This week, tablesaw liability suits take center-stage as we interview trial attorney John Bell, who recently scored a big win for Ryobi. Plus, SawStop inventor Steve Gass on his take, and big news regarding a new SawStop product release.
STL 72: Another Tablesaw Lawsuit
This week on Shop Talk Live, we’re foregoing your woodworking questions in order to tackle a bit of breaking tool news. Attonrey John Bell joins us to offer his take on a recent tablesaw liability suit levelled against Ryobi after yet another tablesaw injury sparked a multi-million-dollar lawsuit.
SawStop Makes News
Later in the show, SawStop inventor Steve Gass joins us to chime in on tablesaw safety technology, it’s implications regading the law, and to announce a brand-new SawStop product release you won’t want to miss!
Every two weeks, a team of Fine Woodworking staffers answer questions from readers on Shop Talk Live, Fine Woodworking’s biweekly podcast. Send your woodworking questions to [email protected] for consideration in the regular broadcast!
Click on the link at left to listen to the podcast, or catch it in iTunes. Remember, our continued existence relies upon listener support. So if you enjoy the show, be sure to leave us a five-star rating and maybe even a nice comment on our iTunes page. And don’t forget to send in your woodworking questions to [email protected].
Comments
It was interesting to hear the Ryobi defense lawyer's characterization of the table saw lawsuits.
As a SawStop owner, it's disappointing to hear directly from Steve Gass' mouth that profits truly are the *only* driving factor behind his company. Notice that at no point did Gass say that safety was his #1 priority, as he has always maintained in the past. Instead he stated that he needs to do what's best for the company, which apparently means offering only premium-level saws. Rather than offering a more affordable sub-$1000 jobsite saw, SawStop prices the new jobsite saw only a couple hundred dollars cheaper than the contractor saw and adds extra features to try to justify a price that's more than twice that of the best jobsite saws currently on the market. He's clearly concerned that a lower-priced jobsite saw will cannibalize sales of the higher-end saws. It seems safety is a great marketing ploy, but aside from that it's just a nice side-effect as far as the company's motives are concerned.
Bingo user-3280084! Likely the reason SawStop has attempted to force their brake on the other manufacturers. The brake concept is wonderful, but the way SawStop attempted to corner the market is disappointing to me and all about money in my mind.
One interesting thing I took from the Gass interview is that they aren't interested in licensing the technology. So essentially they want their patented technology to be mandated by law, and they don't want to license that patented technology. In other words, he wants SawStop to be the only company legally allowed to sell table saws in the US.
I have long thought my next table saw would be a SawStop, but I'm not sure I could support a company that's actively seeking a legally protected monopoly. Gass didn't do himself, or his company, any favors during this interview in my mind.
Let's see... Not interested in licensing... Not interested in proving the case he went all in on in the first place... Not interested in launching a product at a competitive price... Not interested in whether anyone else can get into the market with another idea. I think I am not interested in anything this clown has to say anymore. The moment someone has a vision system or something else without this guy's name on it, I'm buying.
Well, obviously, given the above posts, there is a market out there for a safer, less expensive technology. I wonder why no one has come up with one? Competition should drive that innovation, no? Unless, of course, the competitors have decided it is not in their company's best interest to invest in research/design/intellectual property that SawStop has done. I do believe Mr. Gass offered (at a high price) a licensing option early on (correct me if I am wrong) and the Big Boys said no. Why? I guess mayber they thought it was in the best interest of their companny to rely on product liability law to protect their profits at the expense of turning out a safer product.
We would all benefit from a less expensive, equally safe product...a better mousetrap as it were, but the onus for that is not on Mr. Gass or his company but for one whose profits need to be redirected to that sort of project...hmmm, I am thinking they'd rather wait for the government and courts to give them a cheaper alternative to the costly route of invention. Safety second!
Ya know, I think it's great that someone came out with a technology to make something safer. However, I am sick to death of people using leverage to try to force me to make them money.
