5/19/25 Accident in the Woodshop

Operations
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Last night, 5/19, there was an accident in the wood shop with the circular saw which resulted in an amputated finger. The member involved in the accident last night was quickly brought to the ER and reported to be discharged early this morning. I have not been able to reach the member yet to know the current state. If you happen to know who the member is, please be respectful for their identity at this time.

The reality is that this was an unfortunate accident through use of the circular saw. Through quick reaction from Jason and the students in his class, they were able to call 911, get EMS on scene, and get the member, the care he needed. From time of injury to exiting with EMS, all of this happened within 19 minutes.

There were a lot of folks involved with cleanup and response of this and I want to thank all involved for their professionalism and extreme care for the situation.

This is something we are taking very seriously. The board, staff, and all volunteer shop leads have been involved in some way in the last 24 hours, and will continue to be involved as we evaluate processes in the workshop that are well or things that could be improved.

I also want to take this as a moment to remind folks to express safety and appropriate caution with everything you do in the workshop with any tool, power or basic hand tool accidents can happen fast especially if you find yourself tired, hungry, or frustrated.

If you are hungry, take a break and eat.
If you are tired, sit down and drink some water.
If you are frustrated, walk away and come back tomorrow.

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The member involved in the accident is okay, in high spirits, and eager to get back to making things!

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Yikes, that’s terrible news. Glad to hear they are OK.

Without any sort of shaming, learning only: Is there anything we can learn from what happened so the rest of us can avoid in the future?

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The member was using a battery powered circular saw to rip pieces off of a larger board; the rips were roughly 1" wide. The edges of the board were clamped to a worktable for stability.

While making the cut, the cutoff piece was beginning to lose stability. The member’s grabbed it, and at about the same instant, the circular saw caught and ran backwards through the cut, ultimately catching the member’s finger.

While there always seems like a dozen different ways of making a cut, this could have easily been one of them. The member has had experience with these tools outside of Asmbly in construction environments.

When it comes to circular saws, we can learn from this to always keep fingers and things away from the blade and the kerf. When wood binds in anyway on the blade it can cause the circular saw to catch, kickback, or runback through the cut.

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