Circular Saw Safety: Injuries, Precautions, Scenarios

Circular saws are the most common woodworking power tool. With that, circular saws cause some of the most injuries. Many of these injuries are due to improper use, not wearing PPE, and improper setup. In this article, I will go over the potential hazards when operating a circular saw, which PPE to wear when using a circular saw, circular saw safety precautions, how to properly use a circular saw, and what to do if the blade gets stuck.

Directory

1. Circular Saw injuries
2. Circular Saw PPE
3. Safety precautions before operating a circular saw
4. Safety precautions when operating a circular saw
5. How to hold and position the circular saw?
6. How to prevent kickback?
7. What to do if the circular saw blade gets stuck?

Circular saw injuries

Circular saws cause some of the most woodworking injuries, partly due to the popularity and beginner-friendliness of the saw. The top circular injuries are blade injuries, kickback, flying particle injuries, and compounding injuries. For each injury category, I will discuss the specific injuries that are common and potential mitigation for each.

Blade injuries

Blade injuries are injuries due to direct contact with the blade. Due to the power of the circular saw, these injuries often result in lacerations and amputations. Deep cuts are also a common type of blade injury with the circular saw.

To prevent blade injuries, the operator needs to ensure the blade has a clear path to cut and all body parts are out of the cut path. This will ensure the blade will not cut anything unintentionally. Additionally, the work area should be clean and clear of hazards. Trip, slip, and other hazards can lead to falls that result in circular saw blade injuries.

Kickback

Kickback is when the blade catches or snags the wood. Kickback when operating a circular saw looks slightly different than kickback when operating a table saw. For a table saw, the blade is spinning toward the operator and the blade cuts the underside of the wood. So for the table saw, the wood will be kicked back toward the operator. For a circular saw, the blade is spinning away from the operator with the saw on top. So for the circular saw, the saw will kick back toward the operator.

Because the circular saw will be kicked back toward the operator, it is essential to have a good grip with both hands on the saw. Not having a strong grip and lead to blunt force trauma or puncture wounds if the saw is the operator. Or worse, a blade injury can happen if the saw kicks back and the blade hits the operator.

To prevent kickback injuries when operating a circular saw, you should ensure the blade is not dull. A dull blade will be more likely to catch the wood. Next, the correct blade for the job should be used. So a rip-cut blade should be used for rip cuts and a cross-cut blade for cross cuts. To learn more about circular saw blades, you should check out my article, Circular Saw Blades. Next, the user should ensure that both sides of the wood are clamped and both hands are tightly holding the saw. This will prevent the kickback of the wood and saw during operation.

Flying particle injuries

Flying particle injuries are when pieces of wood or other material chip off during the cut. For example, a wood chip may chip off the wood piece. Flying particle injuries commonly result in cuts, puncture wounds, and blunt force trauma.

Some of the ways that you can prevent these injuries are by ensuring the blade is not dull and the correct blade is used. This will reduce the likely that the wood will chip off during the cut. However, depending on the quality and other factors, sometimes wood chipping is unpredictable and hard to mitigate. So Personal Protective Equiptmet (PPE) is essential to prevent injury to flying particles. Eye protection will prevent eye injury due to flying particles. Eye protection is the most important PPE to flying particles because your eyes are delicate. Flying particles are normally not large, so injuries to the extremities and other body parts are minimal.

Compounding injuries

Compounding injuries are injuries that happen over time. A few examples of compounding circular saw injuries are hearing problems, respiratory issues, and vision problems.

Hearing problems come from not wearing hearing protection. OSHA recommends to use hearing protection when exposed to 85 decibels or more for an extended time. The average circular saw produces sounds around 90 and 100 decibels. Additionally, fine wood particles that come from circular use can lead to respiratory issues if a proper mask or respirator is not used. Lastly, vision problems can result over time if wood dust and other fine particles are constantly getting in your eyes. A vision problem when using a circular saw is dry eye syndrome.

The best way to prevent from compounding injuries is by wearing PPE. Hearing protection can protect from hearing problems, eye protect from eye problems, and respiratory protection from respiratory issues. To learn more aboud PPE and how to choose the correct one, you should check out these articles, Eye Protection, Hearing Protection, Masks and Respirators.

Circular saw PPE

Circular saw PPE can prevent accidents from occuring, protect yourself when an accident occurs, and prevent compounding injuries like deafness and respiratory problems. The 4 types of PPE to use when operating a circular saw are ANSI rated googles or glasses, earmuffs or ear plugs, a mask or repirator, and a circular saw blade guard.

ANSI rated googles or glasses

Woodworking googles or glasses will protect your eyes from flying particles and kickback. You should get googles that are ANSI rated as regular googles and glasses can shatter. Choosing between googles and glasses are due to your preference as they both have their pros and cons. To learn more about woodworking googles and glasses, ANSI ratings, and where to find the ratings on your glasses, then you should check out my article “When to wear woodworking safety glasses”.

Earmuffs or Earplugs

Ear protection will protect you from the loud noises from operating a circular saw. Not wearing ear protection can cause compounding injuries like noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus. When choosing hearing protection, you want a decibel reduction rating that will lower the noise to around 70-80 decibels. Too much decibel reduction can make it difficult to hear and will make it hard to monitor your surroundings and too little decibel reduction can still cause hearing damage. To learn more about hearing protection, you should check out my article “Importance of hearing protection”.

Mask or respirator

A mask or a respirator should be used when operating a circular saw to prevent the operator from breathing in debris. Not wearing a mask can lead to respiratory problems such as lung irritations and lung damage. A mask is only needed when operating a circular saw, but a respirator can also be used. When a respirator is needed, however, a mask cannot be used as a replacement. To learn more about masks and respirators and how to pick one, then you should check out my article “Woodworking Respirators”.

