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Home Depot and Lowe's Oppose California Table Saw Safety Rule
By Rich Christianson | Posted: 07/03/2012 2:2PM
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SACRAMENTO, CA - Home Depot, Lowe's and Sears have joined with portable power tool makers, the California Chamber of Commerce and other state business groups to fight against passage of California's table saw safety rule.
California Assemblyman Das Williams demonstrates a table saw outfitted with a SawStop device. The photo is taken from a video promoting California's Table Saw Safety Act, sponsored by Williams. View the full video at the end of this article. California's controversial AB 2218 - The Table Saw Safety Act was scheduled to be discussed at a hearing of the Judiciary Committee of the state's Senate today. The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) cruised through the California Assembly in a 64-4 vote in mid-May.
According to information posted on Williams' website, The Table Saw Safety Act (AB 2218) would require that all new table saws manufactured for sale in California after 2015 to be equipped with a safety device that substantially mitigates injury when human skin comes close to or in contact with the blade."
While Williams said his bill does not mandate a specific technology, the Los Angeles Times reported that Stephen Gass, inventor of the SawStop safety system, hired a lobbyist to promote creation of a state table saw safety law. In addition, the paper said Gass has made political contributions totaling $46,500 to 21 Democrats and half a dozen Republicans, including a $2,500 donation to Williams.
Gass holds dozens of patents on the SawStop flesh-sensing technology that is capable of almost instantly stopping a whirring saw blade when it comes n contact with a finger or hand.
The newspaper noted that Gass targeted California for his lobbying efforts knowing that if successful it would likely be "uneconomical (for manufacturers) to make one product for the Golden State customers and a different one for the rest of the country."
"It seemed like a long shot, but it seemed like the right thing to do," Gass told the Times.
Concerned about added costs to table saws, a coalition has been formed to oppose California's proposed Table Saw Act,. According to the Times, the group includes Home Depot, Lowe's, Sears, California Chamber of Commerce, California Manufacturers & Technology Association, California Business Properties Association, and the California Retailers Association.
On a national level, the Power Tool Institute, which is made up of table saw makers such as DeWalt, Ryobi and Skil, has challenged efforts by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to develop a table saw rule that the PTi said would mandate use of the SawStop.
A study by the CPSC indicated that 66,900 people receive emergency room treatment each year for table saw and bench-top related injuries at a cost of $2.3 billion. The annual injury total includes about 3,500 amputations.
Related
Table Saw Safety Brake from Whirlwind Tools
CPSC Votes 2-1 to Accept More Comments on Table Saw Safety
Blog: SawStop Inventor Weighs in on Table Saw Safety Rule
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About the Author
Rich Christianson
Rich Christianson is Associate Publisher and Editor at Large of Woodworking Network. During his 25+ years covering the wood products industry, Rich has toured hundreds of manufacturing plants throughout North America, Europe and Asia. His reporting has covered everything from the state of the industry and impact of wood imports to technology and environmental issues. In his current capacity he is responsible for editing the daily Woodworking Network Update newsletter and coordinating events including the annual Cabinets & Closets Conference & Expo and Canada’s biennial Woodworking Machinery & Supply Expo. He can be contacted at rchristianson@woodworkingnetwork.comRead more of Rich Christianson's blogs.
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Incredible!!! I myself had a hard time getting past the initial photo of Mr Williams in his tie dangling above a blade the is almost four times above the work piece!!! Of course he is politician and no one on his staff has the first idea of how to properly set up the saw. I know it is a staged picture but it still sends a VERY BAD MESSAGE!!!
More importantly is Mr Gass attempts by way of political influence to nanny the industry one state at a time (California first with New York on the horizon). I have all of my fingers, toes, both eyes and hearing at the age of 50. As a young man i mowed yards and baled hay. From 18 to 33 I carried a rifle for Uncle Sam as a Infantryman. I went to work for my father in law in his cabinet shop because I HAD always been near wood and tools. I was taught as a child and growing up safety, proper use and the CONSEQUENCE of improper use of those tools....
Consequence is what is not being taught today and frankly, it (makes me real mad)!!!!
