specializes in helping the workers of Miami, Coral Gables and all of South Florida receive fair compensation for injuries that were sustained on construction sites. If you or a loved one has been injured on one of the hundreds of jobsites all over Miami and South Florida, contact the Miami offices of Klemick and Gampel today.
Nail guns are one of the many things that have made life on South Florida construction sites a lot easier. They save time, they save wear and tear on your arm, and they get the job done much quicker than the traditional hammer. They also are able to easily handle surfaces that were problematic and backbreaking a decade ago. They can get nails into steel and concrete, which took a lot more effort back in the day. Now you just pull the trigger.
But with all the ease of use, many workers have a tendency to forget that the operative word of the tool is “gun.” Some nail guns use compressed air to drive nails, but others use an explosive charge. In other words, gunpowder. These nails travel just as fast as a bullet fired from the barrel of a gun.
A co-worker that is careless with a nail gun is just as dangerous as someone who is careless with a loaded fire arm. If you think of all the damage that a bullet can do to a person, equal damage can be done with a nail gun.
Most nail gun injuries occur to the hand, and while that might seem to be no big deal, you should consider that every person on a construction site works with his or her hands. A nail driven into the hand can cause permanent damage that can prevent you from getting back to work.
There are also other injuries to the body to consider. Construction workers have suffered eye injuries, back injuries, head and brain injuries, soft tissue injuries, and even death. You can also consider that many of the nails are coated with copper wiring or other materials, which can very easily cause blood infection.
Another thing to consider is that nails shot from a nail gun can and will go through weaker surfaces like plywood, and they can and will ricochet. Again, in that respect, they are very much like bullets.
You would think that proper warnings and training would be par for the course for anyone who needs to handle a nail gun, but this is not the case. Many workers are simply handled nail guns and told to “get to work,” or a given the minimum of training. Considering the damage that a nail gun can do, this is wholly inadequate.
Another common cause of nail gun accidents is that often, contractors and site managers value speed over safety. Many of the nail guns are built with a “hair trigger,” which is great for fast work, but it often results in a gun that goes off at the slightest bump. A conscientious site manager would make sure that any nail guns on the premises have proper safety devices, like sequential trip triggers. A series of actions have to occur for this gun to fire, which means that there are very rarely any accidents involved in their use.
At Klemick and Gampel, we make it a point to offer dedicated and experienced legal counsel to those who have been injured on construction sites in Miami and South Florida. We have been involved in protection construction workers long enough to know that accidents on job sites don’t just happen as much as they are caused. In other words, the great majority of construction accidents occurred because someone wasn’t paying attention, didn’t follow procedure, or was given responsibility that he simply wasn’t ready for.
By its very nature, construction is a dangerous line of work. And since a construction accident practically guarantees a hospital stay and serious rehabilitative therapy, every consideration should be given to the safety of the workers.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a construction accident in Miami or South Florida, contact Klemick and Gampel for a free legal consultation today.
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Klemick & Gampel
1953 S.W. 27th Avenue
Miami, FL 33145
Phone: (305) 856-4577
Fax: (305) 859-9708
