Table Saw Injuries: Are Our Safety Features Really Keeping Us Safe?

Abstract

Background: Currently, table saws sold in the United States have 3 safety features (riving knife, blade guard, and antikickback device) designed to prevent personal injury; however, these features can hinder the user’s movements and are often disabled or removed. Despite the frequency of table saw injuries, there is relatively limited literature regarding them. Methods: We performed a retrospective, observational study of characteristics associated with injuries incurred while using a table saw. Electronic medical records from Bassett Medical Center were reviewed from 2002 to 2014 to identify patients who sustained table saw injury, and surveys were sent to the patients. Tests of association between survey variables (eg, presence/absence of safety device vs severity of injury) were carried out using chi-square or Fisher exact test. Results: Seventy-three percent of those injured had disabled their safety features or had no safety features present; 27% of those injured had one or more safety features enabled when they sustained the injury. Of those injured, 18% sustained a “mild” injury (skin laceration), 39% sustained a “moderate” injury (nerve or tendon injury), and 43% sustained a “severe” injury (partial or complete amputation). There was no statistically significant association between severity of the injury and presence/absence of safety features. Conclusions: This study highlights 2 major problems with the current safety features: People are dissatisfied with current safety features, disabling them and sustaining injuries, and even when they are enabled, people are still getting injured—suggesting inadequacy of the current features.