[TheForge] Oh, Jeeze...California Considers Table Saw Law

[Ries Niemi]

Actually, I have done tons of welding wearing safety vests. No big deal. But then, I tend not to catch myself on fire regardless of what I am wearing. 
And I have worn fall protection while on 6' scaffolds. Again, no big deal. 
You do what you gotta do to get the job done, and paid. 
And the world is full of silly regulations, especially on big job sites. 
I have worked on jobsites where the hungover Ironworkers were far more dangerous than wearing a lanyard could ever be.

But as I said before-

A- this is NOT law, and most likely will not become law. I get so tired of half truths and just made up stuff becoming internet sensations. There is NO PLACE in the USA where you have to have a Saw Stop on your table saw.


B- I am not talking about fall protection, or safety vests, when I say- Saw Stops work. They stop people from cutting off their fingers. In any employment situation, where you are responsible for employees health, they make sense.

And, 
C-   there are many many cases of the market failing big time on safety issues. The market does not care about human life, only about dollars.

Would we really be better off without seatbelts in cars, without safety glass in windshields,  and so on? 
Do you really want asbestos insulation in houses, lead paint on baby toys, or E coli in your hamburgers?

Government regulation has saved millions of lives in america. Certainly there is a middle ground, between too much and too little. 
Since there are NO laws requiring Saw Stops right now, I would say we are still firmly in that middle ground. 

ries



On Mar 20, 2012, at 11:34 AM, Hoss McGregor wrote:

> 
> Are the saw stops a good idea? Yes. If they work as advertised, the MARKET will mandate that they be on all tools. If people would rather pay the extra coin, then saws without them will not sell as well as saws with them. That's the way life works when the government buts out.As far as stupid safety regulations, OSHA requires that you tie off anytime you are at risk of falling more than 6 feet. The fall protection lanyards stretch to 9', assuming your 6' tall(a little above average), you'll need to be at least 15 foot off above the next level before the danged thing will do any good. They do make 3' lanyards, but you really can't work with one of those, you wouldn't even have enough slack to run a boom lift.I've also seen iron workers wearing hi-vis saftey vests while welding. They were not NOMEX vests, either, they were normal polyester vests. The General Contractor required all personell on site to wear saftey vests. Would anyone on this list seriously consider wrapping the
> mselves in plastic and then welding?Saftey is a good idea. Blanket, one-size-fits-none, rules are often a bad idea.
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> Hoss
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> Anyone even remotely interesting is mad
> in some way or another. 
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> 	-Anon
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Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist
www.riesniemi.com