The Impact of Safety Regulations on the Incidence of Power Saw Injuries in the United States: Level 4 Evidence

Abstract

There is no financial information to disclose. To date, no study has demonstrated the effect of safety regulations on the incidence of power saw injuries. We hypothesized that, despite the evolution of power saw technology and improved safety guidelines, there has been no decrease in the frequency or morbidity of injuries associated with these devices. The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database was queried for all injuries associated with power saws from 1997-2014. The database provides both an incidence of injury seen at all participating institutions as well an estimate of historical incidence within the United States. The subset of patients sustaining injuries to an upper extremity were selected for analysis. Demographic information including age, gender, date of injury, device involved, location, body part involved, emergency room diagnosis, and the patient’s disposition were recorded. Statistical analysis included LOESS (locally weighted scatterplot smoothing), which was used for analysis of the temporal trends of total number of injuries. Student t-tests were used to compare patent age between years. A gradual annual increase of 18.0% in the incidence of power saw injuries was seen from 1997 (772 incidence and 44,877 estimate) to 2005 (1,350 incidence and 75,037 estimate), at which point the incidence of table saw injury reached a peak (R = 0.72, P < 0.001, Fig 1). From 2006 to 2015, a gradual and consistent annual decrease of 5.8% was observed with the total number of injuries decreasing from 1,370 (71,160 estimate) to 1,042 (57,992 estimate). This decrease was found to be statistically significant (R = 0.25, P = 0.014). The decline in rate of injury correlates with several landmark documents outlining safe and effective use of power saws by the Consumer Safety Product Commission (CPSC), the first of which was published in 2003. The average patient age increased slightly over the study time period from 48.8 +/-16.7 years in 1997 to 52.9 +/-16.3 years in 2014, with the proportion of subjects younger than 50 years decreasing from 52.8% to 41.9% (P for trend < 0.001). •Incidence of power saw injuries increased from 1997 to 2004.•From 2006 to 2015, the incidence of power saw injuries decreased by 5% annually.•Implementation of safer operating procedures and improvements in equipment, mandated by a landmark report by the CSPC in 2003, has been successful in precipitating a marked decrease in the overall incidence of power saw injuries to the upper extremity.•Age at time of injury is increasing, the etiology of which is likely multifactorial.