If the technology is so necessary and can't be done any other way, maybe we should just nationalize the patent and have the government subsidize it, so every saw - large, small, expensive, affordable - can be retrofitted. If he wants to push a litigious agenda, let's go all the way.
"...and the horse he rode in on."
Buzell...you are 100% correct. Mr. Gass is suffering from an enlarged ego with a BIG dose of GREED!!!!
I wouldn't purchase anything with this clowns name attached to it............and I won't be forced to either!!!!!
For years we have assumed that there is a direct relationship between money and morality, that somehow the big companies which do well are deeply concerned about their employees and the consumer. Steve Gass does an excellent job of disproving that mistaken ideology and reaffirming that he cares about nothing except money, control and power. While he may have succeeded marvelously in acquiring those items, one thing he does not have is my business. I do not need to support people like that, particularly when all he offers is protection from our own irresponsibility. We all know how to safely use a table saw and as long as we follow those guidelines, we can truly enjoy woodworking.
In the words of Groucho Marx, "Time wounds all heels."
Without a Mouth Stop, Gass shows us his cutting nature.
May the time soon come when this heel is properly wounded..
The cure for big shots is 100 years old, when Babe Ruth's 1st major league manager said to him when he placed a small cap on the Babe's head: "here, Kid, grow into it!"
RIDICULOUS!! Saw Stop and their lawyers have $$ for pupils! To award some careless idiot for his unsafe practice is insane! This country is becoming ridiculous to let cases like this even go to court.
Maybe a person should be licensed to be able to purchase power tools. After all, as law abiding citizens, we have to jump through hoops to purchase a firearm and ammunition and stay law abiding firearm owners, we have to buy a safe to keep them in that are approved by the DOJ!
Our justice system doesn't need to waist time and taxpayers money on cases of stupidity!
I'm not sure why everyone seems to be piling on Gass here - he developed an ingenious mechanism to make table saws safer and the other tool companies weren't interested. Now that he's developed it into a profitable business, people are crying foul because he won't license it. If he licensed the technology it would seriously hurt his business and the big guys would start reaping the benefits. I think the other companies should be (and likely are) putting some serious R+D into an alternative mechanism. Obviously people want it. The REAL problem here is an attempt to legislate this into existence. Here's one place where the market really should be deciding. Most of these serious injuries wouldn't even happen if people properly used the safety gear that already exists.
I'm wondering how Mr. Gass's tune will change when the CPSC puts out a performance specification that the physics of his system won't allow him to meet. After all, SawStop doesn't begin to act until the meat hits the blade, leaving the system little time to react. A proximity or rate-of-approach non-destructive system might allow for a no-injury solution. If CPSC then specified no-injury as a requirement, Mr. Gass would be obligated to advocate for that system since he is in favor of a CPSC performance requirement specification.
Great podcast and very interesting discussion. I've gotta go with Dr. Gass on this. He had the initial motivation to approach the issue. He did something that sounds like the industry could have easily done. He brought it to the industry for them to use and they did as managers ALWAYS do and took the timid, status quo line. Most people would have given up and faded into obscurity at that point but instead he stood up and brought it to fruition himself. My hat is off to him. That is what America is supposed to be all about. Now the rest of the industry is whining about his patients? I can only hope that he gets as much satisfaction from that as I imagine he might.
I agree with the verdict. People have to be held accountable for their actions. And lawyers who take on such cases where the customer or client is clearly at fault should bear the burden of cost. Shouldn't be that Win, Lose, or Draw, lawyers get paid when the majority of suites are in fact, frivolous.
He removed the guard, period. Once done, that alone should absolve any company of wrong doing.
As for Gass' position, why not keep his patents? Giving out this type of technology won't keep morons from cutting themselves. It's just another excuse to be careless. If you ask anyone who's lost a finger or part of an arm, the first thing they'll tell you is that they got distracted, or lazy and removed the very thing designed to save those parts, the guard. It's called a guard for a reason. Every accident was due to distraction, or carelessness, and removal of the guard.