Andrew, I'm a little peeved, too. With respect tot the picture, I think you need to ask where this picture came from. If you watched the video, you know that the tablesaw was never turned on and there was no demonstration do any kind. This picture is a frame from that video, which means that someone chose that particular frame to create a misrepresentation of the video for effect. Who chose that video frame and who wrote the caption? Why? It does send a bad message, but who is sending it? It is not being sent by those who are promoting this bill, but by those that are against it.
I appreciate your personal story, but times have changed. Kids (it was really only boys) are not taught this basic skills anymore. Thay are not growing up working with tools under the tutelage of their fathers. And, now, anyone at all can walk into a big box store, plunk down a few hundred dollars and walk out with a bench top saw. That was unheard of back when you were a young adult.
As you indicated, you were taught how to use tools and that is no longer happening. And yet, the industry is pushing harder than ever to sell ever more dangerous tools to an untrained market.
The photograph Of Williams using the table saw is an accident waiting to happen: a saw blade that is much too high
for the piece that being cut and having a necktie dangling in front of the blade. I think its much more important
to teach people how to use dangerous machinery than just mandating technology.
I have yet to see Mr. Gass put his own fingers in harms way, only a hot dog.
If the people of California are interested in safety maybe they should ban cars !
In my mind this is a good reason not to buy anything Mr. Gass has his fingers in.
Trevor
Gass did put his finger in a Sawstop, at least once. He did it on the short lived Discovery Channel show called "Time Warp."
Government regulation is a blunt tool and I don't excuse that it gets out of hand at times. With that said any industry that gets regulated by the government most of the time has only itself to blame. It takes the government a long time before they react so an industry typically has to ignore the warning signs a long time before they get regulated. The table saw industry in America took decades to add the simplest of safety device the riving knife. They could have taken a leadership stance and driven the conversation instead of having the conversation taken out of their hands.
The photo is pretty alarming in many ways . tie, wedding ring, no obvious guard, and what's that left hand doing? ..
HOWEVER .. the industry brings on this law themselves. Instead of jumping on this safety technology they fight it
just like auto companies fought airbags and it only makes them look bad in the end.
Yes, someone else invented it and you'll have to pay to sell it .. but he did it, you did not. Let him get his reward
for it and maybe next time around you'll spend a little time trying to innovate the industry yourself. Meanwhile
thousands of needless accidents won't happen. We call that progress. Who out there would rather buy a car without
airbags because the evil government required them??????? Put your money where your libertarian ideology lies ..
Hmm, don't suppose a campaign contribution came his way from a certain patent holder?
What on earth has gone wrong! This day & age we lack REAL COMMON SENSE in everything ! Were so safe, we have become unsafe ! Mr Roy is correct consequence is not being taught. More rules & regulations will NOT make us more safe!
The photograph Of Williams using the table saw is an accident waiting to happen: a saw blade that is much too high
for the piece that being cut and having a necktie dangling in front of the blade. I think its much more important
to teach people how to use dangerous machinery than just mandating technology.
The sad thing about this picture is there is probably someone that will eventually try to cut something on a table saw while wearing a necktie. Even the saw-stop technology won't protect an idiot from catching a necktie in the blade until it is too late and he has choked to death.
Why can't we we leave the choice up to the consumer? Let us be the judge if having flesh detecting technology is best for us. The problem is some people, including most politicians, have decided we are to dumb to make the right choice. They must "save us" from ourselves. The heart if the problem is that stupid people are going to do stupid things. If you don't believe me, just look at the photo at the top of this story. Whats next, neck tie detecting technology? Blade hieght technology? Stable work surface technology? Safety glasses technology? Hearing protection technology? Make sure your shirt is tucked in technology? Where do we stop? We have allowed it to happen. When we will say enough is enough?
Nice picture.
I am one of those who have unwillingly removed a portion o my right pinkie (on a Ryobi BT3100 table Saw), and NO, I have no intentions to sue the company for me being stupid.
Careless as I am(was), I still wouldn't try to cut wood on a table saw in the manor of this California Legislator. This guy really should know that he's broken just about rule about using a TS. The only thing I didn't notice was whether he was standing in a puddle of water.
I assume by this poor demonstration why the State of California is almost bankrupt.
My first reaction is just like everyone else. Even worse, the saw stop target market is novice. They will assume it always stops with an accident. If a tie or other clothing gets caught there's a good chance it will behave just like a regular saw.
