Shredder safety is an important feature, especially if you have children or animals to consider. It can also help protect workers in the workplace so it’s good to know what different shredder safety features are available when it comes to purchasing a new paper shredder. A number of the leading shredder brands have their own safety technologies – and a large number of shredders now contain intelligent features to minimise the risk of accidents. Here are some of the things you might want to look for when buying your next shredder:
Auto start
The auto start feature means that the shredder starts automatically when you feed in paper – therefore your fingers can be well away from the cutting heads when shredding.
Auto stop
Auto stop means that the shredder will automatically stop if it encounters a jam – e.g. if too much paper is fed into the shredder at a time.
Bin top lock
This ensures that the shredder will not function without the bin top securely in place.
Reverse
This is intended to allow the motor to turn backwards, thereby helping you to clear paper jams easier and reduce the need for any manual intervention when trying to clear them.
Safety lock
This feature enables you to set the shredder to lock mode to avoid accidental activation.
Thermal overload protection
Thermal overload protection shuts the shredder down in the case of overheating.
