jonny round boy said:
mike1967 said:
If anyone has a better idea for how to get the companies to pay for the injuries their saws cause,
I think that's the point - the
saws don't cause any injuries (unless they're faulty) it's people like this idiot who don't use them correctly that is the problem. And that isn't the fault of the manufacturer.
Agreed. This argument could be given for any inanimate object that can cause injury.
I just watched Pan's Labryinth the other night and the villain just about kills a guy with a wine bottle. Should vintners be liable for someone using their bottle incorrectly and causing injury? Same goes for beer bottles. There's an untapped (pun!) market of personal injury lawsuits (imagine a bar fight making Budweiser bankrupt in lawsuits).
I broke a window and cut myself... is that the window manufacturer's fault? Baseball bats aren't for pummeling people, but they've been used for decades to cause grevious injury and even death to others. Louisville slugger is to blame?? Knives and razors for suicide-- are those makers at fault because their product is dangerous and someone used it to slice themselves up? Construction workers fall on exposed rebar... is that the rebar makers fault?? People fall down the stairs all the time. Is that the fault of builders, even if they put a handrail there and the person wasn't using it!? How do you sue gravity, the real culprit behind falling?!? By gosh, gravity should be paying for all those hip replacements!
I just saw a show about a guy who cliff-jumped 60 feet and a jet of water went up his backside, shredding his innards and he passed out from internal bleeding and died from drowning (true story apparently). Should his family sue the swimsuit maker for not including a "plug"??
Where is there a line to be drawn between a physical item that *can* cause injury, and the responsibility of the person using it to make sure they don't hurt themselves. It is probably obvious where I fall on the location of this line...
I work in IT. My fingers are my paycheck (ergo, I spend 80% of my time typing). Therefore I am VERY careful and try to be smart around cutting tools.
If one is in construction, or a surgeon, or any job where your hands are your livelihood, one should be careful with them! If you aren't, it's not the tools fault. Perhaps it's a hidden blessing for this guy to get into a different profession where rampant stupidity doesn't cost him body parts.
Regarding another post, I totally agree that there is a huge cultural difference here in the US (I can't speak for Canada or elsewhere) that screams "You're a homeowner, you can do it!" and people buy all sorts of things they shouldn't and have no idea how to use. A power tool license / training course would go a LONG way towards heading off future injuries. Take the class, you get a card authorizing you to buy things that can chop you up, and hopefully the fool factor is gone. Don't take the class (or don't pass!!)... hire a professional or don't pretend to be a professional.
