Trustee's push to replace 'dangerous' table saws in schools would cost $800K

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It would cost the Thames Valley District school board more than $800,000 to replace the table saws in all its high schools’ construction and woodworking shops, staff estimate.

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Trustee's push to replace 'dangerous' table saws in schools would cost $800K Back to video

Last June, trustee Bruce Smith, who represents Elgin County on the Thames Valley board, said there had been at least one “significant injury” involving a table saw in recent years and he wants classes across the London region outfitted with SawStop technology instead.

Each SawStop table saw costs $11,540, staff said in the report requested by trustees after concerns were raised about the safety of the saws currently being used, the report said. According to an online description, SawStop is a U.S. company whose table saws feature an automatic braking system as soon as the blade comes in contact with a person’s skin.

“The trauma suffered by teachers and students when a child loses a finger or thumb is horrible,” Smith said at the time he first raised the issue. “I’m just concerned about the lifelong trauma that comes with that.”

Smith, who surveyed several schools in his district, said he learned some of the table saws date back to the 1960s.

In 2014, the Windsor-Essex Catholic school board spent $45,000 on nine SawStop installations, Postmedia reported at the time.

Smith added the table saw “can be a very important piece of equipment” but it can also be “extremely dangerous.”

The trustee added: “Evidently we have incidents at our schools every year, but they are mostly cuts and bruises. But in the last two years, we’ve had one significant injury.”

Trustees didn’t comment on or debate the report at a meeting on Jan. 9.

hrivers@postmedia.com

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