Builder survives nailgun accident

[MarkCollette]

I actually survived a nail gun accident too. Last summer I was doing some framing with my brother, and I shot myself in the chest with a nail gun. It was centimeters from puncturing my heart.

And just to head off the questions of how one could be such a klutz... I was on top of a ladder, which was precariously balanced on some uneven ground. I had to nail down at 45 degrees, on both sides of some wood, which meant nailing away from me and towards me. Well, just as I was nailing, towards me, the ladder shifted ever so slightly. The result was that I leaned forward, towards the wood, and my arm changed the angle of the gun, from 45 degrees, to almost straight out. The 6 inch nail went through the less than 4 inch piece of wood, and the rest went into me.

I grunted loudly, and my brother came to see what happenned. I carefully set down the nail gun, so as not to damage it, and came down the ladder. He drove me to the hospital, where I didn't have to wait long in line, due to the pool of blood soaking my previously white t-shirt.

It was then that we decided that I should always wear that t-shirt when going to the hospital - to save on waiting time

 

[cyks]

He drove me to the hospital, where I didn't have to wait long in line, due to the pool of blood soaking my previously white t-shirt.

It was then that we decided that I should always wear that t-shirt when going to the hospital - to save on waiting time

I'll have to keep that in mind for any future visits....
- just need to figure out a shirt to wear to speed up the line at the DMV and I'd be set now

 

[Doctor Q]

Lawsuit?

They just need a warning label:

Caution: Nail gun not to be used as a hairstyling tool

 

[Coolvirus007]

This nail gun sounds more like a weapon than a construction tool. Maybe the iraqi will starting using them after they run out of ammo for their aks'

 

[virividox]

well was it quake or duke nukem where the nail gun was a weapon heheh

 

[Doctor Q]

2 questions....

How on earth did this guy survive???

And why did he keep his finger firmly on the trigger after the first one entered his skull???

I read the articles and I can answer your questions:

1. Extreme luck. One nail just missed major blood vessels in his brain. One just missed the area that controls movement and breathing in his brainstem. One entered his spinal column but just missed his spinal cord, where it would have left him a quadriplegic if it had been three millimeters to the left. This guy should buy a lottery ticket!

He was also lucky to find a talented surgeon, who even had experience in this area. Two years ago, Dr. Rafael Quinonez removed a nail from the brain of another construction worker!

2. It wasn't his finger on the trigger. He fell from the roof of the building onto a worker on the second story, who instinctively held tight to the nailgun as he tried to keep his balance. The gun shot the 3.5 inch nails into the victim (Isidro Mejia) before his coworker could let go.

 

[orangedv]

Hi you lot, just reading this put you off your dinner thread, when my eyes gazed at the bottom of the screen. Anyone else getting this ad? Makes me wonder if we started discussing rape and murder of innocents wether google would be advertising blow torches and handcuffs......

 

[Doctor Q]

Hi you lot, just reading this put you off your dinner thread, when my eyes gazed at the bottom of the screen. Anyone else getting this ad? Makes me wonder if we started discussing rape and murder of innocents wether google would be advertising blow torches and handcuffs......

When I went to read the Car Dangles From Parking Garage news story last night, I saw an SUV ad next to the story. Coincidence?

 

[Frohickey]

this reminds me of that guy that fell into a wood chippper last week.


-----
Tree Trimmer Killed By Wood Chipper
April 30, 2004 - A tree-service employee in Florida fell into a wood chipper and was killed instantly, police said.

The incident happened Thursday in Hillsborough County near Tampa.

Police said Gordon McKay, 51, died instantly when he fell into the chipper.

Detectives believe McKay was trying to clear a jam in the chipper. He reportedly climbed into the chipper and kicked a large bundle of branches when the machine pulled half his body through the mechanism.

OWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

I wonder what movie was going through his mind as that was happening.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?
License to Kill (James Bond 007)

mental note to self, if you ever work with a wood chipper, and there is a jam in the chipper, do not clear the jam while the wood chipper is on, and is plugged in/has power.

 

[Frohickey]

When I went to read the Car Dangles From Parking Garage news story last night, I saw an SUV ad next to the story. Coincidence?

At least there was nobody inside the BMW as it was dangling.

 

[Frohickey]

This guy should buy a lottery ticket!

Don't think so. I think this guy used up all of his luck.

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

I would be very surprised if an nail gun had an auto mode, surely that'd be a HUGE safety risk

a full automatic mode is definitely a huge oversight. a skilled construction worker would have no problem pulling the trigger to fire the nail gun, but a fully automatic mode? wtf would you need that for? a skilled construction worker wouldn't be able to move fast enough to require a full atuo mode, and it would only create a liability for unskilled workers (such as the one in the article, how you can slip and fall with a nail gun in your hands in beyond me...but to end up with it next to your head when you hit the ground...sounds like some mischief was going on to me).

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

They just need a warning label:

Caution: Nail gun not to be used as a hairstyling tool

acupuncture to be performed by a qualified technician .

 

[kylos]

2. It wasn't his finger on the trigger. He fell from the roof of the building onto a worker on the second story, who instinctively held tight to the nailgun as he tried to keep his balance. The gun shot the 3.5 inch nails into the victim (Isidro Mejia) before his coworker could let go.

Ok, that makes more sense. Cause there really is no way he could do that to himself.

As I mentioned earlier, the automatic mode mentioned should not be confused with a fully automatic gun. That would be stupid to fire a stream of nails like that. What it likely refers to is the ability to fire the gun by depressing the safety, so that a worker can nail something off by simply holding the trigger down and tapping the gun against a surface. This is much more rapid than depressing the safety, pulling the trigger, releasing the trigger, repositioning the gun, pulling the trigger again, and so forth. This is much faster, but is somewhat more dangerous if you are not paying attention (eg. nailing across a surface and then across your hand). The hardness of the skull probably caused the gun to bounce after each shot, thus resetting the safety.