hi

i am querying if there are any specific rules or laws , health and safety or employment laws that prohibit an employee bringing a knife to work with them and keeping on their person , to clarify i am talking about a pocket knife , however it is not required for their job .

It was reported to me that an individual does bring such a knife to work and im not sure how to deal with this , no threats have been made and i suspect someone is trying to cause the person some trouble as recently they have had some disagreements with a fellow worker about work standards.

thank you

Mark

p.s. there is the basic duty of care providing a safe work place to all. This should give you the reasonable circumstance to ask this particular employee if he is carrying a knife. Is the person making the allegation a truthful person?

Surely this is just a case of do you have a policy of allowing "legal" knives to be brought into work? If you do allow them, case closed. If, like most places of work, you do not allow knives to be brought into work you need to make sure this has been communicated to your employees (normally in the employee handbook) and then ensure it is enforced.

I don't care if the person reporting it is a complete bell, if you take no action you could be putting your employees at risk. If the "offender" is innocent then it may be worth reminding the original person that making false accusations is also cause for discipline.

Mark, did the person reporting this give any details about the type of knife? many people, myself included, carry penknives/multi- tools. Not as a potential offensive weapon, simply because they are useful.

Not aware of any policies on this- other than don't take them into designated areas and dont leave them on teh desk or meeting room table.

There may be more blades around than you think!

Originally Posted by: chris42

I also tend to carry a penknife around with me because it is useful, always have from when I was reasonably young. I have never been tempted to stab anyone with it, I also have never been tempted to stab anyone with a Bic biro (or any other sort of biro). If it is not illegal and not particularly being used for work purpose, then nothing to do with anyone but me what is on my keyring.

Chris

I agree with you on principle, but the point is whether pen knives should be brought into work. We have a policy that they aren't allowed. In the same way that mobile phones aren't allowed. By all means carry one with you when you are out of work, but leave it in your car etc. when you step onto our premises. Just because you have the moral awarness not to stab anybody with it, doesn't mean everyone does. Just because you won't spend the day looking at your phone, doesn't mean everyone won't.

This isn't about personal freedom, it is about workplace rules. As I referred to above, a mobile phone is "legal" but they are still banned in many workplaces.

But if I leave it in the car how will I cut the corner of the sachet of brown source for my bacon roll? Is the company going to give me a scissors? I think not :0)

Zyggy there is a subtle difference with cutlery and folding knives in someones pocket and if you wish to use or supply chop sticks then fill yer boots.  The serious issue of this was knives in the workplace and the potential for injury by the user or possble assault.  I take your point on the knives but these are not normally as sharp as a scalpel and normally used for eating meals or as we say in Glasgow "buttering your peece" or if you're  really lucky you may be able to afford jam.

I have several knives with me on any given day. I usually have a leatherman on my belt, had it there for over 20yrs while in the Army, sort of feel naked without it now. I then have a slightly bigger, sharper knife in my car. I'm an avid offroad driver/instructor and it's surprising how often it comes in handy. 

I don't think a blanket ban on knives in the workplace will stop people stabbing each other.

A bit like the ban on handguns in the UK. The only people who lost out were the law abiding citizens who surrendered their weapons. The criminals and those with bad intentions still have theirs and have the knowledge of how to get 1.

Can Mark please clarify what sort of knife this person is alleged to be carrying? I myself used to have Swiss Amy knife at work, all of which was useful except ironically the knife blade which either too long or too short to be of any use.

I there is a need to carry a knife then that is ok. I once looked after plant health inspectors who had to get their knives through airport security.

It is really down to the employer to decide whether employees need to carry knives at work. If they do so decide they should really have a policy abut when they’re allowed to carry and use them.  Currently people are getting more and more nervous about anything that can be construed as a “weapon” including knives, a written policy should written to cover this.

A couple years ago I needed a knife and was lent one by a colleague it was only after I returned it that we realised that he had taken the knife into work passed armed police who were guarding a visiting VIP. They were conducting random searches but missed him: that could have been interesting!

I don’t think anyone should carry a knife at work just because they want to.

Edited by user 01 November 2019 14:43:46(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

If the knife is "legal" to be carried and their is no policy where is the issue - there are plenty of other materials that can be used as offensive weapons even in an office - if the reporter believes it to be illegal then as a concerned citizen they should contact the police when the carrier is in a public place after all if there is bad blood between the parties wouldn't they delight watching the police arrest their nemesis.

UK knife law is not understood, its as follows:-

UK knife law allows you to carry non-locking pocket knives with a blade length up to 3 inches (7.62 cm) without any need for a valid reason.

You are allowed to carry a knife which exceeds these guidelines in public, but  you then do need a good reason to carry it.

less than 3inch , non locking thats it, so a locking stanley knife with a 1" blade is illegal unless of course your a carpet fitter

A leatherman is illegal to carry even with plyers as the blade locks but a trusty swiss army knife with non locking blade can be carried into a church on sunday or even a train or bus.

So, should someone should be allowed to carry a chainsaw into the office just because they want to and it’s legal?

I know someone who used to manage staff in an abattoir; they managed the use of knives very carefully and you were not allowed to take them away from the cutting lines.

