Connecting with construction contractors: Active dissemination of nail gun safety materials

Nail guns are widely used on many construction jobs–especially in residential construction. Nail gun injuries are common and result in approximately 37,000 emergency room visits each year. A compelling body of research has identified the risk factors that make nail gun injuries more likely to occur. To make the findings of this research readily accessible to residential construction contractors, NIOSH and OSHA jointly published the document Nail Gun Safety: A Guide for Construction Contractors in September 2011. The Guide summarizes the research findings to support contractors in making informed decisions about nail gun use on their job sites and outlines six steps that contractors can take to ensure the safety of their workers. This presentation describes active dissemination efforts taken to increase the document's reach, and their evaluation. Personalized direct outreach to key stakeholders helped make sure their constituents were exposed to the document. Social media was used to broaden NIOSH's reach among industry and safety and health audiences. Seven messages were released through Twitter following the document launch; this provided the biggest source of traffic to the document on the NIOSH website. More than 15,000 print copies have been distributed and almost half of all visits to the document webpage resulted in a document download. Having a trans-disciplinary dissemination team comprising industrial hygienists, researchers, occupational safety and health leaders, health communication specialists, and others proved essential to developing an effective dissemination plan that used multiple channels to reach residential construction contractors, trade associations, and safety and health professionals.