I think the article would be improved by moving the last paragraph to the beginning. That is the context in which tablesaw safety should be considered.
I'm dismayed by the point of view taken by the article to the extent that it provides an obvious and unfair slant to the story. The picture and it's caption gives the impression that the representative was using the tablesaw. Watching the video shows that this is clearly not the case. The saw is there simply as a prop while he explains the issues during an interview. The saw is outside. I doubt it is even plugged in.
Just a follow up on Mr Dewald's cost comment. I'm in the process of wiring my new shop and have run into a wonderful new SAFETY regulation. Child proof outlets according to manufactures this would add as little as 75 cents to the cost of an outlet. In actuality I have been forced to buy cheaper 15 amp outlets that are costing an average of 2.50 dollars each. To purchase child proof outlets in a 20 amp range they are over 5 dollars each. Yet I can buy none child proof outlets at as little as 50 cents. Yeh almost no cost difference. 75 dollars for blade stopping technology. Anybody believing that, I have some great Florida beach front I would like to sell you. Keep governments out of our shops. Former shop teacher who bought a Sawstop voluntarily for his school program not because I was forced. Anthony Prough
Normally I wouldn't comment. What you Americans do is your own business, I guess, except that what happens in America today, the rest of us get tomorrow.
I think the SawStop echnoloy is fantastic. I wish I'd thought of it.
BUT.
The SS should be the LAST line of defence, not the first. The necktie is only one of his problems. Lose the finger ring. get a good guard. Set the blade height to the correct level. Use the right blade for the material being cut. Have a push-stick to hand. Get a roper outfeed area fitted. Need i go on?.
If all the right techniques were taught as standard, AND REGULARLY SHOWN IN THE WORLD'S LEADING WOODWORING MAGAZINE instead of the constant diet of unguarded blades without a riving knife, for example, then this excellent technology would not be necessary.
Just get a European to design your saws and teach you how to use it and you'll be home and dry at no extra cost!
As the manufacturer of a table saw safety tool that over 250,000 woodworkers use, I hope that the California Legislators have the wisdom to include optional saw safety methods.
A feeder exists that eliminates hands next to the blade (and cut fingers) by replacing them with a simple anti- kick back wheel before and after the blade. The tool takes 3 seconds to set up.
A person can chose to keep their hands a foot from the blade, but the legislators will force them to spend an extra thousand dollars to protect them from their stupidity.
Not having the big bucks to buy legislators I have little hope that the hands off anti-kickback feeder will be included as an OPTION to this lawyer's attempt to buy laws to increase his business.
Jerry Jaksha
inventor- Grip-Tite Magnetic Feeder
http://www.grip-tite.com/Site/Home.html
Legislators - please take a look at the options for safe tablesaw use, before you give all our money to the lawyer.
It seems that many of the table saw accidents happen to so called professionals...they get in a hurry, they get distracted and tired. And what happens next is not a mystery...a cut hand, a lost finger or many fingers! I know of a professional, who had gone to San Francisco for a presentation of his product and later went back to shop to work. He tie on and fired up the table saw and the next thing he knew was that his head was inches from the blade and fortunately he was able to reach the switch in time. The politician, in the video did seem intent on running the saw, but he was there to get a message across about safety measures. Yes, I have a table saw and I have had it for over forty years and fortunately no accidents. And YES, we need a safer saw! I have seen cabinet shops that bought the Saw Stop and one of the things that happened was a significant drop in their liability insurance! So be it!
Here in the UK we have had mandatory safety equipment on all woodworking machinary which is cheap and effective - IF USED CORRECTLY- and doesn't cause the destruction of vital and expensive components of the machine. The point here is that a kitchen knife is just as dangerous IF NOT USED CORRECTLY as are lawn mower, strimmers etc.
The earlier comment about no being able to buy common sense is correct, but what you can buy is training. I attended a furniture making college which refused access to all machines until training in how to set up and use the machine safely had been completed. The fact is that this new technoloigy can be switched off, how many people, especially DIYers will after paying the extra cost mandated by you legislator will then disable it because of the potential cost of a new blade and trigger mechanism.
You cannot legistlate for stupidity. Finally if this is so much for the common good then why doesn't Mr Gass donate the patents as Volvo did for the inerta seat belts instead of using it as a vehicle for making vast amounts of money..
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