There is no such thing as a safer saw. Common sense and being focused is the key to being safer. Stop blaming the will to be careless on corporate greed. Gass's saw only helps careless people from losing fingers. It only works if skin touches the blade. And why would skin touch the blade? Means you weren't paying attention. If your careful, focused on your job, follow directions and safety tips, you'll never have an accident.
One final comment, those who feel Gass is in it for the money, he is and so would you. So quit crying because you didn't come up with it. If you had, we'd all be riding your a$$ about greed too.
I didn't hear the focus on money and profits here that some commenters did. I heard an inventor who tried to license a new technology and got no takers, so reluctantly started a manufacturing business. Criticizing him for not giving away his technology now to those same manufacturers who showed him the door is akin to criticizing Mercedes-Benz or Cadillac for introducing safety features on their highest priced models and only allowing them to filter down to (their own) lower priced models over several years, or for making the business decision to target the high end of the market in the first place. Are you complaining about Festool? Dr. Gass didn't sound like he is actively working toward mandates, but even if he is, for the sake of preventing the tens of thousands of table saw accidents annually, he can't be the only person in America capable of creating a product that can meet a performance standard (not a mandated technology standard). And he didn't even mention that safety standards, like all significant new regulations, are always implemented slowly over a period of years, allowing manufacturers ample time to change their cultures and processes. A different, potentially more effective, approach might be to implement rigorous standards with a target date that would drive technological innovation, similar to what California has done with motor vehicle technology. Thanks for the discussion, FWW!
I was very fortunate to be able to support Dr. Gass early, shortly after a tablesaw blade ripped through my thumb, narrowly missing arteries and bone. As a result of that support, I received a pre-production contractor model for a reduced price, and I've never looked back. All the reviews documenting the quality match with my own experience - it is a great saw, and a vital safety system.
What doesn't get mentioned is what a fantastic support system SawStop has put in place (which is terribly uncommon if the company really is only focused on profits). I have taken my SawStop from Alaska to Kazakhstan to Houston and to Ghana. The movers beat the heck out of it the last move, and SawStop technical support has been brilliant in getting me parts, often for free, with shipments all over the US to deliver to someone who could carry the parts to me. I would love to move to a cabinet saw some day, but I can't imagine leaving SawStop.
There seem to be two completely separate issues here. The first is the liability of a manufacturer over careless use of its products; the second is the desirability of well-documented safety features on production table saws. I'm not competent to weigh in on the first, but I am very much in favor of having the best safety features available. I don't buy the argument that people who have accidents are necessarily less competent or less intelligent than the rest of us. I don't mind admitting that on rare occasions I have used set-ups that were not according to Hoyle and was lucky enough to get away with it. I think all woodworkers do that to some extent. But that's why regulatory bodies are a necessary evil in contemporary society.
If riving knives take care of 35-40% of blade contact accidents, that leaves 60-65% of accidents that could be avoided or greatly limited by SawStop or similar technologies. My initial concern about SawStop devices becoming standard is that the new machines would be more than I can afford (I'm a hobbyist). But if I had to pay only $100 more -- as Gass indicates -- for the extra security, I'd be a fool not to spend the money.
Ajakep_82: I don't think that the scenario you describe is something people need to worry about. I can't think of any other situation like that in the market, and in fact, there is standard patent law in place to accommodate it, known as "standard essential patent."
In this particular case, suppose that the government decided to make SawStop's technology a legal requirement (setting aside for the moment the wisdom of doing so or not). The technology would certainly fall under the standard essential patent category at that point, and SawStop would in fact be forced to license it, for "fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory fees."
This is commonplace in mobile tech and other areas where a technology is deemed too important to a whole sector of industry to be monopolized by the IP owner. It may feel like a lot of government intrusion in the free market, but the outcome has been to open enormous opportunities for all, that have created far more jobs and wealth, as well as consumer benefit, than would have been possible otherwise.
