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 
