Let's cut knife accidents

A RECENT webinar sponsored by Martor UK looks at the impact of using knives in the workplace. The obvious impact is the human and financial cost of knife injures, but there are also hidden costs such as damaged goods. 

Knife injuries can cost employers £440 for each day lost at work, and that is before any financial claims. Figures from Germany estimate that 58% of all workplace injuries involving manual tools are knives, and while the use of gloves can help reduce these they only cover around 5% of the body.

Chris Brown says, “Knife injuries happen all the time, they tend to be fairly minor – sometime needing just a bandaid or a few stitches in the hospital but when you get a serious one it's bad news for the employee who can be off work for a long time and it can be a RIDDOR for the company. We estimate as many as 1,000 across the UK based on what we have seen.” 

Gloves are not going to help you when only 5% of the body is covered by the glove, and Chris says he has seen knife injuries on the arms and legs too.

Ian Suggitt says, “On many of the risk assessments that we do across the country, we keep asking the question Why do you keep looking at safety gloves, cut resistant gloves and not safety knives?"

Quality safety knives can boost productivity as they are optimised to the actual cutting need, are comfortable in the hand and by having the right tool for the job you can reduce product damage and injury.

There is often resistance to reporting accidents because employees are concerned about their job, or an element of pride can kick in. Sometimes agency workers are not trained, so accidents can be swept under the carpet. A knife risk assessment can help with behaviour change and can help cut incidents.

Training is a vital element of knife safety. Alan Murray says, “Training is vital in managing behaviours to ensure that safety is always carried out in the use of any equipment. PPE and safety equipment including safety knives should be fit for purpose and should not present a danger to users. By way of reducing accidents the use of the right equipment is absolutely vital.”

During 2020 there was an upsurge in products that were not fit for purpose and were non-compliant. In fact, during this year the BSIF reported 350 products and traders to the authorities.

The BSIF conducts product testing for both members and non-members. This is a way of ensuring that safe products arrive on the market. 

Educating personnel that source safety equipment is vital. Alan says, “If you are sourcing safety equipment and personal protection equipment, look for fit-for-purpose products from capable suppliers. Look for a Registerer Safety Scheme Suppliers and this will help keep you and your employees safe.”

The visual presentation not only provides excellent case studies, it also gives coherent demonstrations showing Martor UK's different safety knives so that you can make sure you are using the right product for your needs. Using knives that are not appropriate are a disaster waiting to happen and the employer is responsible.

Questions

How long does a risk assessment take and what do I need to do to prepare for one?

CB: For us we can offer a risk assessment virtually, but we prefer to do this in person. We will contact you first to understand what the cutting issues are, what the problems are and you are using. We would want access to every part of that plant so that we can see users in action and if we can see better ways of doing things then we have some samples for you to try and give tips on how to use them. We would do a risk assessment and this will tell you what we recommend and why.

If this is a national industry problem, can BSIF help increase national awareness and come up with a national plan?

AM: Very much so. We work to the industry and the marketplace through our special interest groups and through that we produce guidance and information that helps to raise awareness. We also typically involve other stakeholders like the Health and Safety Executive, often the TUC and 

we often get input from IIRSM, IOSH and BOSH, which amplify the message and ensures that people know that it is not just BSIF and BSIF members that are saying such a thing.

We can also look at the possibility of looking at some publicly available standards for this product type, so there are various strands we can go down.

CB: The question of standards is really important and it is odd that in this area there is no European standard for it. The only standard we are aware of is the German standard, so that is what we work with at the moment, but we think this is crying out for a standard.

What are your three technologies especially the difference between SECUNORM and SECUPRO?

IS: There are three technologies. The safest and one of the most common when it comes to goods in and goods out will be the concealed versions. The blades are concealed making it virtually impossible to cut yourself. They are designed to stripping down pallets and opening boxes. 

The SECUNROM is the most commonly known knife and while you are making a cut you need to take the thumb off the slider to work as a safety knife. The SECUPRO version allows you to keep your thumb on the slider and while you are making the cut the blade will automatically retract.

This is a snapshot of a webinar containing much more content and many more questions, so please watch this on demand and and you will gain CPD points. Register at https://events.streamgo.live/Knife-Injuries-British-Industry

Ian Suggitt is regional sales manager at Martor UK, Chris Brown is sales & marketing director at Martor UK and Alan Murray is CEO at BSIF. For more information, visit www.martor.co.uk and www.bsif.co.uk