I heard Glass or his partner on the radio long before SawStop was a company, describing the technology and the slammed doors they were getting from established saw makers. I believe (please correct me if wrong) that it was some time later that they decided they would have to make saws themselves to make use of it. I was pleased that they didn't put it into cheap big box saws but instead gave me the option for a Powermatic-quality saw with this safety feature.
The tech is expensive enough that I have concerns that if universally required, it could limit access in the small/home saw market - someone who only has $250 for a saw might not be able to swing one that tacked on a couple hundred plus costs of brakes – though both would be a *lot* cheaper if all saws had them. But then, it's still a lot cheaper than airbags (~$800 per, once upon a time at least), and if it cut down woodworker maimings by thousands per year, maybe our kids would look at saws without it someday and ask "What the h**l were they thinking?
The people slicing up Gass for making money are missing the boat. He invented it. The idea is his property until the patent runs out - to do with as he pleases.
If he and other inventors did not have a jackpot dangling in front of them, they would not risk the time and money to get their ideas rolling.
Gass's ingenious inventiveness and business methods are responsible for the extraordinarily high standard of living you enjoy.
Quit whining. Go invent something valuable yourself. Check how your attitude has changed then.
User 4150133,
You gave the most logical explanation I have heard to date. I saw this scenario as the logical conclusion years ago but many posts seem to base their opinions on government intrusion on personal responsibility...and not as any other advancement that is taken for granted in another venue opening doors to more advancements any opportunity.
To be honest, it has been like conversing with adults who have child like reasoning ability and cannot see the forest through the trees. It is a must have technology that benefits all current and future users.
Did I hear Mr. Gass correctly that the SawStop business model is to "not" license the blade braking technology? Am I correct that he is of the opinion that the other saw manufacturers lack any concern beyond a monetary one for not providing a safer table saw? That he accused them of producing "defective" products (per his definition). He certainly takes for himself the moral high ground in the interview.
Mr. Gass mentions at least twice in the interview a $75 cost for the blade braking technology. So why not license the technology to other manufacturers at $100 or $200 or more per machine? I can only think that the sales of SawStop saws would drastically drop if every other table saw incorporated his technology. So his reason for not licensing is then a monetary one? I think he should step off the high ground.
I had 2 close calls with my 10" Rockwell Beaver before I bought my Sawstop. It is a beautiful high quality machine. 6 months after I got it, the blade contacted my thumb, and there was no injury whatsoever. Sawstop sent me a new brake cartridge at no cost. Yes, they are not cheap, but you get full value and support for your money. It would have cost more than my Sawstop cost to have my thumb reattached.
Everyone complains that Mr Gass is making money from this, but I don't hear anyone complaining how much the doctor charged to sew their hands back together after a blade contact on a regular saw, or how much the hospital bill was.
Gass didn't corner the market on flesh sensing saws; he created it, and he's entitled to a premium price for his premium saws. If that bothers you, show Gass who's boss, keep your old saw (and don't forget to pick up your fingers before you go to the hospital)
Great comments here. One thing I know for sure is that the new guarding systems are much better than the old ones, and most woodworkers and carpenters are not using them to their best advantage. Also, there are some operations, like ripping wide or rough stock, that should be done on the bandsaw. Last, I'd like to see the UL mandate a European-style rip fence, which has a low-profile configuration (for better push-stick access) and also pulls forward so the fence ends at the back of the blade, preventing the binding problem. But I applaud the better modular guards we have today, and also Steve Gass for thinking up an even safer saw.
Great interview Asa! Of course, we could spend Many STL's on this - but to throw out one more thought:
If you look at the 'problem' as one of 'cutting wood' rather than 'table saw safety' we can all see that there are a number of alternates to pushing wood through a hi-speed circular saw blade that is also spinning toward you.
