This is truly a disgusting reflection on the legal system. To reward some idiot for disabling any safety features that were available is crazy. I've researched this case for an article I am helping write for another list I'm on. For those that don't know the details, here are the important ones.
The guy was working for a hardwood flooring company. He was using a "bench top" saw, not on a table or bench top, but on the floor. Next, he was trying to run a piece of 3 quarter inch thick by 2 and a quarter inches wide piece of oak wood through the blade of this saw without any available safety devices. If you read the instruction manual for any saw, they advise having the blade set so the teeth are just above the surface of the wood being cut. Court papers show he had the blade set to 3 inches, almost 2 and a quarter inches higher than recommended, and almost the limit for blade height on that particular saw. All table saw manufacturers recommend keeping the blade guard in place. This one had been removed. Anyone that uses a table saw knows the fence is required to make a straight cut. The fence in this case was not on the saw either. The victim admitted in court, both the blade guard and fence were not in place. Finally, when he started the cut, he said the wood started to chatter so he shut the saw down. He brushed the surface of the table clean and resumed his cut. When the wood started chattering again, he started pushing harder, completely opposite what you should do, and that is when his mishap occurred. In the court papers, he admitted to having operated the saw while on one knee on the floor. A completely off balance position. It is important to note that the law suit doesn't involve the flooring company this guy worked for. This is an attempt to mandate that all saws carry the blade break system in place on the SawStop brand. The model saw used cost $159 from home Depot. A bench top saw is designed to be lighter in weight, and is smaller so it can be used on a bench top. Adding a blade brake would greatly increase the size of the saw, and probably make it unsafe to sit on a bench. Not to mention the fact that you can forget about $159 for a price. The same saw would most likely double in price if not more. If the congress really wants to do something productive, something that would help all of us, they need to put a stop to law suits like this. Suing McDonalds because you are fat, or because their coffee is too hot? When I owned a shop years ago, we were all terrified as business owners when some jerk picked up a running lawn mower and tried to cut his hedges with it. This guy lost his finger tips but sued because there wasn't a warning label saying a mower wasn't fit for trimming hedges. His win in this law suit put a whole company out of business. You can't legislate against stupidity. If I use a machine designed to cut something as hard as oak wood, I know it won't have a problem cutting my fingers or hand off. If I take off the blade guard and fence and still try to cut wood, I deserve any punishment the saw dishes out for being that stupid. Have a problem paying for health insurance? Paying claims like these are what helps boost the cost. ----- Original Message ----- From: Shane Hecker To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 4:35 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] FW: How much is a finger worth? I thought this was interesting. Shane Feed: Productopia: The ConsumerSearch Blog Posted on: Saturday, July 24, 2010 8:02 AM Author: Catherine Jo Morgan Subject: How much is a finger worth? How about a hand? Do table saw <http://www.consumersearch.com/table-saw-reviews> manufacturers have an obligation to use the safest technology available? The first jury to consider this question -- in a civil lawsuit against the maker of Ryobi table saws -- answered quite a definite "yes," to the tune of a 1.5 million dollar award <http://www.boston.com/yourtown/malden/articles/2010/03/06/man_wins_15m_in_first_of_its_kind_saw_case/%20> to the plaintiff. read <http://www.consumersearch.com/blog/how-much-is-a-finger-worth-0?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS> more <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~ff/product-reviews?a=RST_N4bUEek:Ijc4TGBBRpI:yIl2AUoC8zA> <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~ff/product-reviews?a=RST_N4bUEek:Ijc4TGBBRpI:qj6IDK7rITs> <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~ff/product-reviews?a=RST_N4bUEek:Ijc4TGBBRpI:V_sGLiPBpWU> <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~ff/product-reviews?a=RST_N4bUEek:Ijc4TGBBRpI:gIN9vFwOqvQ> <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~ff/product-reviews?a=RST_N4bUEek:Ijc4TGBBRpI:F7zBnMyn0Lo> <http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/product-reviews/~4/RST_N4bUEek> View <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~r/product-reviews/~3/RST_N4bUEek/how-much-is-a-finger-worth-0> article... [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
