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Table Saw Users: Time to Make Your Voices Heard
By Susan Young | Posted: 01/16/2012 11:30AM
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Editor's note: Because of the tremendous reader interest in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's controversial plans to develop a table saw safety rule, Woodworking Network invited representatives of SawStop and the Portable Power Institute (PTI) to each submit a guest blog clarifying their positions. Following is the opinion submitted by Susan Young, executive manager of PTI. A spokesman for SawStop declined our invitation, which remains open in the event the company officials reconsider.
Editor's note update: Stephen Gass, inventor and preisdent of SawStop, ultimately submitted a guest blog, in response to the one posted below.
If you have been frustrated by SawStop’s attempts to convince the U.S. government to impose a mandatory performance standard for all table saws, now is the time to make your voices heard!
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is soliciting comments from the public on a proposed mandatory performance standard for table saws, and the Power Tool Institute (PTI) is calling on woodworkers, craftsmen and all consumers to submit comments to CPSC by February 10, 2012.
We’ve made it easy for you to submit a comment by creating a website – www.powertoolinstitute.info – where you can find information about this important issue and submit your comments to CPSC.
SawStop is petitioning CPSC to impose a mandatory rule which would require a specific active flesh detection technology for all table saws. SawStop is owned by patent attorney Stephen Gass, who holds an extensive network of over 90 U.S. patents with at least 20 more patent applications filed and currently pending. Mr. Gass represented that his patent web would be infringed by any alternative flesh detection technology, including one developed by PTI. Therefore, CPSC’s adoption of the rule would give SawStop a monopoly.
If the patent web of SawStop cannot be avoided, CPSC would, in effect, be imposing a design standard rather than a performance standard as applicable federal law requires. The mandatory rule and the resulting monopolistic advantage in the marketplace, would generate millions of dollars for SawStop and Mr. Gass while raising costs for consumers. A CPSC ruling in favor of the SawStop petition would also undermine and remove any incentive to the development of future alternative table saw safety technology.
The voluntary UL standard for table saw safety, UL 987, includes significantly improved user-friendly guard designs and other safety features such as a riving knife. The results have been extremely positive. These new guarding systems are modular and offer excellent visibility and ease of removal and installation. In the four years since the introduction of the new guarding systems, there has been only one reported blade contact injury on a table saw with the new guard system.
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My wife thinks it should be mandatory. I believe that if we do make it mandatory, we should also for jointers and shapers, which also toke a lot of fingers. Otherwise, lets make sure any user knows how to use the equipment. Knowledge is power, is safety. A constant healthy respect has saved my fingers for more than 30 years. My next purchase will be a Saw Stop, for my wifes peace of mind. But lets never lose , or diminish our healthy respect.
If they make it mandatory, then the workers place insurance board and the your liability insurance company
should have rebates. This will give all wood shopes no excuse not to have the safest table saw out on the market.
I think saw stop is a must tool for any work place with a table saw.
As the article stated. Their has only been one accident since the new gaurd systems have gone into effect.
Don't let one man rule the world. We could not afford it. Let the free market work.
I don't get it! Why not make table saws as safe as possible? As for the writer of this article...I wonder if you've ever used a table saw! There is no way your statistics can be correct for one accident in 4 years of a new guard design. I don't care how convenient a guard is to remove and replace, 90% of them will be removed and left off of the machine for various operator reasons. Guard windows become scared and very hard to see through in virtually no time which makes them very difficult to keep in use.
There are safety rules and mandates throughout every industry. If they keep us safer, which this one definitely would, why not put them in place? If your buying a new car and have small children would you purchase with our without airbags?? Are they allowed to build a car without airbags?? HMMM.... II am a woodworking and construction teacher at the high school level for 17 years. We currently have 3 sawstops in our shop, one contractor sawstop for the jobsite and I have one in my home shop. I was once unfortunate enough to witness a young man 15 losing three of his fingers on a conventional table saw. If sawstop technology had been available, this young mans life would be very different today.
As I said earlier, none of this makes sense! I'm a conservative and support the free market, but in some instances we must use a little common sense and lose the mental paralisis that we have toward some of these no brainer issues!!!!
If Mr. Gass is so concerned about table saw injuries as he professes he would release the patent to the public domain
allowing other companies to build and improve upon his overpriced invention.
