There is no shortage of construction work going on in the metro Atlanta and North Georgia area. Construction sites use a variety of tools and equipment, many of which can be dangerous if defective or not maintained properly. Where there is construction work happening, there is always the risk of an accident, either to a construction worker or a bystander. When a construction worker is injured as the result of the use of a defective nail gun, he may be eligible to file a third-party lawsuit against the manufacturer of the nail gun and other parties.
Nail guns are staple tools on construction sites. A nail gun is a handy and effective tool that makes many construction tasks easier and more efficient to perform. However, these tools are also associated with thousands of injuries every year.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, as many as 37,000 persons are injured in nail gun accidents every year. As many as seventy percent of these injuries occur on construction sites, while the remaining occur when nail guns are used by home owners as part of DIY projects.
There are several risk factors that can result in a nail gun injury. For instance, many injuries occur as the result of an unintended discharge from a double fire, a nail ricochet when the nail comes into contact with a hard surface, penetration of the nail through lumber work pieces and incorrect positioning of the gun. All of these situations can cause serious injury to the worker using the nail gun.
Many injuries are also the result of malfunctioning or defective nail guns. The kind of injuries that are associated with defective nail guns can include puncture wounds to the hands and fingers. These are the more common injuries, and account for almost three-quarters of all nail gun injuries. But injuries may also include other parts of the face or body like puncture wounds, eye injuries, and injuries to the upper extremities.
A company that manufactures nail guns also has a duty to ensure that its products are safe to use. Sometimes, product design or manufacturing defects can make a nail gun unsafe to use. For instance, in the past, lawsuits have been filed against Hitachi for the defective design of its nail gun that caused injuries to consumers.
Many nail gun injury lawsuits based on defective design involve the rapid fire tools that are designed to make it quicker to use the gun. However, the safer design is the two-step design which requires the user to press down on the tool before the trigger is squeezed. The two-step method makes unintended discharge of a nail gun less possible, making the nail gun safer to use. But this design is rarer and most manufacturers prefer to use the riskier design.
When a construction worker is injured on a construction site due to the negligence of a third party, then he may be able to file a third-party claim against the company or contractor responsible for his injury. Manufacturers of defective construction equipment fall in this category.