Safety knives

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What is a safety knife?

Safety knives, also known as safety cutters, are cutting tools designed with safety features that minimize the risk of injury to the user or damage to the material being cut. These knives are widely used in workplaces, such as manufacturing, packaging, shipping, and warehousing industries, where cutting is a common task.

Safety knives are designed with various safety features, such as retractable blades, rounded or blunt tips, and ergonomic handles that provide a secure grip. Some models also have locking mechanisms that prevent accidental blade exposure, and blade guards that protect the user from accidental cuts.

There are different types of safety knives, such as fixed-blade knives, folding knives, and disposable knives. Some safety knives are also designed for specific tasks, such as cutting cardboard, opening packages, or cutting plastic straps.

Why you should provide your employees with safe knives

Hand knife injuries often occur during work, when a knife slips while cutting or trimming. In most cases, the blade cuts the user’s other hand. Injuries also occur on other parts of the body, such as the thigh.

To ensure a safe workplace, take care of your employees and prevent injuries from knives you should provide employees with the most appropriate knife for the job. What's more, safety knives prevent goods from being damaged when opening packaging materials. To ensure a safe working environment companies should invest in safety knives and educate employees.

Safety knives are becoming more widespread and important for the workplace. Such knives are common among workers in delivery and logistics departments, warehouses and stores. Safety knives and cutters are used for opening packages and boxes, cutting strapping material, tapes, tearing shrink wrap, cutting and disposing of packages and much more. 

Using a safety knife can help reduce the risk of injuries in the workplace and increase productivity by allowing workers to cut materials more quickly and efficiently.

Choosing the right safety knife for the job is very important to ensure that the worker gets the job done correctly and safely.

• Answer the following questions to find the appropriate knife for the cutting task:
• What material will you cut?
• How deep should the cut be?
• What kind of blade is required does it fit your purpose?

We can roughly classify safety knives into 3 types:

• safety knives with automatic blade retraction
• safety knives with fully automatic blade retraction
• safety knives with concealed blades

Safety Knives with Automatic Blade Retraction

Safety knives with automatic blade retraction guarantee a high degree of safety for users. As soon as you take your thumb off the slider, the blade disappears into the handle. Also the good thing with these safety knives is that the blade is always retracted automatically, that is, there is no risk that you leave the knife with the extended blade on the table or in a drawer and you or someone else will get injured accidentally.

Safety knives with an automatic retractable blade that we highly recommend:

• Martor Secunorm 380, 500, 540, Secunorm Mizar
• Mure & Peyrot Grepin 1426, Jalle 1422
• Slice Industrial knife 10559
• Sollex Prosafe safety knife 1400

Safety knives with fully automatic blade retraction

The difference from the safety knives with automatic blade retraction mentioned above is that with fully automatic blade retracts when it comes out of the material and it retracts automatically into the handle even if the user keeps pressing the slider with their finger or pulling the trigger. This protects the user from being cut if he or she slips from the material as the blade automatically and immediately retracts into the holder.

But keep in mind that if the material you are cutting, for example, moves or vibrates, it will be difficult to use this type of knife, because the blade will move every time, which will complicate the cutting process

Safety knives with a fully automatic blade retraction that we highly recommend:

• Martor Secupro 625, Secupro Martego
• Slice utility knife 10554

Safety Knife with a Concealed Blade

Safety knives with concealed blades are generally considered the safest utility knives. Their high degree of safety is due to the fact that only a small part of the blade is visible and accessible for cutting, while the rest of the blade is hidden or protected for the user. This design eliminates all contact between the knife blade and the user. The shape of such an enclosed blade safety knife resembles a hook, which makes it impossible for the user to get injured while cutting. Such a safety knife also guarantees protection not only for the worker, but also for the goods in boxes and packages. This provides maximum safety from cuts and at the same time protects your goods.