While I have a Dewalt 345 and consider it a very good saw for the $$ (and guards - always ON) - I rarely use it. I do almost everything - rips and crosscuts - with my Festool TS-55 track saw and MFT 1080 setup - sort of like Gary Striegler a way back with the build-in build-off.
Its great for about everything except narrow rips of narrow long boards - like ripping Cedar decking down the middle for ADK chairs etc. (Which is about the only use my DW345 gets..)
For cuts not optimal on the TS-55, I often use my Bandsaw. (I believe Krenov once mentioned he always used a Bandsaw as he 'found the table saw too dangerous' )
And of course there are 'luddites' that rip manually (not for me, as the TS-55 is not only faster - but gives a cleaner and more accurate cut)
Why not collect together or produce some new video shorts showing alternates to the table saw?
As far as the TS-55, one very informative resource is Jerry Work - http://www.jerrywork.com/.
He has a number of tutorials on the TS-55 and MFT: http://www.festoolusa.com/Web_files/Getting_the_most_from_the_MFT_multifunction_table.pdf
Google his name and see a bunch more..
I really like the MFT/TS-55 setup. No need for an expensive sliding miter saw - I can easily do up to 20" crosscuts quickly and accurately. Same for rips up to about 48" - both at any angle or bevel - which operations covers a lot of furniture needs.
Keep up your great stuff!
Regards,
Chris
Why wouldn't a table saw owner think he couldn't use his saw without a rip fence? Check out a recent episode of This Old House, #6 of Charlestown 2014, where at the 6:30 mark Tom Silva rips a board without the fence. You can see him in action here http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/video/0,,20869122,00.html.
If I remember correctly, Norm Abram does the same thing a bit later in the show. Maybe SawStop is a sponsor...
Like Carl, I also saw Silva ripping without a fence - and couldn't believe it. I 'rewound' and played it back twice to make sure... I wrote in - as I'm sure 100's of others must have as well - not a peep/reply on either TOH or ATOH. A disgrace...
Very interesting thread. I remember when saw stop first arrived on the scene there were cries that we would all be forced to trash our beloved saws we had been using for years and forced to purchase the saw stop. There were even those who put out the idea that saw stop would force other manufacturers to buy their technology making tons of money off saw safety. Wow!!!
In my humble opinion saw stop is a business that manufactures a product that appears to be be safer than other saws manufactured by other companies. Saw stop makes money on their product, thats what a company is supposed to do. If we really think that profit is not the number one goal of all manufacturers of wood working tools then I think we are kidding ourselves. Sure safety is an element, but covering collective butts so the company won't get sued is more likely the motivation.
After re reading what I have written I'm sounding very jaded even to myself. The bottom line however and once again in my humble opinion Saw stop appears to have a great safe product that has prevented more serious injuries from tools that could seriously hurt you. They are making a bundle selling the product. Good for them. Isn't that what companies are supposed to do. I'm unaware of anyone getting seriously injured while using the saw stop but maybe there are a few. If there were more I'm sure everyone would be talking about it and they wouldn't be able to continue as they are.
By the way, I don't own a saw stop and am not in the market for one. I use my Delta contractors saw and try and observe all safety precautions I have learned in over 40 years of woodworking. If I was starting out all over again Id probable go that way, it just makes sense.
Now Im going to go back to my Sunday morning coffee and hope you all took what I said as just one person's opinion and not an attack on someone who expressed theirs.
I'm glad that Shop Talk Live devoted an episode to this. I would like to add two comments about the presentations. First, I'm thrilled that both of the guests were given time to fully express their views. I think it is unfortunate that most presentations offer an extremely abbreviated version on any individual's perspective, but in this case, Shop Talk Live let the guests speak thoroughly and at length. I would have liked for the show to have also provided some air time to an impartial, objective analysis of the issues as well, but even without that, this was a very thorough presentation of the viewpoints of people very close to these issues.
