[OP]
Member
In your opinion are tablesaw injuries more likely to occur. With someone with say many years of experience. Or someone who has maybe a year experience. Is it due to everyday use and odds of injuries goes up. Or for the Person lacks the experience. Just a thought.
Member
Most probable when people have small or none understanding of the tool... of course it also occurs afterwards mainly when people get excessive confidence in their skills.
Contributor
+1. Osvaldo made both points that I was thinking about.Originally Posted by Osvaldo Cristo
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
Contributor
It can happen in both groups. That split second of in-attention is what gets you. I have trimmed fingers on both hands over the years.
Joe
Contributor
I agree. In addition, I think people who buy a saw and don't have any training from a very experienced person is at a higher risk on both accounts.
Contributor
Just listing personal experience, so not worth much, as only one example. I've used a tablesaw almost daily, as a pro, for 45 years, and some before that. I've never once used one with so much as a splitter on it, or any other safety device. Knock on wood, but so far, not even a nick. I do know when to quit working for the day though. I also almost never use one for crosscutting.
Contributor
Injuries can happen to anyone. I know of a professional carpenter and cabinet maker with many years' experience who has sustained TS injuries twice in the last couple of years. Time pressure, momentary inattention, lack of safety protocol can have serious consequences.
I started out in carpentry using a small Makita table saw. This tool essentially had a handsaw motor in it, and we did crazy things with it on site. However, the motor was weak enough that you could power through many activities with fairly small risk.
When I finally achieved my dream of having my own woodshop, I purchased a General 350 cabinet saw. The power of that tool is in another world, and I had to learn to be much more careful when cutting smaller pieces, etc. As I've aged, and spend intermittent time in the shop, I need to mentally be sharper to avoid accidents when doing unfamiliar tasks. I often run through what I want to accomplish in my mind, and may choose an alternate tool, jig, or method to prevent injuries.
Repetitive tasks are some of the most dangerous, if concentration falters.
Member
Even with the safest saw out there you can still be injured. I had a kick back that I needed stitches for it happened just as I started to feed a piece that I had a stacked dado set in
Member
Really helps if you have had training from an instructor who is all about safety. When I went to Fort Hays State U, the instructor was Glen Ginther, and it was about safety first, and how to do the job safely. Has benefited me greatly over the years.
Contributor
I'll wager that most TS injuries happen on saws where the safety devices have been removed.
John
Contributor
Power tool injuries, per hour of exposure, are clearly more likely with those inexperienced and untrained. But, as others have pointed out, they don't go to zero in any group. A factory environment with real attention to all aspects of safety - training, maintenance, procedures, devices - will get very close to zero over long periods of time, and is probably the safest place these tools are used. Experienced, attentive small shops next. Carpenter crews that hire anyone they can lay hands on and weekend warriors who have used a new tool for only a few hours and never received or sought training are basically accidents waiting to happen. Most will still get through with near misses until they learn the tool and habits required, but a lot will not.
Our ER records at the hospital bear this out. Not many injuries from the numerous furniture factories and mills in the area, a steady stream from job sites and garages.
Contributor
OSHA and emergency room data will support that the operator at both ends of the equation are the most at risk.
Training and knowledge are key components in preventing injury from the operator perspective, and I have always ben thankful that I had actual classroom, or "wood shop" training. It may have only been in Jr. and High School, a zillion years ago, but I'm glad I have it.
"I'll wager that most TS injuries happen on saws where the safety devices have been removed. "
I would have to modify this sentence to read as follows to agree completely with it:
I'll wager that most TS injuries happen on saws when the properly designed safety devices have been removed.
I'm sorry, but many of the devices I see, especially a stock guard and splitter for a table saw, are very poorly designed and constructed. They are there to limit liability more than actual injury.
"The first thing you need to know, will likely be the last thing you learn." (Unknown)
Moderator
In most cases, tool accidents are mental mistakes (including being tired or distracted or rushed), so it can happen to anybody at any time. But risk does increase when folks either don't know and understand the risk or don't know and understand how to best mitigate it when working with their tools.
--
The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Contributor
It happens to an experienced user who is overconfident or gets distracted. It happens to an inexperienced user who lacks knowledge or gets distracted.
So pay attention, with whatever machine you’re using! And if you don’t know what you’re doing or are unsure, stop and educate yourself. Simple as that I think.
Contributor
Two primary components to your question:
An inexperienced user or user that has removed safety devices would be a higher rate of incident per unit of use. But may not use it that much.
A more careful and experienced person with all the safety mechanisms in place would be a lower incident per unit of use. But may use it a lot.
They may (or may not) end up with similar accident rates.
Then other combinations thereof. (A very reckless/inexperienced user with no safety guards that uses it constantly might have the highest rate).
We used to use a term: "statistical inevitability"
Some of the industrial settings post 'days without an accident' and promote complete safety and training, etc etc. And yet, accidents do still happen.
(I also drive a car. And for many years, a motorcycle. "If you give up cigarettes, whiskey, and women you dont live any longer.... it just seems longer...." So imo some level of risk is part of life)
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