*** Please Read *** A Warning about home Document Shredders***

[tearinghairout]

Today I was in the Vet's and they had a notice on the wall telling people not to leave home document shredders on 'permanent' standby. They'd had a dog lick one, its tongue had got dragged into the machine and there had been such horrendous injuries that he had had to be put down.

It occurred to me that this is perhaps also an accident waiting to happen with a child - clothing getting dragged in, perhaps.

Poor dog

Oh the poor dog.

You'd have to be pretty daft to leave one on standby, though. Same as leaving the iron switched on on the floor or something.

I'm daft then

Thanks Tearing, am off to unplug.

Eek, I think it would be quite easy to leave them on as there's no noise or light or anything to warn you.
Poor dog.

I always unplug it completely because it seems to me like an accident waiting to happen with children around.
Horrible about the dog though!

Mine doesn't have to be switched on to work, just plugged in, so long as you poke the paper into the middle. It hadn't occurred to me that it might be a danger to the dog so I will unplug it in future.

This is one of those things, like knives in the dishwasher, that you just need to hear about for it to stick in your mind. Spread the word!

(The knives in the dishwasher was when a teenager bent forward to unload it & got poked in the eye, apparently, so you're supposed to put knives in with the point down.)

this is why I switch everything (except the fridge) off by the mains when not in use.

Like PPH I unplug the thing when it's not being used. Sorry, I thought everyone else did too. Wasn't the knife in the dishwasher thing when a woman slipped and fell on the open basket with a big knife sticking up out of it? Or is that an urban myth?

My boss once got his tie caught in the shredder. It was farking funny.

But that is dreadful about the poor dog

I haven't heard the one about the woman but I did read about the teenager in the paper.

Unlikely to happen in our house as neither teen ever goes anywhere near the dishwasher... I do find it hard to imagine how this could've happened. You'd have to bend over very close to it to get poked in the eye, unless, as you say, the person slipped.

Don't know about the eye, but I did get a nasty gash on the wrist when someone at work left a sharp knife point upwards. I wasn't expecting it as I always put them in point down.

Just turned mine off . Thanks for the warning.

OMG This is an awful story......Must admit though, we have 2 and they are always unplugged and stored away.........

God,the accidents that could occur don't bear thinking about . Thanks THO for bringing it to mner's attention. x

don't have a dog - do have a baby with very little fingers and a liking for poking them in things though............

that sound horrible. i wish i didnt have sucha graphic imagination sometimes.

I have mine unplugged and it is only plugged and in use when DS is not around. I'm convinced he can put his fingers through it...

Having said, my shredder paranoia comes from some time ago whent I had a classmate who trapped his fingers in the meat mill in his father's butcher shop. The thing went on up to his elbow where it was stopped by his watch

barffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

Me too, with the imagination.... The butcher thing is horrible. No doubt that happened a lot in the days of the mills, and perhaps still does in the third world, where factory machines might not have a guard

Our butcher has part of one finger missing. Sometimes I see him chatting to a customer while he chops up meat with a cleaver, and I long to say 'Careful, or...' but I've managed not to, so far. (I also wonder what happened to the bit of finger. They do make their own sausages )