Since the safety aspect has been addressed, the latest developments focus on ease of use by designing trigger activated safety knives. Trigger mechanisms in cutting tools are nothing new, they've been around for quite some time. But trigger engaged safety knives are relatively new and bring numerous advantages.

The first big advantage is from an ergonomic perspective. Auto retract knives will require the blade to be reengaged every time the operator needs to perform a cut. A trigger mechanism makes this a much more natural motion especially if the task is repetitive. Squeezing a trigger is far easier than pushing a slider forward with your thumb. After all, you naturally squeeze the trigger when holding the knife so engaging the blade is not an extra step like it is with regular utility knives and pocket knives.

Second, trigger activated safety knives can be held in the operator's hand numerous ways. Take the example of slabbing material off rolls. The operators normally hold the knife upside down so that they can engage the material and push the knife across the roll. A trigger activated safety knife doesn't add any difficulty to any task because the trigger can be easily squeezed no matter what position the operator is holding the knife.

There is no doubt trigger mechanisms make using safety knives easier. But I should point out that slider style knives are not difficult to use either. It's not that slider knives are bad, trigger knives are simply better. It's not good versus bad, it's more like good versus great. Keeping with the slabbing example, this tutorial shows how to use a slider activated safety knife for slabbing material off a roll:

This reminds us of how important training is when implementing new technology. It would seem reasonable that slabbing can't be performed with a slider style knife. But as clearly shown above it is possible when the operators are trained on proper operation of the new tool.

Thanks for reading and don't hesitate to contact me with any feedback or questions. Martor USA features a large variety of both trigger and slider style auto retract knives - metal & plastic, short blade & long blade, etc. Let's help ensure all your employees go home every day without any painful lacerations by eliminating fixed blade utility knives from use!