Health and safety system for a table saw

A health and safety device adapted for attachment to a planar sawing table (62) and a rotary saw mounted therein, comprising

• a support structure (11;
• 71) coupled to the sawing table at a location which permits free passage of a workpiece past a rotating blade of said saw,
• a blade enclosure (2) open along a plane parallel to said planar sawing table and having walls surrounding said saw blade, for purposes of both separating body parts of a saw operator from said saw blade and keeping sawdust produced during sawing operations away from a saw operator,
• a proximity detector mounted along at least a portion of bottom edges of said blade enclosure which, during saw operation, capacitively detects approach of any portion of a saw operator's body to within a predetermined distance from said proximity detector, and generates a hazard signal;
• a motor braking circuit which responds to said hazard signal by rapidly electromagnetically braking rotation of said saw blade to avoid or minimize operator harm;
• and
• an adjustable fixation device (34, 38) for fixing said blade enclosure (2) at a desired elevation above said sawing table for at least the duration of a cutting operation, said elevation being selectable within a range and corresponding to a thickness of said workpiece, to thereby prevent workpiece kickback by constraining a face of the workpiece to the sawing table.