Use of safety knives is widespread nowadays in workplaces around the world. These tools allow business owners to take care of their employees by preventing workplace injuries. Moreover, safety knives also help prevent goods from getting damaged while cutting the packaging materials.
A safety knife may be defined as a utility knife equipped with an adapted design or additional features intended to reduce or eliminate the probability of injury to the workers. These types of knives are used extensively by workers in stores, warehouses, and delivery and logistics departments. Some of the common uses of safety knives include opening packages and boxes, tearing shrink wrap, cutting strapping materials, cutting and disposing of packages, etc. The handle and the blade are the two major components of a safety knife.
Safety Knife Blade
This is a sharp tool used for hand-cutting various materials used in conjunction with a knife handle. They are usually made of stainless steel or carbon steel. Though these blades are sharp and strong, it is relatively safer to use them in a properly designed safety knife. Your choice of safety knife blades should be made based on the type of work you are looking to perform.
Depending on blade types, safety knives can be equipped with a retractable, automatically retractable, or concealed blade. The automatic blade retraction mechanism is designed for applications that require a high degree of safety. However, the safest of all safety knives are the ones equipped with concealed blades. All contact between the knife blade and the user is eliminated by this design. With these enclosed blades, the safety knives somewhat resemble a hook and makes it impossible for the users to get in injured. These blades generally have a cutting depth of approximately 4-6mm, and are highly recommended for cutting tapes, packaging, textiles, coated and laminated films, safety belts, wrapping, plastic films, shrink foil, and much more.
Safety Knife Handle
While choosing safety knives for their workplace, safety managers should also take a close look at the safety knife handle shape and ergonomics. Repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) are common workplace injuries caused by repetitive movement and overuse of certain parts of body impacting muscles, nerves, ligaments and tendons. Proper shape and ergonomic of the handle can significantly reduce strain in the arm, hand, and wrist muscles to minimise the impact of RSIs.
In addition to these two blade components, it also makes sense to opt for safety knives that are made of quality materials and likely to be durable. Always remember that low quality knives can be a safety hazard on their own because they may break easily. Also, a loose blade or sticky slider is likely to lead to a potentially dangerous technique, poor performance, and frustration of the workers. Blade related accidents also take place because of improper storage and carriage. Therefore, it is always better to invest in a tool that comes with better options for storage and carrying.
If you are looking for the safest of all safety knives in the market, the easiest thing you can do is to get in touch with us at ShockWatch. We offer a wide selection of top notch safety knives including models equipped with fixed or retractable blades, box cutters, depth settings, and more.
