Tom

Yep, very easy to draw some funny stats or even very misleading stats
if all you have is the raw injury numbers and no real idea of the
number of man hours associated with the injuries OR the total number
of installed tablesaws vs RA saws

Also, the frequency of use of the various saw types would be of major
interest

From the RAW numbers, it is impossible to even guess as to what saw
type is the most dangerous without knowing the numbers related to the
incidence of use. Obviously if RA saws are used only approx 4% of the
time compared to the overall saw use numbers, then RA saws are average
in injury rate - However, if RA saws account for (as reported) approx
4% of the injuries but are used only 2%of the time, their injury rate
is 2x the average; and so on and so on

For example, I probably use my RA saw less than 10% of my total saw
use; table saw probably gets 80%of my total saw use, and about 10% for
my bandsaw - but those numbers can vary depending on the project I am
doing. If I am doing lots of half laps, then I may be using the RA
with dado blade a much larger percentage of the total useage compared
to cutting plywood panels for cabinet carcasses/etc

John






On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 18:50:35 -0400, Tom Watson
wrote:

http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/foia03/os/powersaw.pdf

Although the above might lead one to hastily conclude that the table
saw is statistically more dangerous than the radial arm saw, there is
no data to show the number of tablesaws existing versus the number of
radial arm saws.

Perhaps someone has access to industry sales statistics that would let
us weigh the probabilities in a more useful fashion.



Tom Watson - WoodDorker
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website)