CLEVELAND -- The Power Tool Institute (PTI) has launched a PR campaign urging woodworkers to join it in opposing the SawStop from becoming a required safety feature for table saws.
The PTI issued a press release asking woodworkers and consumers to submit comments to the U.S. Product Safety Commission (CPSS), which is in the early stages of its proposed mandatory performance standard for table saws. The CPSC will accept comments through Dec. 12.
PTI's campaign also includes the creation of powertoolinstitute.info, a new page on the association's website dedicated to its views on CPSC's rule making, links to submitting comments to CPSC and suggested language
CPSC issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Oct. 11 noting that its study for 2007 and 2008 indicated there were approximately 67,300 injuries requiring medical treatment annually due to blade contact with associated costs of $2.36 billion each year.
Comments made by some CPSC commissioners indicated that flesh detecting technology such as the SawStop, would be required as part of its table saw safety rule.
"Shortly after I joined the Commission in 2009, I saw a demonstration of a braking mechanism for table saws, called SawStop, which would stop a saw blade instantaneously upon encountering someone’s finger or hand," said CPSC Commissioner Robert Alder. "I am also aware there are other competing technologies to SawStop that have yet to be brought to market. I know, for example, that the Power Tool Institute has developed flesh-sensing technology... Although I find myself extremely impressed by the SawStop technology, I am not in favor of writing a standard that would result in mandating a patented technology if such a result is avoidable."
PTI has argued that because SawStop has an extensive number of patents, it would be difficult for another company to develop a flesh-detecting device capable of competing in the marketplace. As a result, PTI says SawStop has a virtual monopoly on the technology and would require other table saw makers to pay it royalties for use of the device. PTI said woodworkers and consumers would pay hundreds of dollars more for saws and thatSawStop will not safeguard against all types of table saw injuries, including kick backs.
"Now is the time for table saw users to make their voices heard on a proposed government-mandated rule that could impose a specific patented technology on consumers and industry, creating a monopoly and raising prices for consumers. PTI is urging CPSC not to advance the rule and instead work with the industry to offer a suite of solutions that make sense for the entire range of products," the PTI said in its release.
Related:
CPSC Votes to Develop Table Saw Safety Rule Posted 10-18-11
Blog: Table Saw Safety: How Safe Is Safe Enough? Posted 9-30-11
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 Closets & Home Organization Conference & Expo and the Canada’s biennial Woodworking Machinery & Supply Expo.
COMMENTS (14)
John Cotten
Report Abuse"Be sure to read, follow, and understand the safety rules before you use your powertools" This is our primary problem, we no longer take the time to properly train people how to use their equipment. I think making the saw stop manditory is rediculous, but I also think that PTI should implement some inexpensive safety measures with thier tools. A siimple DVD would solve a great number of the saftey issues, especially if they did some cause and effect. When teaching students on shop safety, I have purposely caused kick backs into a safe area. Watching a student see a board to through a 3/8" sheet of wafer board always gets their attention, same with a cotton glove in a lathe or drill press. Users need to be taught what can happen with carefully staged accidents, it gets the point across 100%. Letting untrained trades persons use tools which they have no experience or training on is inviting injury or worse.
I think requiring saw stop on all machinery will also cause a major economic downturn in the industry, since the current machinery on the market is not designed to work with their system, forcing companies and individuals to retool their shops to be in what would eventually become OSHA compliance. Businesses will shutdown over this. I don't think anyone will argue their is an inherent safety issue to nearly every tool in a woodworking shop, from a hammer and chisel to a power sander. Understanding the safety precautions and why they are the key is the key. A manditory safety training course for all employees, with a card showing they have passed would do far more to prevent accidents than the saw stop ever will.
Gary McNabb
Report AbuseI'm all for shop safety and for inventors trying to get as much money as they can for the use of thier inventions. My saw is an old delta uni-saw that works just fine and yes I have had a few close calls that left me with lost nerve endings. All my machines are dangerous if not used properly, people buy them, use them without any education on the the dangers. There is a certain responsibilty that one has to take to learn to work these machines safely !!!!
