Safety focus: Ergo shears/scissors

[labricoleuse]

In the interest of it being the beginning of the academic year and the regular theatre season for many folks (me included), it's the time when ideally your company or department is going through the yearly training processes--reviewing proper use of shop machinery, renewing respirator training certifications, etc.

On the USITT costumers email list, a colleague asked today about ergnomic shears and other tips and tricks for preventing and minimizing Repetitive Stress Injuries from sewing tasks like cutting. I'm posting my response here, and invite you all to share product reviews and links in the comments as well.

I have a similar Repetitive Stress Injury, which i first developed from overuse cutting with rotary cutters. I have worked with spring-loaded shears and electric rotary cutters since, and varied my working practices to accommodate flare-ups.

I have not had good luck with these Gingher spring shears--the springs keep breaking so i'm on my third repair of them:

http://www.overstock.com/Crafts-Sewing/Gingher-Spring-Action-8-inch-Scissors/3127813/product.html?cid=123620

So even though Fiskars are lower quality blades, for ergo scissors they last longer IME.

I have several pairs of these Fiskars:

http://www.labsafety.com/fiskars-softouch-shears_s_43160/?CID=9PP001&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=43160

And, my next big investment is going to be in these ambidextrous ergo industrial ones, though i haven't tried them yet:

http://www.ergosource.com/ergonomic-industrial-kitchen-scissors-p-217-l-en.html

So sorry you have developed this kind of strain injury. It's no fun for sure, and if you can go to a physical therapist and learn some strength exercises, they really help as well. I recommend checking out the OSHA document on safe sewing task practice for info and images of different tool options to help with this:

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/sewing/pdf/sewingandrelatedprocedurestask.pdf