According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, over 35,000 table saw users are injured every year. Many of the injuries are caused by kickback, when a piece of wood being cut closes and snags on the back of the spinning saw blade causing the wood to fly back toward the user. The kickback of the wood causes the user to lose balance and in many cases resulting in a finger, hand or arm coming into contact with the blade. The blade contact causes severe injuries including amputation.
These injuries can be prevented through safety technology. One, SawStop technology is a safety feature where the saw detects flesh and stops the rotating saw blade upon contact with human skin. Two, Riving Knives are metal pieces attached behind the exposed blade that rise and fall with the blade. The metal pieces keep the wood from closing an snagging the back of the rotating blade.
Despite the availability of the safety technology, table saw manufacturers continue to balk at incorporating the technology in their products and thus, people continue to get seriously injured.
Our Connecticut product liability lawyers are available to discuss defective product injury claims including those involving table saws.
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