Still Ten Fingers
Report AbuseI doubt that the Consumer Product Safety Commission will mandate the use of SawStop technology. More likely, they will mandate that all table saws have effective safety measures equivalent to the best options currently on the market. "That's the same thing," seems to be the complaint of the Power Tool Institute (PTI). Yet these same power tool manufacturers, which have been making table saws for eighty and ninety years, in some cases, have done very little to improve safety, in all that time. Safer blade guard designs have been available since the fifties, yet no major US manufacturer has adopted them as standard equipment. The riving knife, which is much safer than the splitter found on most table saws, has been common in Europe for at least sixty years. But the major American companies only began adding them to table saws in the last three years, and that largely due to the success of SawStop in the marketplace.
According to figures at FineWoodworking.com, the American table saw industry does a bit over $400 million in yearly sales, and table saw accidents cost $2.4 BILLION in yearly medical bills. There is clearly a need for improved safety technology. An instructional DVD isn't going to do it. PTI members have stonewalled against safety improvements for at least 60 years. Now they face the possibility of safety regulation mandates. Is their response to come up with even better safety technology, which exceeds what SawStop offers? No, their answer is to spend money on a campaign to protest the possible government action. Change is long overdue, and PTI created the current problem by their refusal to improve safety. If the regulation looks heavy-handed to some, I bet that the thousands of woodworkers who lost use of their hands over the last decades will feel that it should have come a lot sooner.
Jerry Finch
Report AbuseI agree with John Cotten. I taught Wood Manufacturing Technology for 25 years, training students on several types
and sizes of saws, shapers, and other potentially dangerous machinery. I always stressed safety and proper
technique and insisted that every operation be guarded, even when the standard guard had to be removed
(i.e. to cut a rabbet).In all of that time, with hundreds of students, I NEVER had a student lose a finger or even cut
their hand on a moving blade. Kickback happened occasionally, but not often, and there were no major injuries from those because I trained operators to avoid standing directly behind
the blade. Note:The SawStop does not prevent kickback, even with a riving knife.
Was I lucky? Probably. But I think my student's record has much more to do with proper training and personal
responsibility. Mandating the Saw Stop will not replace that.
John
Report AbuseAny professional shop or educational shop I have been to recently have had Saw-Stop technology
for insurance reasons and also hopefully for the safety of their employees or students. The problem with a table
saw injury is that they are quick and devastating and potentially preventable with the new tech available. Everyone
is tired and makes mistakes - with the table saw there are no takebacks.
Gary Nicely
Report AbuseObject to making the most commonly-used, most commonly-dangerous machine in the shop safer??!! PTI.....you have got to be kidding! Ask all the guys missing a finger or two that you see at the Atlanta show or the Las Vegas show if they'd have paid another $100-$200 dollars to have saved their fingers. Face it Power Tool Institute, you guys were extremely slow-on-the-draw coming up with any major new safety features for table saws, much less this revolutionary technology to introduce an entirely new level of safety to table saws......and now you're crying about it because you let somebody else put their thinking cap on and take some action that you're going to have to pay for. That's how it works! You don't hear consumers screaming about the cost of anti-lock brakes systems when they help save thousands of lives and life-changing injuries? Let this wonderful government of ours do something good and right for the public, like they're supposed to - but rarely do. If the Consumer Products Safety Commission doesn't adopt SawStop's safety feature as a mandatory standard I'll be flabbergasted. Who in the world - is there anybody in the world that - would not want a significantly safer table saw in their shop? It is time for this proven safety development.
Steve Alterman
Report AbuseLosing a finger can be life changing. If your in a room of professional woodworkers, I can guarentee that the fingers in the room are not a multiple of ten. If saw stop works, and saves fingers than they deserve to make money from it. The equipment manufactures should be less reluctant to spend money of providing this if all of their competitors also have to provide saw stop. If only a few companies provide this on a voluntary basis, then the technology will cost more, and though companies might feel that they are liaible if someone still loses a finger. This is long over due. Safety is taught, which could bring us discuss, why have so many schools eliminated shop classes.
Ron Rodewald
Report AbuseI think it should be government mandated to provide a guard to prevent me from "running with scissors".
The idiot in the Ryobi incident was ripping strip flooring without the "rip fence". Also, he did not lose a digit either.
This whole issue is fodder for lawyers and SawStop. And all at the expense of all serious table saw users, portable and stationary.