My second comment is that I couldn't help but cringe a bit during Asa'a introduction of Steve Gass' "big announcement" during which Asa makes the announcement for him before he can even talk. In this case, I think it would have been more appropriate to allow the guest to make his own "big announcement" and fill in any additional context with follow up questions if necessary.
Thanks all-
Andy
I like my old American made machines. SissyStop, no thanks.
Gents
Come on. Safety is a product. You buy products when the value meets your needs. Value is utility over cost. If you bought it you made that decision. A table saw is dangerous but the capacitive charge stop feature won't stop a dado set or allow for a scoring blade. I'm sure it has its place but there are much better options than standing in front of a table saw. There is a revolution not only in safety but in workmanship working at right angles to the blade across a slider. You don't hold the part. There is no slidding stiction and I can feel details of the cut through the part I could never feel pushing across a table into the blade and against a fence. But the slidder must be bedded in and aligned to the frame and the saw table to the accuracy you require of the work. That is the gorilla in the room! No flying addons on spindly strut legs. I have a 5 HP tilting spindle shaper/router that is much more dangerous than a circular saw on the same tool with the circular saw and run a full sheet slidding table with 300mm saw blades and insert shaper and router cutters using one set of Mac Camshers AirClamps so there is no input or out put tables and no falling off cuts, full over blade cover and dust collection and never a hand on the part or the saw table. Brian Lamb and others make good clamps. Every cut is final dimension and final finish and a one man job to a few mills over 10 foot cuts. Guys who have never done that will poo po it. But it is thrilling in assembly to have wooden parts with finished dimensions go together smoothly line to line which saves rework and sanding, arguably safer than burned and reworking parts. There are plenty of used MiniMax and Hammer and Felder, even Martin or Altendorfs that are no more expensive than a good used truck, just above the Saw Stop in price if safe and reliable operation and quality output are important or interesting. And also spendolicious new tools from the same and other OEMs if your time isn't free and planned project product cost of quality matters. I know when I make a good investment because Im only sorry once. Don't trust anyone who advertises a lot. Look around on every page and don't buy what you see the most!
Cheers
This is why the internet creates so many untrue stories that keep getting further from the truth.
Listen to how many times you guys question your owns facts in regards to the case. How are we to trust your info or even listen when you don't take 5 minutes to make sure you have your stories straight.
embarrassing. All you did was create 1000 more people who will now not know what really occurred.
A few notes about table saw, safety and responcibility.
I hope to NOT make this too long
As long as the TS mfg builds a decent tool; the table, trunions, bearings, arbor and fence work resonably well. They are not responcible for how it is used or abused. Even the saw stop has an override, so someone could cut their finger off on a saw stop if they make a mistake.
Talley all the table saws made since it was invented, multiply that with how many times someone has used the table saw (for any proceedure). Compare that number to the unfortunate users that have had an accident.
I'm just making an illustration here, but I think it would be 1,000 trillion uses to 200 thousand accidents. What ever the REAL numbers would be, I think my example gets the point accross. The table saw, WITH VERY BASIC FREE saftey proceedures, 'woodworking 101' is a VERY safe tool to use.
You want DANGEROUS, drop your hand into a jointer (without the guard) or push your hand into a 3'' raised panel cutter on a shaper. Now you are talking problems.
I've been a furniture-cabinetmaker since 1970. I have a few years under my belt with every shop and hand tool. I have used ALL tools in the safest and STUPIDEST ways they can be used. I also know enough to know there is always something else to learn.
The bottom line is if the user is trained, and they USE those saftey proceedures, he/she should be able to use the tabe saw (variety saw) without injury PERIOD.
Knock on wood, I have all ten fingers.
So does everyone that has worked in my shop, while in my shop.
Mr saw stop has an ego that prevents him from becoming a better human being. He has invented a VERY cool device, KUDOS to you Steve Gass!
I also invented a cool item and I know what it is like to have people reject it, for any reason! How dare they, I'll show them, mentality.
