chrisrick

I am from the UK where riving knives and guards have been a requirement for many years. Also the vast majority of saws are unable to take dado blades, again another uk safety requirement. I have no figures to offer that say the UK is any safer but as an ex fire fighter what i can say is that in my experince most accidents are caused by:- inadequate training, using equipment for a purpose it was not intended for, abusing equipment, by that i mean pushing the tool beyond its capabilities, working in poor conditions, ie bad light or congested workplace and working when tired or upset.
The main factor i would advocate is for new users of table saws to get proper training from a competent teacher. If you start off with correct practice you are more likely to stay safer in the future. But to put it all in context what percentage is 31000 of the total number of people using table saws, and how does taht stack up to say people killed or miamed in a road crash.