Worse yet, all behind this big push probably never used a table saw. I'm from the government and I'm her to help ya.
Rod Sheridan
Report AbuseAs "Still Ten Fingers" indicated, the industry in North America, and those of us who bought their substandard safety
systems are to blame.
The European manufacturers continued to develop new products and safety systems while we continued to produce
a cabinet saw that hadn't had any significant safety improvements in 5 decades.
It's unfortunate that the regulatory approach is the only motivator that the North American manufacturers understand,
however at least it's a step forward.
Come ongards, Rod. API, take a serious leadership role and come out in favour of this, and other innovative safety improvements.
Re
Mike
Report AbuseI myself have had the unfortunate dealing with a saw blade. If I had not been doing something stupid, the accident would have never have happened. I'm not sure where I stand on this topic.
When I saw this brake work, I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and the inventor deserved anyting he could get. But I guess somewhere along the lines, things got out of hand, and the saw
manufactures didn't want to pay for the rights to use it. So he then invested more money to have someone make a saw for him. The free market is working and if you want the saw YOU can buy it, If you don't
then DON'T buy it. I have a sliding table saw, and wish it was on there. If they develope a slider with one on it, I probably would buy it. MY CHOICE. But, I also think any high school that has a saw, it would probably
be wise to get one. But again it's up to the boards if they want one or not. This saw is not perfect. It has some quirks behind it that set it off for no reason, and I hate down time for things that shouldn't be. I know I'm all
over the place with this. I think this invention is the best safty feature in years, but don't make manufactures change things that could cost millions to retool.
John Atkisson
Report AbuseIt is probably a great invention(although I have yet to see a video demonstration where the inventor stuck his own finger in it to prove it's value) but , the fact is that all table saws are perfectly safe until some careless idiot, with too many fingers, turns it on. To mandate it on all saws is an intrusion and is not sensible. Perhaps a compromise would be to require all schools to have them and possibly shops with a certain number of workers. But, certainly not to require all saws to be manufactured with them.
Andrew DePalma
Report AbuseI have been using a table saw for 28 yrs plus and due to vigilance in using it safely, I have been accident free..
To force the industry into "making them safer" by a company who only has profits to gain,, would be a disaster in the
saw industry. When do people become responsible for their own actions? Yes I use the saw without a guard and have
always used it that way since day one.. Mostly because I like to see where the blade is in relation to my hands..
My personal choice.. If I did have an accident, wold it be fair of me to sue the manufacturer for my own stupidity??
We are being ruled and regulated to death as it is.. If sawstop was that worried about our personal safety, then why
shouldn't they offer their designs to the manufacturers for free..
Bruce Taylor
Report AbuseI sell the SawStop and other table saws. I would love for everyone to have a Sawstop but I know it's not an affordable
option for everyone. My main fear is that many people will resort to the old method of sticking a 7-1/4" circ saw
under a table and using clamps to hold a straight edge as a fence or worse, just free cutting. For myself I'll be getting a
FesTool TS75 until I can get a SawStop.
Tom Foley
Report Abuse"Machines do not compensate for human error". I read that in a Steve King novel and it simply remains true. I've been using tablesaws for 41 years. Training & education are essential but I have to say in the decades of working around tablesaws and other dangerous woodworking machines Paying Attention and Focusing on what you are doing while using any machine is the most Paramount/Essential way to not have an accident or injury. I have had ocasional injuries involving the tablesaw and it was entirely my doing not the tablesaw. I feel that by mandating this type of technology you will open the floodgates of more injuries as people who barely prepare themselves to use the machines now will just believe the machine will protect them. The other issue I have is how much of actual testing has taken place with this technology?? Have there been actual human trials to see how well or if this works? Just stopping the blade is only part of the scenario when injuries and accidents happen. Now the other issue I have relates to how this seems to be being implemented. With Sawstop holding all the patents (and why not he is a Patent attorney) is this a push to benefit one party or is this truly and push to benefit the greater good. If it is a campaign to provide saftey for all users then the owner of the patents should be cooperative in the market and not be the preventative force. I'm not privy to all that CPSP and PTI know I do hope they make the right decision, I also know that if the people using these newly modified machines find it limiting or cumbersome they will remove it or just never buy it. To prevent injuries you need to inform, educate and train lets focus on how to do this better.