Sheffield cutlery firm creates knives with blunt ends in bid to reduce stabbings

Viners, a cutlery and kitchenware company established in Sheffield in 1901, said it the designed the new and inventive range, called the ‘Assure collection’, in response to “rising knife crime statistics and new government legislation”.

Featuring rounded off tips, the knives have all been repeatedly tested to ensure the end does not pierce the skin intentionally or otherwise and are said to deliver the same functionality as a standard knife when cooking or cutting up food.

They go on sale in Dunelm stores later this week and will be available on the Viners website from Sunday, February 16, costing between £3.99 and £5.99 for a single blade.

Viners, which is part of the Rayware Group, said: "With knife-related crime incidents at a record high and a reported 285 fatalities in the last 12 months alone, the UK government has taken the decision to reclassify kitchen knives as an offensive weapon with the new Offensive Weapons Act 2019, leading some retailers to remove single knives from sale in retail stores.

"The new Assure collection from Viners has been created in response to this new legislation, with the team extensively testing a new shape knife that is highly functional for the modern cook but shaped to reduce and prevent injuries, accidents and fatalities."

Last October, it was reported that South Yorkshire Police recorded 996 incidents involving a knife or sharp implement in the 12 months to June 2019 compared to 977 the previous year, representing a two per cent increase.

Nationally, there were over 44,000 offences recorded in the same period, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics – the highest it had been since 2010/2011.

This year alone there have been several knife-related incidents in Sheffield including the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Isaiah Usen-Satchell, on St Aidan’s Road, Norfolk Park, in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

Under the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, a kitchen knife is classed as an 'offensive weapon per se'.

Possession of an offensive weapon can be punishable by up to four years imprisonment.