If there’s a hazard in any office orworkroom, it’s the guillotine paper-cutter. Every year, hundreds ofpeople across the country have paper cutter accidents that could haveeasily been prevented if simple safety rules had been followed andcommon sense had been used. The extremely sharp blade on this type of ratchet cable cutter cutter, along with the force used in bringing the blade down on to thepaper, make it way too easy for someone to cut one’s self or – evenworse – lose a finger to the blade. Luckily, every paper cutter hasthree important safety features that can be used to avoid an accident.These features are… The blade guard, which is the most important safety feature on aguillotine paper cutter. Many paper cutters have a metal barapproximately 1/2″ away from the blade. However, the best cutters willhave a plastic guard that prevents a user’s fingers from gettinganywhere near the blade. Unfortunately, many people tend to remove theblade guard, saying that it gets in the way of the cutting. That may betrue, but the blade guard is there for a reason: for your safety. Soleave it be!
The blade latch. Guillotine paper cutters come with a latch atthe front of the cutter that locks the blade in the closed position.Sometimes this is a wire that hooks over the blade’s handle; othertimes, the latch is a piece of metal that connects to the bottom of thehandle. What the latch does is ensure that the blade isn’t exposed whenthe paper cutter isn’t being used. This prevents a person fromaccidentally running his or her hand along the blade or grabbing it,thereby preventing a painful (and bloody) injury that could belife-threatening. The tension spring. The word “guillotine” probably conjures upimages of a blade coming down at break-neck speed. However, guillotinepaper cutters have a feature called a tension spring to prevent thisfrom happening. The tension spring is attached to the back of the bladeand prevents the blade from going into free-fall. Needless to say, thetension spring should never be removed from a paper cutter. If thespring becomes damaged, it should be repaired promptly.
The papercutter should not be used until the spring has been repaired orreplaced. Finally, there is a fourth item that can be used toensure one’s safety when using a paper-cutter: common sense. Be carefulwhen using a paper cutter because even with the aforementioned safetyfeatures, accidents can – and do – still happen. Don’t use a papercutter when you’re rushed, distracted, tired, intoxicated, or otherwisecan’t give the task at hand your full and complete attention. Sure, youmay be in a hurry to complete a project, but no project is worth anasty cut or the loss of a finger. (Or worse!) Paper cutters arevaluable office tools and can be very helpful, but they can also beextremely dangerous. So please – be careful when using them!