Consumer Groups Push CPSC For Safer Table Saws

r-XRAY-large570.jpgAs reported by The Wall Street Journal, NPR and other media outlets, consumer groups gathered in Washington, DC last week to urge Consumer Product Safety Commission chairwoman Inez Tennenbaum to mandate new safety features in table saws.
The push comes as new data reveals the staggering frequency of table saw accidents and as new technology makes such accidents avoidable.
Recently, the CPSC released data showing that 40,000 people annually are injured by table saws, up twenty-five percent from a decade ago.
Meanwhile, a new, patented flesh detection technology – sold exclusively by saw manufacturer SawStop – has made such injuries avoidable. The SawStop technology uses a tiny electrical current to stop saw blades spinning at 5,000 rpm within milliseconds of their coming in contact with electrically conductive surfaces like human skin (human flesh, which is mainly made up of water, is much more electrically conductive than wood).
Adding SawStop technology to power saws adds approximately $100 to their cost. But power saw manufacturers, such as Black & Decker, Bosch, Ryobi, Delta and Rigid have not licensed the patented flesh detection technology or offered an equivalent in their saws.
Table saw injuries can be gruesome and life-altering. One of the table saw accident victims who went to Washington, DC to urge CPSC to do something was Adam Thull, who a year ago suffered a table saw injury where the blade cut through the bone of most of his forearm. Thull has already had five surgeries and has six more to go.
Now consumer advocates will have to wait-and-see what the CPSC does.
To read prior blog posts on SawStop, you can click here, here and here.
Full Disclosure: The Law Office of Alan H. Crede, P.C., represents personal injury victims using saws not equipped with SawStop.


This blog in maintained by the Boston product liability lawyers at The Law Office of Alan H. Crede, P.C.