You can use of course use all sorts of things as a weapon but a knife can be concealed and taken into a meeting with a person you have fallen out with unlike a fork lift truck. Furthermore I wold suggest it is easy to threaten someone with a knife rather that a forklift truck.

In some parts of the country (and not just the big cities) carrying a knife for “self-defence” is common practice. I can imagine employers would want to discourage anything that  puts their staff at any sort of unnecessary risk.

My Leatherman does not have a button to release its blade ergo it would not be considered a lock knife

https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q337.htm​​​​​​​

Originally Posted by: jwk

Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel

So, should someone should be allowed to carry a chainsaw into the office just because they want to and it’s legal?

Well, it's hard to imagine why anybody might need a chainsaw in an office, but they might need some of the swiss army knife tools, or even the blade.

Not quite in the spirit of the thread but as a young soldier in BAOR we had a troop stores with all sorts of equipment in. Chainsaws being amongst them. We had paperwork to sign them out of the stores.

So when a gobby new soldier was posted into the troop, we'd tell him to take the chainsaw to the Sgt Major as he wanted to do some work over the weekend. We'd show them where on the form the Sgt Maj had to sign but then secretly placed another piece of paper in the envelope. So off he trots to the Sgt Maj's office and hands the paperwork and chainsaw over. Un beknown to them, the new bit of paper had scrawled on it. "give me some leave or I'm going to cut your b***s off"

It was highly amusing to us but not so for the new bloke. 

So going back to the quote, there is sometimes a need for a chainsaw in the office, even if its only to get yourself some extra leave.

PS, This was in the late 80's, I'm sure this doesn't happen in todays modern Army

Edited by user 04 November 2019 09:07:30(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

When trying to establish wether it's right or wrong to have a ban on carrying a knife at work, you have to look at the work being undertaken.

So if you a company that is office based then the office staff have no need for a knife, but if within that company they have a FM team, then carying a knife is something that I would deem acceptable.

So to simply say no knives is a bit harsh.

After reading this thread, I decided to try a week or so without my leatherman on my belt. I'll let you know how I cope and how many times I'll reach for it and if I truly need a knife rather than using it as an easy solution to my issues at the time.

I have not owned a Leatherman but do like small knives, so bought its counterpart which ws Gruber make multi tool. However, that locks into position as do most folding knives, to prevent them folding back on your own fingers! Surprised the leather man does not. You normally have to press the spine spring at the other end from the blade to close, or push a piece of spring steel on the side to release. In the case of my Opinel knife, there is a bezel at the top to turn to lock and unlock (designed to be opened and closed with just one hand).  So it locking open is a safety feature LOL

In the office -banding around copy paper, open letters, dirt from under fingernails, parcels with way too much tape, corner off brown source packet, getting past some food packaging, but mainly because I want to. (yes, I clean it after cleaning dirt out of nails and before opening food)

Nope not completely tongue in cheek, I have used it to cut corners off. It is called a pocket knife for a reason, the one in my car I call a “car knife”.

Chris

Quite regardless of any legal issues surrounding carrying of knives an employer can make whatever rules they like with regard to carrying of knives in the workplace.  So if your employer wants to prohibit people from carrying knives of any sort then they can.   I work in a sector where Knives are not allowed (prisons) so to me it is clear cut (no pun intended) no one has any need of knife when in the work place and no one should carry a knife, no exceptions, no lee way - NO KNIVES!!

https://www.leatherman.co.uk/heritage-pst/553.html?dwvar_553_color=10#start=23

No buttons - the original production was way cheaper

Originally Posted by: Roundtuit

https://www.leatherman.co.uk/heritage-pst/553.html?dwvar_553_color=10#start=23

No buttons - the original production was way cheaper

WOW thats somew price tag for a leatherman. I still have mine I purchased 20+ years ago

That depends upon what they were doing, how they were instructed to do it (if at all) and more specifcally for a work activity with what.

We had people preparing food samples for testing and this meant cutting things up into smaller pieces.  So we put them onto a knife skills course.

Its quite clear that is not illegal, however, as an employer you have to decide whether it is something you want to take a stand on. From your post it seems it is not something you have considered before, so my only suggestion to you would be to think long and hard about why you feel you need to make a stand now. It is not in response to any accidents or incidents at work, and the precedent you may be setting here is to become a puppet in your employees personal games of 'one-upmanship'. Did you ask the person reporting how they know this guy has a knife? Has he been threatening with it, or yielding it around?

I myself carry a swiss army knife on a keyring with my house keys. I keep it on my coat pocket and have also never really considered this an issue. It comes in handy sometimes, and in the construction environment I work in is somewhat 'small-fry' considering the eye watering plethora of potential offensive weapons at my disposal should I wish to maim or kill my colleagues. It is, amongst othe things, very handy for opening the many 'blind bag' toys my children love to buy.

So as you can see you will find differing opinions on here. In my current workplace where employees are required to carry and use tools, it would be a pointless exercise that wouldn't win the support of my Directors. However, perhaps within a different workplace environmnet I may feel that I would need to consider the implications of banning personal knives, but I would need to ask: why? what does it acheive? Are the risk real or perceived? i.e. am I banning something 'just because'. How will this policy be enforced? Etc.

Good luck with your decisions.