Is something everyone tries to avoid when handling a stapler.
Yet, in certain situations, it can become a real public health hazard. Today, over one tenth of office injuries involve personal staplers. No one knows how they do it, but an unusualy large percentage of office workers manage to staple themselves so badly that a short hospitalization is needed. (Journal of Trauma. Vol.16 Is.12 1992)
Although there are rarely any complications from self-stapling, some cases of post-stapling infection have been reported. Most of these occur when a piece of the staple breaks and becomes lodged in the wound. .5% of the cases studied involved a hospital stay of over one night.
Thankfully, we can assume that most office staplings are non-intentional self-inflicted wounds
However, not all office staplings are self inflicted. A whopping 3 percent of personal staplings involve other parties. As of today, February 11, 2003, there have been two cases of non-accidental stapling reported in the UK and with more people reporting job-dissatisfaction that number is expected to double over the next two decades. (Journal of Occupational Health Vol.32 Is.2 1996)<\cite>