What are the actual rates of serious accident in the woodshop?

[Rod Sheridan]

I guess part of the reason I am suspicious of these statistics is that there are thousands of hobbyist woodworkers out there putting in hundreds of thousands of hours, no doubt — mostly invisible to collectors of data.

I bought a Sawstop last year with little interest in the blade-stopping feature and much interest in the build otherwise. With the upgraded fence and blades, it’s a fine tool. Buttery-smooth, burn-free cuts have a lot of appeal to me.

Hi, I expect it is exactly the opposite, many hobby users with unreported injuries.

If a hobby user gets a nick, they won’t seek medical attention, that doesn’t happen in industry.......Rod

[Mark Wooden]

By far, the most dangerous tool has two legs, two arms two hands and starts out with ten fingers. Things go downhill from there.

[Martin Wasner]

, that doesn’t happen in industry.......Rod

You gotta stop making stuff up.

If it doesn't require a medical attention, it's going to get a bandaid and be the end of it in my experience.

[Martin Wasner]

By far, the most dangerous tool has two legs, two arms two hands and starts out with ten fingers. Things go downhill from there.

Right?! I've seen dummies amputate body parts on machines that should've been almost impossible to get hurt on

[Rod Sheridan]

You gotta stop making stuff up.

If it doesn't require a medical attention, it's going to get a bandaid and be the end of it in my experience.

Where I work if it needs a bandaid, you get a bandaid and fill out the log book. I think we’re differing on what we consider a nick, I’ve seen many people who needed a stitch or 2 decide they just needed a banaid.

If it needs more than that you get medical attention because the company isn’t willing to undertake the liability for no gain.

When we had a nurse on staff she would do the determination, now if it’s more than a banaid we don’t get the choice because we no longer have any expertise on site.

If we have a near miss we fill out a near miss form and it goes to policy committee for analysis. Near misses are an extremely valuable learning experience.

Regards, Rod

[Martin Wasner]

Across the board, that is extremely unusual.

[David Utterback]

Thank you, Roger and Richard, for finding the report on NEISS surveillance. Below are the main observations, IMHO, by the study investigators at CPSC. The surveillance program is designed to yield population-based national estimates from data provided by a sample of 100 hospital emergency departments. There is a lot more information in the report which can be accessed at cpsc.gov/PageFiles/108980/statsaws.pdf. I have highlighted the data on saw ownership since others have wondered.

Copied from pdf of the cspc report:
the estimated total number of hospital emergency department-treated injuries related to table/bench saws in the United States during the calendar years 2007–2008 was 79,500.

injuries related to table/bench saws account for 78.0 percent of the survey-based estimated total number of 101,900 injuries associated with all stationary saws (i.e., table/bench saws, band saws, radial arm saws, and miter saws).

the operator of the saw was the victim in 95.7 percent (76,100) of the cases. The estimated average age of the injured operators was 55.4 years

Injuries to operators were due to contacting the blade in 88.0 percent of the cases

93.0 percent of the cases, the victim was examined/treated and released from the hospital

fixed cabinet saw was in use in the majority of the cases (68.7 percent), followed by a semiportable contractor saw (18.3 percent), and a portable bench saw (10.5 percent). The saw was owned by the operatorÂ’s household in 86.7 percent of the cases.
(emphasis added by me)

the blade guard was removed (75.0 percent) for operational convenience. A riving knife was attached to the saw in 20.4 percent of the cases, and an anti-kickback pawl or spreader assembly was attached to the saw in 24.4 percent of the cases

the type of cutting operation performed was ripping along the length of the stock (85.7 percent) and primarily for vertically straight cuts (94.7 percent)

about 67.1 percent of the injuries happened when the operator was actually cutting or in the middle of a cut; and in 28.9 percent of the cases, injuries happened when the operator was at the end of a cutting operation

the stock kicked back or jumped in 40.5 percent of the cases


[/B]

Here's a summary of a survey-based estimate:

Table saws win, by a lot.

A brief look through various publications suggests that in the broad classification of workers with wood that loggers and carpenters suffer much higher injury rates than cabinetmakers.

These data are over 10 years old. Newer data might reveal lower estimates following occupational injury trends in general industry. I would stick my neck out a bit and say that more integrated and effective safety devices may be available to more woodworkers these days due to ancient machinery being replaced by newer. I also would guess that the development of the web has also made relevant safety information more widely read. Increased popularity of WW could push the estimates higher.