I see many problems with this. First, seeing that there has already been a 1.5 million dollar lawsuit won ( http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=0788620a-919c-48fd-a3b5-2a57f4a82db1) many companies will either HAVE to buy new equiptment or close shop. Companies will have to buy them or insurance companies will dump them.
I have a few questions on them. First, how can a one-time-use item like this be tested? If you replace one yourself, how are you sure you got it installed correctly? Since it uses an electrical current, how can you be sure you have a good enough contact to guarantee a solid contact? Will dampness from outside use by contractors and the bumping around of the saw damage the contact?
Where do we go from here on power tools? People have injured themselves on a lot more than just tablesaws. How do you attach this to a bandsaw which uses rubber wheels to move the blade? Or a jigsaw which uses greased joints to move the blade up and down? Or a drillpress in which the spinning part is a well grease shaft driven by belts?
If we let them do this they will be looking at every tool we have in our shops and businesses, woodworking and any others. The parts, like those contained in the Sawstop, will be made cheaply overseas. Then will come the copycats, and again, how do you test them?
This is opening a pit of snakes. And the advertisments of the lawyers has only just begun.
Do not misunderstand me, I am one for safety, I have a split fingernail from a saw, but it was my stupidity that caused it. The saw where I worked had no safety cover and I was working to close to the blade. But, this Sawstop also requires that you be touching the tablesaw in order for it to work. This just makes it another piece of safety equipment that you can forget about, the "you must be touching the table of the saw at all times" piece. I'd say watch your other hand next time you use a tablesaw, but I know that watching the blade is MUCH more important!
I oppose the ANPR for "a system to reduce or prevent injuries from contact with the blade of a table saw."
As a Woodworker for more than 30 years, I believe in safety, But not an over-regulated safety mandated through Governments by the greed of an individual. My concerns are the repercussions of a monopoly on a technology so single-minded, that the industry itself may fail to develop their own solutions to safety. CPSC should ultimately work with manufacturers to help develop their own solutions.
I Strongly SUPPORT A LAW REQUIRING technology similar to the STOP SAW be installed ON ALL SAWS SOLD today and somehow figure a way to replace the models out in the schools and industry that do not have this method of safety.
Is the issue money ????...how much are fingers etc worth??? The technology that Stop Saw uses saves someone a "life changing" experience! Put a dollar value on that!!!!!!
As a high school Woodshop teacher I was fortunate to be able to order the Stop Saw for my shops. In the last 3 years I have 2 "finger saves" Have the parents of these kids, the kids, school board put a price on what was SAVED?
I also was able to have our school district replace and purchase Stop Saws for the other 2 high schools in our district. (5 more saws)
If there is any way I can help with this please contact me ASAP.
This is not about money...anyone who has suffered an injury would gladly pay a lot more that the price of a saw to have back what they lost.
Thank you, David Hawkinson, Wood Working Technology East Ridge High School
Woodbury, Minnesota
As a hobby wood worker for almost 40 years, and as an Electrical technologist in industry for 30 years, I've never had an accident with a power tool.
I did have one near miss with a cabinet saw at home, I tried to save a cut piece from falling on the floor, and instead drove my hand into the overarm blade guard.
That one moment of loss of attention would have been much different if I hadn't been using the guard, and that's the problem. Many of us are poorly or not trained, and use poor work practises.
In industry work practices are enforced and encouraged through training and penalties. At home however we lack training, as a result we often discard guards, splitters riving knives etc, leaving no protection.
That's why we're seeing a legislative approach to this problem, because we're too stupid to take the steps to protect our safety by using guards.
The saw manufacturers also are to blame, as most saws cannot be used for non through cuts without removing the safety guards. That however is no excuse, when I owned a contractor saw I made a simple bridge guard for non through cuts, that mounted on the fence.
When I purchased a cabinet saw, I spent an additional $400 to equip it with an overarm guard.
You don't need to spend a lot of money on a guard, manufacturers should also make available simple overarm guards for their saws so there isn't any reason to run a saw without a guard.
Of course the other solution is to use machines that are equipped for those tasks, my FIL who is a cabinet maker from England was shocked to see people cutting rebates on a table saw without a guard. He had been taught to make them on a shaper, which is equiped to perform that operation with proper guards.