Circular saw blade guard

A circular saw is a form of protective equiptment that prevents the blade from cutting material after use. The blade takes a couple of seconds to stop once the trigger is released. So, to protect the blade from cutting the operator or someone else the blade guard covers the blade as soon as the saw is taken away from the work piece.

One common injury with circular saws are runaway saws or runaway blades. Runaway circular saw is when the operator puts the saw on the ground before the blade guard drops and the blade stops rotating. This will cause the saw to shoot backwards and potentionally injuring the operator or bystander.

Safety precautions before operating a circular saw

1. Have the blade guard installed
   • Using a blade guard can prevent many injuries such as runaway saw explained above
2. Have your PPE on
   • Wearing PPE like googles, earplugs, and a mask can prevent compounding injuries such as noise-induced hearing loss, blunt force trauma to the eyes, and respiratory problems
3. Have support as close to the cut point as possible
   • Have support close to the cut point to prevent sagging and bending of the wood as you cut. This will also prevent kickback and flying particles.
   • An example of this is shown below
4. Elevate middle cuts
   • Elevate middle cuts so the saw blade will have room to cut the wood without hitting the workbench or table.
5. Keep both hands firmly on the saw
   • When operating a circular saw, you should have your left hand on the front handle and your right hand on the back handle. When kickback occurs, the circular saw will shoot toward the operator. The best way to prevent injury is to properly and firmly hold the circular saw.

The above picture shows the cut point that is in line with the circular saw rip cut jig being close to the support point.

Safety precautions when operating a circular saw

1. Start the saw before touching wood
   • Do not start the saw with the blade touching the wood. Doing so will either cause kickback, splitting, or flying particles.
2. Keep the saw flat
   • Rotating or tilting the circular saw will increase the chances of the blade burning and kickback. Blade burn is not really anything to really be concerned about in itself, it just increases chances of kickback because one side of the blade is rubbing against the wood more than the other side of the blade.
3. Don’t turn the saw
4. Don’t force the saw through the wood
   • If the saw will not go through the wood easily, stop the pushing the saw and turn it off. Trying to force the saw can cause kickback or the saw or operator to slip.
5. Don’t set the saw down until blade guard has dropped
   • Setting the saw down before the blade guard goes down can cause runaway saw. A runaway saw can cause injury to the operator or bystander
6. Never adjust saw when the blade is rotating
   • Never adjust the saw depth when the blade is rotating. Not only will you not have both hands firmly on the blade to prevent kickback injury, but adjusting the depth will also increase your chances of kickback as you cut through the wood.

How to hold and position the circular saw

The key to preventing injury when using a circular saw is to have the correct technique and setup. You want to make sure your hands are in the correct position and the saw is set up correctly.

1. Place right hand on front handle and left hand on back handle
2. Align the base plate so it is flat against the wood but the blade is not touching the wood
   • You do not want the blade to be touching the wood when you start the saw. Doing so will result in kickback.
3. Make sure the there is enough room for the blade to pass
   • You want to make sure the wood is elevated high enough so the blade will not hit the workbench, table, or ground, depending on the setup.
4. Clamp both pieces of the wood
   • Clamping both pieces of wood will prevent the wood from breaking off as you come to the end of the cut.
5. Keeping both hands on the handle, press the on trigger on the back handle and proceed with the cut
   • While cutting keep the saw flat and straight and keep both hands on the saw

How to prevent kickback

Kickback when operating a circular can be prevented by following a few measures. However, kickback can sometimes be unseen if the blade hits a woodknot. So preventing kickback is essential but so is preventing injury if or when kickback occurs

• Clamp both pieces of wood
  • Clamping both pieces of wood will prevent the wood from shooting in the opposite direction if kickback occurs
• Use a sharp blade
  • Using a sharp blade will prevent the blade from getting caught in the wood while rotating
• Use the correct blade
  • Using the correct blade for the task such as a rip blade for rip cuts, cross blade for cross cuts, wood blade or plastic and metal blade will ensure the correct teeth per inch (TPI) and tooth length is used for the job.
• Do not force the cut
  • Trying to force the saw through the cut can cause the blade to get snagged in the wood and cause kickback
• Do not adjust the blade depth during the cut
• Hold the circular saw with both hands, firmly
  • If kickback occurs when operating a circular saw, the saw will shoot towards the operator. To prevent injury, you should have both hands firmly on the saw

What to do if circular saw blade gets stuck

If a circular saw blade does not want to cut through the wood, you should never try to force it through. Instead, you should make sure that there is not something blocking the saw or a wood knot in the way.

1. Do not move the saw forward or backwards and turn off the saw
   • If the saw will not cut the wood, keep the saw in that exact position and release the trigger.
   • Moving the saw forward or backward will likely cause kickback and can injure the operator or mess up the work piece
2. Do not move the saw until the blade completely stops moving
   • Once the trigger is released, keep the saw in that position until the blade completely stops.
   • It normally takes a couple of seconds for the blade to stop moving when the trigger is releases
3. Assess the cut and see if something is blocking the saw
   • Make sure the blade or the base plate isnt hitting something.
   • The blade may be hitting the table or a wood knot. The base plate may be hitting a clamp or the wall.
4. If everything looks clear, it could be a knot blocking the cut
   • If a wood know is blocking the cut, then you can try to recut but at higher speeds. If that does not work then you can use a hand saw or another blade to get the cut started.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned everything that you need to know about circular saw safety. We learned about common injuries and how to prevent them. What to do before starting a circular saw and what to do when running a circular saw. Next, we went over how to hold and position a circular saw, how to prevent kickback, and what to do if the saw will not cut through the wood.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this article and I wish you luck on your woodworking journeys!

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