Lesson 44: Office Related Injuries

After the consideration of recent events, I decided it was necessary to review some office related safety.

First of all, a confession. I am a complete spazz around office tools. There was a time when I used to check, double-check and triple-check the settings on the copy machine (which by the way is like an intern as it can fold, staple and copy documents) before actually hitting the Start button. To be honest, I still don't know how to use a fax machine or the Pitney-Bowes mail meter. But the paper slicer has been the biggest challenge. I'm happy to hear that I'm not the only one as I've seen and heard of other near-tragic occurrences with this paper guillotine.

In fact, paper slicers have been judged to be so dangerous that the Health and Safety Executive actually published a pamphlet about paper slicer safety, which included the following guidelines for using paper slicers:

1. Guards must be provided to prevent the operator’s fingers from contacting the knife or clamp from either the front or rear of the machine. Only one person should be allowed to operate the machine at the one time and where long material is being cut and cannot be adequately supported by the worktable, additional supports should be provided.
2. A hand-operated guillotine should be made inoperative when not in use either by removal of the handle or by the use of a locking or similar device.
3. The shear edges of the blades should be maintained in good condition and blade clearance must be adjusted in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendation appropriate to the thickness of the material being cut.

And the thing is, all this seems like it's common sense, but when you're in a hurry planning programs and trying to monitor five other things, it's easy to neglect paper slicer safety. But in my research today, I actually found that paper slicer injuries aren't the most common accident in the workplace. Falling is. True everywhere, I guess.