ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion Working Without a Utility Knife

This Week The Company that i have been working with basically full time for the last 6 years banned razor utility knives. A couple of their employees cut themselves over the last several years, So they decided to prohibit them. Contractors and vendors included.
The "Safety Captain" informed me of the new policy as i was headed to strip and hook up a 350 MCM cord.
My initial reaction was that their is no way for me to do my job without a utility knife. Some things i can do off site but not much.
Has anyone else ran into this Problem?
I'm Sure a utility knife is the proper and only tool for the Job, especially when working with large conductors.

Actually,
There are "proper" knives for stripping cables and large wires.
Being a Liney, I own one of these things, how it differs to your stock standard knife, is that it has a T-shaped piece welded to the end of the blade, not only so that it only cuts the insulation (and not the conductor material), but if you slip with it, you aren't going to get the end of the knife stuck into a part of your body, where it could do some really hideous damage.

My one sort of looks something like this:

LINK

Allclear, it's neither you nor your company's record. It's the indoctrination that passes for 'education' in the safety wonk courses.

I've seen the trend for over a decade now. Various firms have adopted the attitude that knives are just not acceptable, ever, period. Not even little bitty ones that they would even allow on airplanes.

In their place they usually issue spring-loaded utility knives with rounded blades.

Why? We're told there are way too many folks being injured by knives that were inadvertantly being left open, and the rounded tip of the blade is somehow seen as 'safer.'

Along with this is the attitude taught that everyone of the customers' employees has, as a sacred duty, a responsibility to watch those pesky, ignorant contractors and micro-manage their tasks.

My real opinion is unsuitable for this forum. Suffice it to say that the logic fails and the attitude is at best pure condenscension. It's not about safety at all.

The natural result of this happened last month. A man erred, and got himself (his entire body) wrapped several times around a shaft .... merrily going 'flop, flop, flop' until the machine was shut down. Unwrapping him was delayed significantly, as no one had a knife handy with which to cut the tangled clothing. He will live.

A knife is a tool, no better or worse than the person holding it. It was probably the first tool made by man. You never know when it might come in handy- whether to peel an orange or to open a parcel. There would not be an enormous industry making knives if they were not considered relevant by everyone.

I've railed against these attitudes before ... but folks don't seem to get the message. All of our freedoms are at risk when one group is taught that they have the natural right to rule the rest of us, without restraint, as we are at best oversize children or retarded apes with tool belts.

Reno:
The debates on this that I have heard are basically twofold.

One is that a razor knife is the 'tool' that supposedly has the most 'cuts' recorded against it, as oppesed to a 'regular' knife. (Like a hawkbill)

IMHO, a 'razor' type is used for one convenience; that being the replaceable single edge blade. Convenience, as opposed to being able to sharpen a 'regular' knife which takes some skill, and yes more time than swapping a razor blade.

Another reason I have heard is the razor blade damaging the conductors. Blame the tool, or blame the person?

Well Said Reno
I'm Right there with you.

Also There is No substitute for Skill, We are in a Skilled trade. I have to use my head or i would be a danger to myself and others around me. I'm charged with wiring safetys and interlocks that protect equipment and people, But i can't use a knife??

Hot Line, it is a all inclusive ban, No Leatherman Multitools, Swiss Army pocket knives, or utility knives. No Blades period. Sizzors or shears only.
Trumpy, That tool looks interesting, I'll have to get one, Plus a hundred others for all of the other applications that may or may not work. Each one taking their own special blade.

On a Better note, My Boss just gave us next week off PAID as a safety incentive because we have worked 10 years without a lost time accident. I'm Off For The Rest Of The Year!

I wonder how you would cut the semi-conductor material off a high voltage cable without a really sharp knife.

They Do make tools for scoring semicon, we have a couple but they are a joke. There is NO Substitute for skill. Removing the primary insulation and then Penciling it for a splice are tools that i'm unaware of. I have dreamed of modifying a pencil sharpener to do that job. Plastics change with the temperature, and with how the cable was manufactured, and type of insulation.
Phone cables and optical cables, Same way...
Up till this new policy we had to wear kevlar gloves and chainsaw chaps while using a knife.

Back to my Original Question, How Many of you have had to deal with a policy like this? Have you been able to work with a no knife policy?

Bump

I couldn't eat without knife, so I'm interested in how this turns out.

Do they have a no gun policy, too?

Whoever made that policy has never had to deal with GC cable, love to see em strip that without a knfe!

IMO, a utility knife is a safe and very useful tool when used properly and should be available if needed, but I also agree that it’s not the right tool for stripping wire and cable. Maybe they should simply impose a no utility knives for stripping wire policy.
There are some tools made by Ripley that did a good job slitting the outer jacket on HV cable and also one we used that would remove the core material just like a big pencil sharpener, but these were not cheap at all. Hopefully your company is now willing to spend the money to buy them for you to use.

Ripley

I have found nothing that is either more convenient, or safer, for stripping ordinary wire than a utility knife. Not even the 'special' knives sold for the purpose.

The so-called "safety" version has a spring that retracts the blade as soon as you let go of the 'open' tab. Just what I need - another fine motor skill to exercise at the same time as I'l doing the actual cutting. The rounded points are neither 'safer' nor do they serve any purpose I can see.

This is just ignorance wrapped in management voodoo. The policy simply screams "this is hw little we think of you- and. kamerad, ve haf vays to make chu follow orders!"

This is true 'nose under the tent flap' stuff. Next they will seek ways to "go beyond mere OSHA rules," and pull all sorts of rabbits out from under their propeller-beenies. Thing like "use fall protection for ladders" and "wear PPE even when not working and standing in identified 'safe' zones."

Allclear - you are complaining about an employer that gives you a week off with pay because they are so effective at promoting safety there hasnt been any time off due to injury in 10 years? If there have been reported incidents of cuts with utility knives the employer is obligated to investigate and take some corrective actions, which they have done. They are the ones paying the fees to whatever workers compensation authority you have in your area so it sounds like they are a good employer and responding proactively to the incidents. If the alternatives to knives are not working effectively bring it up with the employer or safety captain and maybe the rule gets modified or maybe the employer accepts tasks take longer due to the new procedure.

Jay 8 It is a Customer that has this policy. Not the company that i work for.

So far nothing has changed. I use "Alternate" tools whenever possible, but when i have to use a knife i just make sure nobody is around to watch. If someone is standing over my shoulder i just say i have to get some tools to try and cut the jacket, and leave.

They have successfully turned me into someone who knowingly breaks rules.

I think it has been proven that if you drive slower there are fewer accidents and they are less serious. We need to drive slower.

It's pretty clear that many sports shorten your life - like boxing, football, and hockey. We lose skiers every year. Children drown in swimming pools, and lots of people die in recreational boating accidents. These are all unnecessary activities. Yet, we keep dong them. We are all willing to take some risks. After all, living is dangerous.

My grandchildren use knives to eat. I'm guessing that whoever made up the rule about not having knives at work lets their children use knives.

If we don't control employers, some take stupid chances with their employees' lives. We need rules, but they must be reasonable. Somehow, we can't make and enforce reasonable rules.

I have used a Klien hawk billed knife for 18 years. T he original was double edged but now they are all single edged.