Calling ALL Parents!

Do you have a paper shredder in your home, possibly because of the increased risk of identity theft? Well - if you have a child under five in your home AND a paper shredder - you now are entertaining one of the newest 'hidden hazard' scenarios.

Because this is typically an office machine that until recently, was only found in the office - the voluntary standards only call for an opening above the blades that will prevent a twelve year old's fingers from being caught in the machine.

And if your machine boasts of auto stop features to prevent entrapment in the blades one family's recent experience begs to differ. Danielle Bean shared one friend's horror story on her blog. Danielle's friend, referring to her two year olds situation, shared the following:

"his hand was between two pieces of paper, so the machine still sensed paper and didn't stop..."

And while this two year old is recovering well from the surgery it took to repair the damage " his hand will never be the same" his mother also shared with Danielle's readers.

Danielle posted a link to an article that explains in full detail the dangers these now common home office machines pose to our young children. Please, if you have children or know somebody with children who might have access to a paper shredder - take the time to read this article and share it with others. Lets all try to work together across the world wide web and see if we can't turn the statistics around and prevent other similar tragedies from happening.

Currently our shredder will be staying at our business location, but if we ever decide to bring it home - I will be following the advice proposed by the article. Given that many of these accidents occured while children were under the supervision of their parents doctors suggest the following: "...Paper shredders should be kept unplugged and out of children's reach. They also urge parents not to let young children use or be near shredders at any time, adding that the No. 1 way to avoid an injury to a child's fingers is to keep them away from shredders altogether"

To read the article click here - if for any reason your browser does not open to this link simply copy and paste the following URL in your browser.

http://www.factory-express.com/blog/2006/02/shredder-safety-and-children.html Read more!