On Tue, 5 Sep 2006 23:43:13 -0500, "sweetsawdust"
wrote:

I would think that the 55,000 TS injuries a year might be a little low.
This week I have had 3 injuries from my table saw, bumped into it once and
hurt my leg, laid down a stack of boards and mashed my finger, had a piece
of wood (large) fall from the table and hit my foot. None of these injuries
occurred when the saw was running, Total loss of time 5 min at most while I
was cussing my own stupidity, cost to business $0. Will the saw stop help
with any of those? they seem to be the most common type around my shop.

According to my new copy of Design News magazine (9/4/06 issue) on
page 55, lower right hand corner there's a chart that has some
statistics on table saw injuries. The chart says that in calendar
year 2002 there were an estimated 33,114 injuries from bench and table
saws. In that same year there were 3,503 amputations.

The year with the greatest number of injuries (33,590) was 1998. The
year with the greatest number of amputations was 2002.

The chart also says that "over the 10 to 15 year life of a table saw,
it would generate societal costs of $2,600 to $3,100 from blade
contact injuries." And that such saws have initial costs ranging from
about $100 to $300.

The information in the chart is from the CPSC.

I can safely say that my saw, acquired about 17 years ago, which cost
around $500 has not contributed at all to those figures since no one
has cut anything other that wood with it.

Sad to say, I cannot say the same thing about my radial arm saw or
jointer. Yet those items are not at issue. Yet.