Coworker cut himself with my knife

R

Reznik572

Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
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I wanted to post this story somewhere and because I mainly carry SAK's/Multi I'd thought I would share with you folks. I work in a Government office and although I have never asked what the policy is I assume its safe to say we shouldn’t be bringing knives into work as our jobs do not require any of us to have one. That has never stopped me from bringing them in though, I'm in IT and although I don't play an active role in fixing things these days I'm still around it all day long and I pretty much use them daily in some form.

Its the weekend so only 4 of us working today, I don't normally work the weekends so got to meet a one of the newer guys on that shift. He was heading down to unpack one of those giant plotter printers and asked me if I had scissors? I ask him if he needed scissors or a knife? He'd be much better off with a knife for that job anyhow which is why I had asked... Thinking of my options, I have a micra that lives in my desk drawer, my spirit x and my alox soldier...

I go ahead and hand him give him the spirit x, thinking he's now got a sharp knife, small scissors, screwdrivers and pliers. Pretty much anything a guy would ask for when unpacking one of those things and putting it together. Guy ends up cutting himself with the knife, looked like he needed stitching up so I take him to ER and 7 stitches later he's all patched up. On the way back he did thank for me for the ride but pointed out (in his mind) that none of this would have happened if he had just a pair of scissors. What a guy. Anyhow, I'm sure management will hear about this whole thing Monday morning, not sure how that will go over as I lent the guy a knife and he cut himself on the job.
 
Sounds like you handed him a multitool with scissors. It's not really your fault he chose not to use the scissors. Even if you suggested the knife, the scissors were available. The guy should know how to open a box without hurting himself. I've opened plenty of plotter boxes myself. Like ESD safe shoes, the multitool is standard fare for IT people, so I don't think you are out of line having one. He should know how to use tools, who knows what kind of harm he could have done to himself with a pair of scissors. You may of saved his life. :)
 
Sounds like the guy should wear a helmet in case he trips over his own feet, falls over and hurts himself. Anyone that can't use a knife without cutting themselves and then blames the owner of the knife for it happening has to be borderline special needs. In future it would be safer if someone else cut boxes open for him.
 
lol! some people (and we all know some) really shouldn't be around any kind of sharp objects!

I remember my first days on my trade-show job (carpenter/setup and dismantle) I was working with a guy who was there longer than me and he needed a knife (that should have told me something right there) so I lend him mine, thinking he's been there longer than me so shud-up, not a minute later... blood all over the "white" carpet! doh

I learned fast about him, funny but not the brightest bulb in the chandelier .... lol

wasn't your fault, your efficient and can be around sharp objects!
 
If they ask to use yours, they don't have one of their own, and you have to consider they don't respect or understand sharp objects. I wouldn't trust someone I didn't know with a sharpened pencil.
 
He should have applied save cutting techniques with the blade, but I know from experience that a lot of non-knife-people use blades in unsafe ways. Being given a multitool, he also had other options than the blade. I hope you won't get problems at work.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
If they ask to use yours, they don't have one of their own, and you have to consider they don't respect or understand sharp objects. I wouldn't trust someone I didn't know with a sharpened pencil.
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Harayasu said:
He should have applied save cutting techniques with the blade, but I know from experience that a lot of non-knife-people use blades in unsafe ways. Being given a multitool, he also had other options than the blade. I hope you won't get problems at work.
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That enough people don't know how to properly, let alone safely use knives should be obvious enough to not lend yours to anyone whose knife handling skills are not known to you. Offer to make the cuts yourself, but don't risk their safety and your liability by being too nice a guy.
 
A guy at work cut himself with my Case Peanut once. He commented on how sharp it was when he gave it back. I told him it wouldn't be much good if it wasn't.
 
Hi Reznik572 -

I work for a large corporation that makes big, yellow bulldozers. The corporate policy is that you cannot use any personal cutting tools on company premises. You are required to use only company supplied cutting tools. The policy stems, from what I can gather, from an incident similar to the one you describe.

I am not privy to the details of the aftermath, I might suppose you will be asked not to provide your tools to anyone else in the future - I hope that is the extent of it for you.

I tend to agree with those that fall on the side that the operator of the tool seems incapable of using a sharp object. You should buy a pair of safety scissors to have on hand for this fellows next cutting exploit.