But Steve is making a big marketing mistake...
examples
vtr vs beta (beta gone)
apple vs windows (dos) Microsoft is wayyyyyyy bigger than apple
There are probably many other examples. Steve has to put the past in the past and move on. If he were to set a simple liciencing agreement that would let every TS mfg. use his technolgy, He would make 100 times more money than he is now, in royalties. BTW set the cost at the very bottom with a simple reasonable profit....keeping the goal of making the TS safer to use by accident prone users.
The inventors of penicilin and the polio vaccination thought their invention was too important to mankind than to patent them for profit. They gave them to humanity. At least that is what I have heard, I sure as hell hope I'm right... LOL
Everyone (lawyers) wants to sue someone because of their mistakes. Get over blaming everyone else, take responcibilty for what YOU do.
I could go on and on.. but I got to get that off my chest.
And thats enough for now...
Cabinetmaker
Birdie Miller
NJ USA
Id rather read a transcript. Listening is inefficient.
@Birdy Miller- it's VHS, not VTR. VTR simply stands for 'Video Tape Recorder'.
Anyway, yes- the reason Gass developed the Saw Stop is because he saw that people were being injured while using table saws. I don't have a problem with that, at face value. I do have a huge problem in him trying to get the government to make it a mandatory feature.
I have to wonder why these people are injuring themselves- I know why one of them lopped off his thumb- he didn't read or speak English, the business owner didn't train him, he had no experience with a table saw of any kind and he had no damn business accepting that task. He didn't even think about the fact that he would be cutting wood, which offers more resistance to the blade than skin and bone. There's no way the manufacturer was at fault in that one.
I blame school systems for this. We had shop classes and if interested, we took them. Sure, some idiots hurt themselves, but it's because they were goofing off and didn't listen to the safety instructions. Some of us were using power tools before we took a shop class- my first woodworking class was in 8th grade and I took more in high school. Didn't stop me from narfing my left index finger with my router, but I also never considered suing anyone for MY mistake.
I also think the DIY shows share the blame. They usually show the table saw with the blade guard removed and even if they have a constant "Safety features removed for clarity", there's no way anyone should think people will see it, remember it or think about safety while using a saw. They have no experience with them and if they do, it was too long ago to do any good. Sure, someone can buy a DVD or book, but real hands-on training is different.
I think we should make a list of every incidence of unsafe tool use on TV but we'd never get anything done. Inexperienced people making free-hand cuts, placing their pushing hand directly in line with the blade or cutter, cross-cutting and using the fence to determine the length of the cut....
People need to accept the responsibility for their mistakes.
Just started listening to this podcast and found this one. Nice job getting both sides of the story, and from lead counsel at that!
Bottom line, use your equipment properly. If you want to disassemble it and use it like a dumb a$& go right ahead, but it's no ones fault but your own.
My complaint about Gass is that he's trying to use government to create his monopoly. I don't really care if you invent a cure for cancer, if you are going to use FORCE (which is what government is) to make me buy it, your essentially stealing my money. Price it as you see fit, protect it with patents if you want, but don't force everyone to buy it.
With that out of the way, my issue with his whole argument about safety is the opportunity cost. He stated that injuries account for $2 billion in injury cost annually, which is more than annual table saw sales. However, how many of those people are injured on new saws vs. old saws? That would make it seem like he thinks all table saws should be manufactured and retrofit with a blade break. I don't know, but i would imagine that if you looked at injuries on newer saws they are significantly lower.
He also stated that he "could argue" the fact that the regulations or UL lab standards that would require the saw brakes would benefit him. Hah, give me a break. Sure SawStop is one version, but if someone comes out with some other type of blade break, I bet you 100% he litigates the crap out of it. I think SawStop is a great product, but Gass always seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth.
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This topic is a year and a half old and is listed as NEW?????
Why isn't year of comment posted along with month and day?
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