Woodworking Tools Safety Articles

Angle grinders and hand-held circular saws (“Skil Saws”) are common power tools used on construction sites and in home handy-man applications. Too often, angle grinders are converted into defective circular saws. This conversion subjects the operator to an unreasonably dangerous risk of significant personal injury.

In this article, woodworking tool expert and Professional Engineer Les Winter describes the differences between these two tools and the dangers created when circular saw blades are fitted to angle grinders.

This case involved a plaintiff who was injured when a front leg of the chair she sat upon gave way, causing the chair to pitch forward. As a result of the failure, the plaintiff fell to the ground and was injured. Les Winter, P.E. of Robson Forensic was retained to investigate the incident and determine the cause of failure.

In this article, woodworking machinery expert, Les Winter, P.E. discusses jointer injuries. His discussion includes an overview of the machinery, an explanation of the most common injuries associated with jointers, and a description of the associated safety equipment and processes.

In this article, woodworking safety expert, Les Winter, P.E. describes the various processes and equipment that are necessary to safely operate a table saw. Les regularly applies this information to the investigation of table saw mishaps, including incidents resulting in amputations, kickbacks, and blindness.

In this article, Professional Engineer and Woodworking Expert, Les Winter, P.E. discusses the causes of wood chair collapses which commonly lead to fall injuries.


The experts at Robson Forensic have investigated many incidents of chair failures to understand the cause of failure and the condition of the chair leading up to the incident.

In this article, woodworking tools expert, Les Winter, P.E. provides an introduction to circular saw injuries and an explanation of why they occur.

This article is intended to provide an introduction into the injuries most commonly associated with miter saws, as well as information on available safety equipment/features.

This document, created by woodworking tools expert, Les Winter, P.E., is intended to promote a technical dialog involving the components of a contractor table saw. Details in this document may vary from the equipment in your case.

This document, created by woodworking tools expert, Les Winter, P.E., is intended to promote a technical dialog involving the components of a cabinet table saw. Details in this document may vary from the equipment in your case.

Manufacturers equip their saws with guarding, instructions, warnings and recommendations for personal protective equipment (“PPE”). At least one manufacturer currently provides an additional safeguard known as flesh sensing technology or “sawstop”. These topics are discussed in the article written by woodworking machinery expert, Les Winter, P.E.

Hand-held circular saw (“skil saw”), table saw and miter saw hand injuries are frequently caused by the same type of occurrence: Kickback. In this article, woodworking tools expert, Les Winter. P.E., discusses the fundamental of kickbacks - why they occur and how they can be prevented.