On Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:41:18 -0400, Leuf
wrote:

On Mon, 11 Sep 2006 18:49:28 -0400, Joe Bemier
wrote:

You're getting carried away. I wear m a seatbelt and that is not the
debate. My point is that the two are hardly comparable. Thats the
point Leuf, that operation of a TS is not subject to other parties.
Unless of course you cannot find a reasonable argument and so want to
talk about black ice.

You said "I wear a SB *only* due to the risk posed by other drivers."
and that is the same argument you make about the saw. You follow all
the proper procedures all the time and if everyone did like you no one
would ever be injured. That's a fairy tale.

Well, over 30 years of nearly daily use and I have not as much as a
nick -honest. I think that might be the issue. Maybe some of you guys
are very intimidated by a TS and thus the feeling you need this
device. And, that is why it should be a consumer option and not a gov
mandate. For my part, I respect the machine and understand how to
reduce my risk to only a freak accident...something in the statistical
neighborhood of a clear sky lightning strike.
You realize that cars could be safer than what we have today. We could
mandate rollcages. What if a small subset of drivers started driving
around w/o seatbelts and getting injured. Would you agree that we
should put roll cages in all cars just because these ppl cannot follow
proper procedure.
I am willing to bet that the very same ppl who are at risk for injury
on a TS are at risk for all kind of other injuries. Put a device on a
TS and these ppl will cut themselves on a chainsaw. Put the device on
the chainsaw and they will decide to have a BBQ in the garage with the
door closed. You can look at the whole firearm picture for some very
good likeness....i.e., guns don't kill ppl, ppl kill ppl.....or
something like that. Same thing- you have thousands upon thousands of
individuals (clearly the larger group by far) who operate a TS w/o
injury.

As Nahm says it, learning how to use your power tools properly will
greatly reduce the risk of personal injury. Note how he says greatly
reduce, not eliminate? It's a question of numbers. The odds of
something happening during any given cut is very very small. The
number of cuts made is very very large.

If we can get another line of defense in there for a reasonable cost,
it certainly makes sense to me to at least consider mandating it be on
all saws. And it may be that the board sees it the way you do, that
the current measures are sufficient to provide adequate safety and no
mandate for the device is necessary.

Just out of curiousity, how would you feel about a requirement that
you must pass a safety course covering proper procedures to buy a saw?
Well, I am never in favor of more bureaucracy. And, as the doc pointed
out many of the injuries he sees are experienced guys. That leads me
to believe that it is not for lack of understanding that these
accidents occur, but rather due to deviation from proper methods.
If ppl were getting hurt while following proper procedure then I would
probably feel different about this device.


Extra Note: In the past few days since this thread heated up I have
taken note of my own actions while using the TS. I have found that my
hands are never beyond the front fence rail while making cuts. I do
this w/o thinking about it. My push sticks are 2-3 feet (long grain)
and I never go for my cut piece or the scrap until the blade has
stopped. I do these things automatically w/o thinking about them.


-Leuf