Call for Safety Improvements in Design of Domestic Paper Shredders
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Article by: Vincent Woodall The US Consumer Product , Blackout - Get Ready For A Power Failure! Safety Commission (CPSC) carried out an nvestigation of reported finger injuries, including amputations, and the characteristics of domestic , Avoiding Crimes When Parking paper shredders , Texas Governor Wants Webcam Images Fed Live that might have contributed to those injuries. The National Electronics Injury Surveillance , Read This Article If You Want To Stop Crime System (NIESS) database collected 23 reported finger injuries attributable to domestic , Gauging Your Level of Home Security paper shredders. , Home Security Tips - Good Lighting Helps Prevent Crimes The ages of the victims ranged from 14 months upwards. Of the 23 reported finger injuries caused by a domestic , Blackout - Get Ready For A Power Failure! paper shredder , Home Safety: Easy Tips To Help Your Family Survive mechanism, fifteen involved children aged 5 years and under. However, finger injuries from domestic , Wireless Home Security Systems paper shredders , Home Security - Protect Yourself Against Burglary have been reported in victims of 20 years old and even 65 years old. This report was published in December 2004. The most severe injuries, amputations, involved children. Injury occurred even when a child was feeding paper into a shredder , Is CCTV Video Equipment useful? under adult supervision but did not release the paper in time to prevent their fingers from entering the shredder opening. As the paper shredder , Catch A Burglar, Safely And Secretly continued to pull the paper into the shredder , Disaster Planning for the Hurricane Season - Pure Water for Natural Disasters opening, it also pulled in the children's fingers. Since most paper shredders , How to Use a Fire Extinguisher have auto start features, , Stand-by Generators - Security & Comfort a child can be at risk even when an adult is present. A child may insert a piece of paper into the shredder , Catch A Burglar, Safely And Secretly opening and activate the shredder , Is Your Identity Really Safe? mechanism, allowing it to pull the paper (and possibly the child's fingers) into the shredder. , How to Use a Fire Extinguisher Children are not conscious of hazards to themselves and may not let go of the paper as it is being pulled in. Paper shredders , Who Wants to Know What's Going On When You're Not There? can pose a risk of finger injury to children as young as 15 months because of their small finger size. With no force applied, a child's finger would be unlikely to penetrate the shredder , Tropical Hurricane Fat Alberto opening since their finger diameter is typically larger than a paper shredder , Is CCTV Video Equipment useful? opening. However, depending on the design , Personal Protection and Your Vehicle of the shredder, , Five Top Tips for Disaster Planning For Your Family and Your Business - Everyone Needs to Know the shredder , Home Security - Protect Yourself Against Burglary opening may enlarge as the shredder , Home Security Tips To Help Protect Your Children pulls in the paper and child's fingers. The height of a 15-month-old can be more than twice the height of a domestic , Catch A Burglar, Safely And Secretly paper shredder, , Gauging Your Level of Home Security putting them within easy reach of the paper shredder , The Case for Personal, Estate, Corporate and Child Abduction Security in today's World opening. The International standard that applies to paper shredders , What's Best Pepper Sprays Or Stun Guns is IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission). The methods of testing the safety , Surveillance Camera Positioning of shredders , Private Investigator Surveillance Techniques: Top 10 Tips has in the past involved the use of a probe which was meant to represent the dimensions of the fingers of a twelve year old child. The probe was not designed or intended to determine the risk of injury to younger children. The shredders , What Not To Do If You Are Attacked that were tested prior to the report produced by the U.S. Consumer Product , Let's Look at Locks Safety Commission were on sale for between $20 and $70. The design , Tropical Hurricane Fat Alberto characteristics of domestic , Home Security - Protect Yourself Against Burglary paper shredders , Tropical Depression and Storm Gordon is Growing that may contribute to the danger to toddlers include the width of the opening or "throat", the stiffness of the material from which the shredder , Five Top Tips for Disaster Planning For Your Family and Your Business - Everyone Needs to Know "throat" is constructed, the distance from the opening to the cutting mechanism and the pulling power , Home Security Tips To Help Protect Your Children of the shredding mechanism. In general, the crosscut shredders , Gauging Your Level of Home Security tested allowed larger diameter probes to pass through the shredder , Home Security - Protect Yourself Against Burglary "throat" than the strip cuts shredders , Tropical Hurricane Fat Alberto that were tested. Since crosscut shredders , Hidden Spy Cams and Your Childcare Provider - Should You