According to the National Consumers’ League, every year more than 4,000 people suffer horrific amputation injuries involving the use of table saws. Most of table saw injuries occur at home. The average medical bill for a person who suffers a finger amputation from a table saw-related accident is about $30,000. The total cost of these injuries is more than $2 billion a year.

The worst part of it all is that these injuries are preventable. The technology to prevent amputations from the use of table saws and bench saws has been around for years now, but manufacturers of table saws have failed to adopt this technology in their tools.

Now, the National Consumers’ League is asking the Consumer Product Safety Commission to pressure the industry to install amputation-prevention technology in their tools. The technology to prevent these injuries is Saw Stop. It has been around for a while, and has been widely proven to prevent amputation injuries from the use of table saws. Saw Stop works by detecting a finger in the path of the blade. When the finger is detected, the machine automatically switches off.

However, the company that manufactures Saw Stop has already begun its own line of tools incorporating the technology. Other manufacturers don't want the Consumer Product Safety Commission to mandate Saw Stop technology because it would give that company an unfair edge over their tools.

While manufacturers continue to delay, thousands of innocent people suffer serious injuries from dangerous products every year that can leave them incapacitated. Amputations can be life altering injuries. According to the industry, these tools are currently equipped with plastic guarding systems that protect them from injuries. However, Los Angeles personal injury attorneys believe that the guarding technology is hardly useful, because it discourages easy use of the tool, and therefore, consumers are simply likely to remove the guard.