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posted by martyb on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:05AM   Printer-friendly
from the safety-is-no-accident dept.

In 2015, 4,700 people in the US lost a finger or other body part to table-saw incidents. Most of those injuries didn't have to happen, thanks to technology invented in 1999 by entrepreneur Stephen Gass. By giving his blade a slight electric charge, his saw is able to detect contact with a human hand and stop spinning in a few milliseconds. A widely circulated video[1] shows a test on a hot dog that leaves the wiener unscathed.

Now federal regulators are considering whether to make Gass' technology mandatory in the table-saw industry. The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced plans for a new rule in May, and the rules could take effect in the coming months.

But established makers of power tools vehemently object. They say the mandate could double the cost of entry-level table saws and destroy jobs in the power-tool industry. They also point out that Gass holds dozens of patents on the technology. If the CPSC makes the technology mandatory for table saws, that could give Gass a legal monopoly over the table-saw industry until at least 2021, when his oldest patents expire.

At the same time, table-saw related injuries cost society billions every year. The CPSC predicts switching to the safer saw design will save society $1,500 to $4,000 per saw sold by reducing medical bills and lost work.

"You commissioners have the power to take one of the most dangerous products ever available to consumers and make it vastly safer," Gass said at a CPSC public hearing on Wednesday.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/08/patent-disputes-stand-in-the-way-of-radically-safer-table-saws/

[1] SawStop Hot dog Video - Saw blade retracts within 5 milliseconds of accidental contact - YouTube.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by drussell on Saturday August 12 2017, @08:37AM (3 children)

    by drussell (2678) on Saturday August 12 2017, @08:37AM (#552800) Journal

    There is absolutely NO WAY that injuries cost society $1500 to $4000 per table saw!

    I want to see that data and their calculations on the installed base of table saws!!

    :facepalm:

    Terrible idea.

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  • (Score: 2) by qzm on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:36AM

    by qzm (3260) on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:36AM (#552811)

    Thats because they calculate it, in typical retardocrat style, by comparing new sales per year and injuries per year.
    Because as we all know, people are NEVER injured by the existing base of saws...

    So yes, you are absolutely correct, it is a stupid number.

    But this is now government do-gooders rationalise nearly everything, and they get away with it, continuously.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:47AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:47AM (#552813)

    How much money do you want for your thumb? I'll give you a discount for both thumbs...

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by RedBear on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:46PM

    by RedBear (1734) on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:46PM (#552872)

    There is absolutely NO WAY that injuries cost society $1500 to $4000 per table saw!
    I want to see that data and their calculations on the installed base of table saws!!

    I want to see YOUR data and calculations proving that those numbers are way off the mark. Got any?

    Health insurance and worker's comp in this country will shell out for astronomically expensive reconstructive surgery if there is any hope of restoring functionality, and for very expensive but inadequate prosthetics otherwise. Because we are not a third-world country where only the wealthy have access to health care options. But often there is no way to restore the abilities that were lost, and the loss of full productivity of a trained worker has an actual, measurable economic cost. For both the company and society as a whole.

    I will never be able to fathom how profit-worshipping conservatives have such a hard time understanding that everything in life has a price tag attached. The smartest employers will have already invested in this kind of technology or will be strongly in favor of requiring all equipment manufacturers to at least have this tech available in the models their business uses. Because they know every time the safety feature gets activated, even if it destroys a $99 blade and requires replacement of a $99 safety stop, they will have likely just dodged a minimum $100,000 worker's comp claim and a minimum loss of $25,000 during the training period for a new worker to do that same job. This is not rocket surgery.

    --
    ¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
    ... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