JA2015 - Circular Saws
During this Activity, authorities from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta and Portugal will carry out coordinated market surveillance in their national markets focusing on Power Tools. An estimated 100 products will be sent for testing and examination.
This group of products is inherently dangerous to the user and there have been a significant number of RAPEX notifications in past 5 year (e.g. 9 saws, 9 angle grinders, 5 hard bladed cutter accessories for grass trimmers, for powered hand tools, particularly those with cutting blades).
US data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) (there is no equivalent EU data) identifies more than 15 categories of power tool for which injury and death data has been collected. From this it can be seen that the combined data relating to different types of power saws is responsible for significantly more hospitalisations related to accidents than any other types of power tool.
The main hazards associated with power tools include the following:
- Cuts, abrasions, punctures;
- Electric shock, electrocution, burns;
- Heat, sparks (fire);
- Dust/flying particles (eyes);
- Entrapment of clothing, etc.;
- Sprains and strains (wrist, hand, arm, shoulder);
- Noise (hearing);
- Vibration (“white fingers”).
Objectives
- To develop best practices and exchange experience with carrying out market surveillance activities for power tools
- To detect dangerous power tools on the marketplace and take action against them
- To maintain a priority-list of power tools to be targeted in future joint actions.
The Final Technical Report of this activity can be downloaded by clicking on the cover page of the report. Very interesting information can be found within this report and it is particularly useful for market surveillance authorities and anybody else interested to know more about risk assessment of Power Tools.
One product group was selected from the priority list for sampling and testing within the framework of JA2015 and the other products can be addressed in future Joint Actions.