This type of safety knife comes with replaceable concealed blades, meaning you can replace the entire head, or solid disposable knives without the ability to replace the blade. Safety knives with concealed blades range from very simple disposable safety knives to knives with replaceable concealed blades and food safety knives that can be detected by metal detectors.

Safety knives with a concealed blade that we highly recommend:

• All Martor Secumax serie: Martor Secumax 145, 150, 320, 320 MDP (metal detectable), 350, Martor Secumax Easysafe
• Klever Kutter, Xchange, Xchange Plus
• Sollex safety cutter - disposable

Metal detectable knives for food and pharmaceutical industries

Products in the food and pharmaceutical industry should not contain particles of other materials accidentally ingested during the manufacturing process. Contamination during the manufacturing process can lead to serious damage to equipment, product recalls and, in the worst case, damage to customers. The result: high costs and a potential loss of reputation that should not be underestimated. To avoid this, manufacturers must use special equipment that detects metal. If a small piece of plastic from a safety knife is made of metal detectable plastic, it can be detected in a metal scanner or X-ray machine and removed from the final product.

Food manufacturers, in particular, require that all tools in the hygiene area be metal. It must be possible to x-ray the final product and guarantee that there is nothing but food in the package. This is why metal detectable  safety knives and plastic handles are used and can be traced.

Sollex recommends the following metal detectable safety knives:

• Klever Kutter KCJ-1MD
• Martor Secumax 320 MDP, Secunorm Smartcut MDP, Secunorm Profi 25 MDP
• Mure & Peyrot Pyla

Basic rules for the safe handling of knives in the workplace

1. The key rule in safe knife handling is to change the blunt blade on time! The duller the blade, the less safe the knife becomes, because the user will apply more force and pressure to cut the material. So keep an eye on this and keep a supply of new blades so that your employees can replace the blunt blade of the knife when needed.
2. It is necessary to choose a suitable knife for the task to be performed. It may be that several knives will be used on the same job for a number of different tasks. There are different types of work knives, so provide your employees with ones that are adapted to their work processes.
3. Utility knives should be checked periodically to make sure they are safe for use and have no obvious defects.
4. You should also establish whether your employees' knives are personal or for shared use. It is safer to provide work knives for employees' personal use so that they always have the right tools for the job, rather than having to find the right tool or cut with the wrong tool.
5. Provide workers with personal protective equipment ( PPE ) that will protect the user from health or safety risks at work. It can include items such as gloves, mittens, and eye protection.
6. Good lighting, waste boxes and good housekeeping are important factors in knife safety.
7. A serious stab wound can cause severe bleeding. Immediate first aid can save a life. At least one person in the company who is trained in first aid for stab wounds and severe bleeding must be present to provide first aid.

Best knives for warehouse work

As a general recommendation:

• To cut tape or open cardboard boxes. A pelican-shaped safety knife where the user cannot access the knife blade. The safety knives Martor 150001, Martor 350001, Klever Kutter KCJ-1Y or Klever Xchange KCJ-XC-20Y open taped cartons faster, safer and better than other knives. In addition to protecting the user, the contents of the carton are protected.
• To cut cardboard, Martor 625001, 54000410 or 380001 is recommended. Cut the cardboard at the edge at a 45 degree angle on the handle to the cardboard. Load as long a part of the knife blade as possible. Then the box is cut instead of being pressed.
• Pelican knife for robust materials in a storage environment. Our most robust pelican knife is Mure & Peyrot Grepin 1426. Robust and sturdy in magnesium. In addition to the pelican knife, 1426 has a standard knife in the rear that is good for cutting cardboard or cutting plastic straps.

Best knives to cut plastic straps

Thin straps in plastic are easily cut with a pelican knife. Martor 150001 or Klever cutter KCJ-1Y works great for cutting thin straps. Coarser plastic straps need to be cut with scissors or cut with longer knife edges. Then Martor 380001 or Mure & Peyrot Grepin 1426 may be suitable. For metal straps, use sheet metal scissors.