Use One and How? require more power , Surveillance Camera Positioning to shred paper the motors were consistently more powerful and this would pull a child's fingers in more easily. None of the shredders , The Case for Personal, Estate, Corporate and Child Abduction Security in today's World tested had a separate On/Off switch separate from the Auto / Forward / Reverse functions. Critical safety , Who Wants to Know What's Going On When You're Not There? information was not universally displayed on all models and some had no warnings at all at the shredder , Home Security Automation Essentials "throat". Some shredders , Safety in Using a Wood Heater did not show contrasting colours , Disaster Planning for the Hurricane Season - Pure Water for Natural Disasters for the switches which may be a safety , Utilizing Customer Service at Your Home Security Company concern if it should become necessary to turn off a shredder , Home Security Tips To Help Protect Your Children or put it into reverse in an emergency. , Abatement of Crime in the City Some of the observations given by the U.S.CPSC can be summarised as follows:- "¢ Crosscut shredders , Avoiding Crimes When Parking allowed thicker rigid rods to enter the shredder , Home Protection, What your security system may not detect!!! throat than did strip cut shredders "¢ Cross cut shredders , Home Security Advice were more powerful and thus more likely to pull in a child's fingers "¢ Crosscut shredders , Home Security Systems - Protecting Against More Than Just Break-ins allowed the smallest compressible probe to enter the shredder , Home Security and the Role of the Alarm System throat "¢ Crosscut shredders , Who Wants to Know What's Going On When You're Not There? allowed larger compressible probes to enter the shredder , Storm Shelters and Best Places to be During a Tornado throat "¢ Only some shredders , 20 Reasons Women Choose Self-Defense At Home had an OFF position on the function switch "¢ No shredder , Gauging Your Level of Home Security tested had a separate ON/OFF switch separate from the Auto/Forward/Reverse functions "¢ Not all shredders , Disaster Planning for the Hurricane Season - Pure Water for Natural Disasters carried the same hazard markings at the shredder , Utilizing Customer Service at Your Home Security Company "throat" "¢ Some shredders , Tropical Depression and Storm Gordon is Growing did not have contrasting colours , Tropical Depression and Storm Gordon is Growing for the hazard markings "¢ Some shredders , Gauging Your Level of Home Security did not have contrasting colours , Avoiding Crimes When Parking for the function markings The CPSC came to some conclusions on the samples tested, but pointed out that this was not a statistical sampling or a sample of all types of paper shredders:- "¢ Paper shredders , NYC Moving Advice pose the greatest threat of finger injuries to children between the ages of 15 months and 2½ years (based on incident data) "¢ The level of risk depends on the design , Storm Shelters and Best Places to be During a Tornado of the shredder , Blackout - Get Ready For A Power Failure! opening or "throat" "¢ Current testing (as at December 2004) did not relate to hazards involving small children "¢ The design , Disaster Planning for the Hurricane Season - Pure Water for Natural Disasters of the shredder , Home Security Automation Essentials "throat" determines the amount of force required to insert a probe into the shredder. , Tropical Hurricane Fat Alberto These factors include width of opening, stiffness of opening, distance from opening to shredder , Handling a Hurricane; Part 2 - Preparing for and Surviving an Approaching Hurricane mechanism, compressibility of fingers and the pulling force of the shredder , A Step-by-Step Guide for Choosing a Home Security System involved. The researchers called for domestic , Catch A Burglar, Safely And Secretly paper shredder manufacturers , Texas Governor Wants Webcam Images Fed Live to redesign the shredders , How to Use a Fire Extinguisher to improve safety , Three Easy Steps to Help Protect Your Home aspects and for them to carry clear warnings directly on the machines. The authors also recommended that paediatricians ask parents whether they have a paper shredder , Home Security Advice in the home , Surveillance Camera Positioning and if so to advise them to leave it unplugged and out of reach and to never allow a child to use the shredder, , Home Security and the Role of the Alarm System even when an adult is present. David Jenkins, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in the UK was recently quoted by Sarah Womack, of The Daily Telegraph as saying "I am not aware of a problem in this country yet but with the increasing popularity of paper shredders , Home Security At Holiday Time - and if similar designs , Is CCTV Video Equipment useful? are available here as in America - accidents are likely to happen".Vincent Woodall is sales manager for AB Technology (London) Ltd who supply over 300 models of shredder , Home Security Tips To Help Protect Your Children from 9 manufacturers. , Safety in Using a Wood Heater Find them at http://www.abt-shredders.co.uk |
  
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