MARTOR Safety Knives vs Standard Knives: The Safer Choice for Cutting Tasks
Cutting tools are used every day in workplaces, whether that’s opening boxes, trimming packaging, cutting film or strapping. Yet despite how routine many of these tasks are, knives remain a common and costly causes of workplace injury.
There are still over 30,000 reportable knife and blade-related injuries in the UK every year, a figure that has shown no true decline year on year. More than half of all tool-related workplace injuries involve knives, with lost working time alone costing UK businesses over £75 million annually. When claims, investigations, retraining, and compensation are factored in, the true cost is estimated to be more than ten times higher.
Behind these numbers are real people. MARTOR have worked directly with individuals whose lives have been permanently changed by knife injuries at work, including people who have lost sight in one eye, suffered severe nerve damage, or narrowly avoided fatal incidents. In many cases, these injuries were caused by standard knives and cutters that offered little protection when something went wrong.
Reducing Risk at The Source
Standard knives rely heavily on user behaviour to remain safe. MARTOR safety knives take a different approach by engineering safety into the tool itself.
Many MARTOR cutters feature auto-retracting blades, which automatically withdraw into the handle as soon as the blade loses contact with the cutting surface. This significantly reduces the severity of injuries caused by slips, rebounds, or loss of control. Other designs use fully concealed blades, preventing direct blade contact altogether, ideal for fast-paced environments where fatigue and repetition increase risk.
This is risk reduction at source, not safety dependent on perfect behaviour, which in reality, you cannot always guarntee.
How Martor Safety Knives Offer Precision and Performance
Safer tools should never mean poorer performance. MARTOR safety knives deliver clean, precise cuts with minimal force, improving control and reducing fatigue, which are two major contributors to accidents.
Better control means fewer slips, fewer errors, and safer cutting across materials such as cardboard, film, strapping, and packaging. In many workplaces, safer cutting also leads to greater efficiency and consistency.
Built for Real-World Workplaces
MARTOR safety knives are designed for demanding environments including logistics, manufacturing, warehousing, and retail. Robust construction ensures tools remain reliable and safe over time.
Worn or damaged cutting tools increase the risk of blade breakage and uncontrolled cuts. Durability, therefore, is not just about longevity, it’s a key safety feature.
Tested, Regulated, and Aligned with UK Safety Requirements
MARTOR safety knives are independently tested to the GS (Geprüfte Sicherheit) standard, providing assurance that they meet strict safety and quality requirements. For UK employers, this supports responsibilities under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER), which require work equipment, including cutting tools, to be suitable, safe, and fit for purpose. While PUWER does not specify a particular knife type, selecting safety-tested tools helps demonstrate due diligence and a proactive approach to risk management. In practice, many large UK organisations have reduced knife-related injuries by over 95% within the first year of introducing MARTOR safety knives, by addressing risk at source in line with the Hierarchy of Control, rather than relying solely on PPE.
Make the Safer Cut
Knife injuries are not inevitable. With the right tools, many are entirely preventable. Choose MARTOR safety knives with Lyreco Intersafe.
Content created in partnership with MARTOR.