We've done it to ourselves, our lack of good work practises has resulted in many injuries and now the legislative approach is being used. We get what we deserve...........Rod.
As an owner of a general contracting firm with a cabinet shop i couldn't wait to obtain SawStop saws for the field crew and the shop crew once i had seen the technology demonstrated. i personally know at least a dozen fellow craftsmen who have lost fingers in table saws. i hope the insurance companies will mandate the use of this technology as a requirement for workman's comp insurance. Would you put your family in a car without airbags and seat belts? The national statistics show that it makes sense for society to demand this new level of safety for the most commonly used shop tool. And yes, i have been using table saws professionally for over 30 years and still have ten extant fingers, but i don't begin to think that i'm immune from one simple mistake that could be tragic and absolutely 100% preventable. If you have employees you owe it to them to keep them as safe as possible. What we do is inherently dangerous, why not mitigate what you can.
"PTI is urging the CPSC not to advance the rule and, instead, work with the industry to offer a suite of solutions that makes sense for the entire range of products. "
I don't trust that the law, if passed, will be as flexible as it might be to encourage new solutions and alternatives to the SawStop technology. On the other hand, I don't have much sympathy for PTI: they have had YEARS to "come up with solutions that make sense." They did not.
Having read several comments on this issue, it seems to me that it all boils down to choice.
The technology is available to stop a speeding saw blade from doing damage to flesh. You can't stop progress in
coming up with a safety solution. The problem I have is when a "solution" is mandated and not offered as a
choice.
Just because there have been some idiots who have stuck their hands into a saw blade and suffered the
consequences doesn't mean that the entire world of woodworkers are that dumb and need to have this "solution"
mandated to them. Many woodworkers are pretty smart and use lots of common sense when using sharp tools.
In my opinion, those woodworkers who have had the training on how to use the table saw, or any sharp tool,
in the first place, have not had the problem this mandated "solution" seems to cure. There are table saws now
available with this technology and are available, if chosen. Mandating that all table saws come equipped this way
is NOT a choice.
It's very cool technology no doubt, but I have a much better, far cheaper idea; Don't touch the saw blade.
I've been a cabinetmaker and furniture designer for over 25 yrs. if people are so worried about cutting their figures off on the table saw maybe they should look at something else to do with their time .
nobody has mentioned the cost of hitting a staple in the edge of a piece of plywood, that will set off the saw stop which means you need to replace the blade and the saw stop mechanism which is around $250.00 each time you hit something that can conduct electricity.
maybe in schools it could save a few figures, but making cabinet shops in north america switch to the saw stop saw will make the patent holder a very rich man. i guess the big corporations are afraid they will get sued by somebody that is stupid enough to stick their figures near the blade. whats next the band saw, what about the lathe and the jointer and planner????
Think about it a bit. The first cars did not even have head lamps or brake lights. Then we also were told that we must have turn signals. Next we had automatic transmissions so that people with poor coordination could drive. Wind shields became mandatory and that was followed by mandatory wind shield wipers. Then we suffered the seat belt laws which were soon followed by air bag laws and from the factories we also had to pay for crash testing and all kinds of nonsense.
The point being that when the nanny state gets rolling it often does little good at all and it raises the price of products to a huge degree. There might be all kinds of things done to table saws and that might translate in to less and less competent people using the saws. It may closely follow what has occurred in hand guns. There was a time when the notion of a safety on a gun was offensive. People rarely shot themselves and handled their guns with a bit more caution. Now we have really good gun safety devices and more people kill themselves mishandling their guns than ever before. People forget and think they have the safety on etc.. Safety rests in a brain that is active, trained and focused. People who are dullards get hurt a lot.
I do wonder. There are trades in which a worker normally dies with his first mistake. Electricians, tree workers, and those that work on high rise buildings know exactly what i mean. For some reason we will allow kids to take shop classes but in fact there are many people who should never be exposed to power tools. Maybe loss of a finger in a shop class is a small price to pay to see if that person would ever be suited to work in the more dangerous trades.
By the way back in my day we had a female student in a chemistry class that lost the fingers on one hand when another student failed to follow directions and contaminated a jar of ingredients causing her experiment to explode. The worst part is that she was highly involved in ballet and anticipated a life in ballet.
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