Thanks again for posting!

[Larry Frank]

I worked many years in a very large world wide steel making company. All injuries were supposed to be reported and investigated by both the company and the union. Close calls were also investigated. The goal was to try to prevent all injuries. Rod's comments were in line with what we did. However, we had a complete medical setup and treated the injuries on-site if possible.

Accident and near accidents were the topics of safety meetings before shifts started. We monitored accidents and tracked safety training.

[Martin Wasner]

Crazy. Never heard such a thing, but the trades are a little different from most.

Could be a regional thing too.

[Kevin Jenness]

I worked for 14 years in a shop with five cabinetmakers. In that time we had two ER trips that I remember, one from a handheld router kickback- bad cut planning, and one from a gloved finger caught in a jointer- hurrying to correct a mistake. We had a fairly serious safety program with a written manual and a policy of documentation of all injuries, all with an orientation to insurance issues. Suppose you get a superficial cut, don't document it, then it gets infected and you need to make a workmen's comp claim- it's a lot easier if it was written up in the first place. When there is a serious accident the insurance provider is going to want some assurance that you are taking safety seriously, and if OSHA gets involved your paperwork really needs to be in order. The cost to an employer of a serious accident far outweighs any loss of production involved in a systematic safety program. People will do stupid things, but if they get regular reminders to use safe techniques it can really help. Nothing crazy about it.

[Andrew More]

fixed cabinet saw was in use in the majority of the cases (68.7 percent), followed by a semiportable contractor saw (18.3 percent), and a portable bench saw (10.5 percent).

Interesting report. A few things stand out to me. First that this report doesn't mention other tools, such as jointer or routers. Second, that a majority of the injuries were on fixed cabinet saws. I find the high incident among cabinet saws odd, because I would bet good money that cabinet saws are in the minority, while contractor or bench saws the majority.

Any idea what would make the cabinet saws more dangerous? Particularly since it would be more likely that they are in the hands of an experienced operator?

Finally, why do the average ages trend high? Is it because wood working is more common among older people? And keep in mind that 55 is the average, meaning 50% are ever older.

[Scott Winners]

I agree with a couple or three previous posters that you really need to look at injuries per hours of use to make meaningful conclusions about which tool is the most dangerous.

Given tablesaws are far and away the most commonly owned homeowner power tool it is no surprise to me, at all, that they are the most commonly involved in injuries. The "at the end of a rip cut" remark about tablesaws above got my attention.

Two things I would want to correct for, mostly among amateurs and hopefully a tiny fraction of pro injuries - safety gear removed and blood alcohol content of injured patient.

I _think_ if we had good data and could peel off the folks that had been drinking and/or took the safety gear off their power tools the remaining injury rates would be shockingly low, probably safer than driving a car on pubic roads or smoking.

[Larry Frank]

In the CPSC report, it says that in 75% of the reported accidents the blade guard was removed.

[David Utterback]

Hi Andrew,
The report itself is very informative. The text I highlighted says that 86.7% of the saws were owned by the operator's [U]household[U]. I interpret this observation as home shop use of the saws, not industrial, although not necessarily all home use.

The average age of 55 is also consistent with home shop use. I would not be surprised if the average hobbyist member age for this forum is near the same number of years. Also the median would be the number where 50% would older. In large populations, such as used in this survey, the difference between median and average is likely to be small.

I would also guess that Larry's employer, "a very large world wide steel making company," was self-insured for workers' comp. This would mean that injury costs, both medical and indemnity, would be paid directly by the employer. Having a union would likely mean bargaining over safety issues and extensive written safety program. These elements to manage safety for the benefit of both employer and employees are the norm in large unionized industries.

[Zachary Hoyt]

My personal rate of injury is none that were serious in over 20 years of using power tools, and 18 years of using chainsaws and farm machinery pretty often. I'm 33 now. I have cut myself with knives and chisels a few times, but never to the extent that I needed stitches. I have also sanded some skin from my fingertips a few times on a disc sander, trying to sand very small pieces. My one injury that required medical attention was an ingrown toenail that I got from dropping a piece of firewood on my big toe while wearing rubber boots that didn't have a steel toe. I didn't go to the doctor for that for several months, and when I did he said it was the most ingrown that he had ever seen. I'm hoping to continue to retain all of my appendages indefinitely.
Zach