I carry two knives to work with me each day, although I do not pull them out for people to use. If they don't have a knife, then they can use the company supplied scissors (I am in IT as well...)

best regards and good luck

mqqn
 
The guy that cut himself sounds like a winner and if he can't open a box without hurting himself with a little knife he would of killed himself with scissors I would ask him
if his mom still cuts his food if he was an adult he would only blame himself.
 
I think Johnny hit it on the head. You DID NOT hand him a knife- but you did hand him a MULTI_TOOL- which you have been using for years. When asked for scissors- you gave him just that- a multi tool with scissors. Talk about the screw driver and the scissors and everything else about the 'knife' but don't ever use that term when speaking to upper mgmt about this or even worse yet- when HR asks to speak to you. Sounds like he is an idiot though- for even thinking that somehow this was not 100% his fault.
 
I used to keep box cutters at my desk. They were the thin metal ones with the replaceable razor blades. If the blade moved back and forth, you could just tap them with a hammer to snug it up. I used to hand those out to coworkers needing a knife. I preferred to open boxes with those myself rather than dull my own knife.
 
JohnnyR said:
I used to keep box cutters at my desk. They were the thin metal ones with the replaceable razor blades. If the blade moved back and forth, you could just tap them with a hammer to snug it up. I used to hand those out to coworkers needing a knife. I preferred to open boxes with those myself rather than dull my own knife.
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I don't mind dulling my knives, using them will do that and then I get to sharpen them again. But I too often use a box cutter to open boxes - it's just that I prefer not to get my knives gummy from the adhesive on the tape that I'm cutting. I do have some isopropyl to clean my blades - but cleaning knives is less fun than sharpening them.
 
I keep the blades on my multitools super sharp most of the time, including the serrated ones. I only let my immediate family use them as they know how crazy sharp I keep stuff. 90% of people will not expect a pocket knife to be sharp and injure themselves with it if you loan it to them, and when it comes to multitools, people are even less careful, they'll assume your Leatherman or whatever is as butter knife dull as the cheap junker multi they got for Christmas and threw in the kitchen junk drawer. Best is just to cut it yourself, or sadly just let them struggle on their own trying to chew it open or use car keys or something pathetic like that. It's a bad situation, you want to help, but you don't want people to hurt themselves. I hope it works out for you, it certainly was not your fault in any way.
 
You know the old saying,no good deed goes unpunished?I never loan anyone my knives(multi,SAK),I ask to see what they need it for,then do it myself.
 
I keep a Vic classic on my keyring. It's the knife that get's loaned out, plus it has scissors. I remember once, a co-worker almost cut himself on my Leatherman Wave because he kept trying to close the blade without engaging the liner lock. Another co-worker tried cutting open a package with the SPINE of my leatherman juice blade, causing it to fold back on her. Luckily, it stopped halfway so nobody got hurt.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

He works shifts but was in on Monday/Tuesday and don't believe he reported anything to management as no one has said a word to me about it. I know lending a knife (SAK/Multi) to someone is always a risk, hell I gifted my brother in law a wave last christmas and the first thing he did was cut himself real good opening up one of my nephews other gifts. I know a lot of guys don't like lending out knives, maybe even for this reason but I do all the time, so do the others at work that are smart enough to have a vic or leatherman handy, we are the only useful ones around when its needed.

New rule, if he looks like an idiot he probably is = know sharp object allowed, haha.

When I intially posted I was worried something might come of it but I think we are in the clear. I didnt want to be that guy that ruined it for the rest who carry something useful in the office,.
 
Marlinaholic said:
I keep the blades on my multitools super sharp most of the time, including the serrated ones. I only let my immediate family use them as they know how crazy sharp I keep stuff. 90% of people will not expect a pocket knife to be sharp and injure themselves with it if you loan it to them, and when it comes to multitools, people are even less careful, they'll assume your Leatherman or whatever is as butter knife dull as the cheap junker multi they got for Christmas and threw in the kitchen junk drawer. Best is just to cut it yourself, or sadly just let them struggle on their own trying to chew it open or use car keys or something pathetic like that. It's a bad situation, you want to help, but you don't want people to hurt themselves. I hope it works out for you, it certainly was not your fault in any way.
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I also keep my knives crazy sharp. I have no problems touching up or sharpening my EDC's daily if thats what it takes. I take it that when he was unpacking he didnt realize how sharp it was and the blade through it, including his other hand.
 
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