Do you have a Power Saws case?

Office Call us at 1 (203) 329-9909
Free initial phone consultation for attorneys and insurance representatives

Power Saws

Post image for Power Saws

Power Saws

Approximately 125,000 serious injuries occur in the US each year related to the use of portable and fixed power saws. Lacerations and similar injuries, such as abrasions and avulsions, account for over 90% of these, which generally occur to males and result in losses in the tens of millions of dollars annually. Although hand and finger blade contact is involved in most of these accidents, a significant number involve kickback of the work-piece for fixed saws or kickback of the tool for hand held units. In many of these cases, a blade-guard or anti-kickback device was either not in place or failed to operate properly.

 

An invention, known as Saw Stop, is able to detect when a hand contacts a spinning table saw blade, and to stop the blade in time to stop an injury; however, this or similar technology has not been adopted by most table saw manufacturers.  The CPSC has issued an ANPR (Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) to consider requiring such a technology on all table saws.

Our engineers have been assisting attorneys and insurance representatives in investigating accidents since 1990. We have a highly qualified staff of engineers with advanced degrees from top-tier universities who have provided testimony on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants at trial

Previous Cases

Hand-held Circular Saw Kickback

A man was using a hand-held circular saw to cut a piece of wood when the blade encountered a knot. The saw kicked back but the blade-guard did not cover the blade in time, allowing the rotating blade to cut the man's free hand. The defense argued that the sticking blade guard became bent when the user dropped the saw. Through testing, we showed that the blade-guard had been manufactured with a bend, resulting in its sticking open before it covered the blade.

Table Saw Blade Contacts Operator's Hand

The promising career of a jazz musician ended abruptly after a table saw he was using injured his right hand. Dr. Ojalvo demonstrated to the court that it was technically and economically feasible to install a safety interlock mechanism, which would shut off power to the blade when the guard was removed. As a result, the jury awarded the Plaintiff $1.6 million in damages.