Electric Knife Sharpeners
Twenty years of CPSC NEISS emergency-room records for this consumer product category, combined with demographic breakdowns, multi-year injury trends, and matching recall notices.
Kitchen Cooking Appliances · CPSC Code 240
Up 242% over 5 years
The verdict
Electric Knife Sharpeners carry a danger score of 39/100 (low risk), driven by roughly 84 ER-treated injuries a year that are rising by about 242% over the last five years.
- 39/100
- danger score (low risk)
- 84
- ER visits per year (avg)
- 14.6%
- end in hospital admission
- 35-44
- most-injured age group
Every figure is rendered from the CPSC NEISS record for product code 240 - last data year 2024.
PlainSafety danger score
How this 39/100 score is built
The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for electric knife sharpeners - no opinion, no editorializing:
- Injury volume84 ER visits/yr
- Severity (hospitalization rate)14.6%
- Fatality rate0.00%
- 5-year trend+242%
See the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.
What the CPSC Data Shows
Electric Knife Sharpeners (CPSC product code 240, in the Kitchen Cooking Appliances category) generate an estimated 84 emergency-room visits every year in the United States, adding up to roughly 1,431 ER-treated injuries across the 19-year span from 2006 to 2024. PlainSafety derives a danger score of 39/100 for this category (low risk), combining raw injury volume, demographic reach, severity of outcome, and multi-year trend. The five-year trajectory shows that injury counts are rising by about 242% over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2008 (196 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2019 (5 estimated visits).
The single most common ER diagnosis for electric knife sharpeners is laceration to the finger, accounting for approximately 377 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by laceration to the hand (276 cases). The 35-44 age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 270 cases over the NEISS window, and males appear slightly more often than the opposite sex in that cohort. Severity outcomes from the NEISS disposition field show that 14.6% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer.
Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 0 consumer incident reports filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 20 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how electric knife sharpeners fail in real households. Every figure on this page comes from CPSC-published data: NEISS projects national estimates from a probability sample of about 100 U.S. hospital emergency departments, while SaferProducts.gov collects voluntary reports from consumers, manufacturers, and clinicians. The danger score, trend indicators, and demographic breakdowns update automatically when CPSC releases a new yearly NEISS file, which is why this page is dated 2024-12-31. For regulatory context, consult CPSC recall notices and the SaferProducts.gov public database linked below.
Annual Injury Estimates (2006–2024)
Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only
Who Gets Injured?
| Age Group | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | 5 | 15 | |
| 5-14 | 8 | 0 | |
| 15-24 | 31 | 77 | |
| 25-34 | 179 | 20 | |
| 35-44 | 224 | 46 | |
| 45-54 | 185 | 15 | |
| 55-64 | 188 | 70 | |
| 65-74 | 157 | 17 | |
| 75+ | 93 | 100 |
Most Common Injuries
| Body Part | Diagnosis | Est. Injuries |
|---|---|---|
| Finger | Laceration | |
| Hand | Laceration | |
| Face | Burns, Thermal | |
| All Parts Body | Poisoning | |
| Knee | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Eyeball | Foreign Body | |
| Upper Arm | Other | |
| Eyeball | Other | |
| Foot | Crushing | |
| Ear | Foreign Body | |
| Lower Leg | Fracture | |
| Ankle | Strain, Sprain | |
| Upper Arm | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Lower Arm | Laceration | |
| Upper Leg | Strain, Sprain |
Severity Breakdown
ER Visit Narratives
Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.
48YOM STATES THAT HE WAS CLEANING HIS GARAGE WHEN A KNIFE SHARPENING MOTOR FELL OFF OF A SHELF AND LANDED ONTO HIS RIGHT FOOT DX: CRUSH INJURY OF RIGHT FOOT; LACERATION OF RIGHT FOOT; FRACTURED RIGHT FOOT
40YOM, COMING FOR REMOVAL OF HIS EAR WICK PLACED IN 3 DAYS AGO, DX: FOREIGN BODY OF LEFT EAR
11YOM WAS FOUND WITH A VAPE AT SCHOOL, PARENTS CALLED AND HE WAS ANGRY AND RAN FROM PARENTS AND POLICE CALLED. HE EXPRESSED THOUGHTS OF SELF HARM AT SCHOOL. . HE FLUSHED THE VAPE PEN DOWN THE TOILET DX: DISRUPTIVE MOOD DYSREGULATIOND DISORDER, DEPRESSIVE DISORDER
71YOF, WITH KNOWN HARDWARE IN LOWER LEG, C/O LEG PAIN/DEFORMITY AFTER STOMPING A SPIDER VERY HARD DX: CLOSED FRACTURE OF RIGHT TIBIA AND FIBULA
65YOM PT C/O LT EYE PAIN AFTER USING AN ELECTRIC GRINDER TO SHARPEN KNIVES, FEELS IRRITATION IN BOTH EYES DX: CHEMOSIS OF LT CONJUNCTIVA #
43YM DX FOREIGN BODY IN EYE. USING ELECTRIC SHARPENER AND FELT SOMETHING GOT INTO R EYE. AT HOME. $
2YR M CUT THUMB WHEN DAD WAS SHARPENING KNIVES AND TURNED OFF SHARPENER, AND IT WAS STILL ROTATING WHEN PT STUCK HIS THUMB IN IT;DX THUMB LAC
43YM ON INSULIN PUMP, @ WORK FD CONFUSED&INCOHERENT >>HYPOGLYCEMIA
33 YOF - G TUBE DISLODGED ABDOMEN.
87YM HAVING BLADDER ISSUES, BEEN SELF CATH FOR SEV. MONTHS&OVER PAST 3WKS BEEN HAVING BLD IN URINE,ON ***>>HEMATURIA
87YOF TRIPPED OVER HER OXYGEN TUBING AT HOME AND FELL ONTO KNEE CONTUSION TO KNEE
55 Y MALE REPORTS RUNNING WHEN AT HIS SON'S CAMP, HEARD POP IN THIGHC/O SIGNIFICANT BRUSING BELIEVED FROM *** ; DX; HAMSTRING TEAR
Product Recalls
Search for active and past recalls related to electric knife sharpeners on the CPSC website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How dangerous are electric knife sharpeners?
Based on 20 years of CPSC data, electric knife sharpeners have a danger score of 39/100 (low risk). An estimated 84 ER-treated injuries occur annually in the U.S. related to this product category.
What are the most common injuries from electric knife sharpeners?
The most common injury is laceration to the finger, accounting for approximately 377 injuries over 20 years.
Are injuries from electric knife sharpeners increasing or decreasing?
Up 242% over 5 years.
Who is most at risk for electric knife sharpeners injuries?
The 35-44 age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 270 cases recorded over 20 years. Males are more frequently injured in this age group.
What happens when someone is injured by electric knife sharpeners?
Of all ER visits involving electric knife sharpeners, approximately 14.6% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (85.4%) are treated and released from the emergency department.
How can I report a safety problem with electric knife sharpeners?
You can file a consumer incident report at SaferProducts.gov, the official CPSC reporting portal. Reports help the CPSC identify emerging hazards and trigger investigations or recalls. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772.
Related Products in Kitchen Cooking Appliances
Safety Guides
What this means for you
Treat the 39/100 score as relative risk between products, not your personal odds of injury.
- See where this category ranks against every other tracked product. Full rankings
- Injuries cluster in the 35-44 age group, take extra care if that describes your household.
- Check for active recalls on this product before you assume it is safe. CPSC recalls
NEISS estimates ER-treated injuries from a national probability sample of hospitals; they do not capture injuries treated elsewhere or not treated at all.
Data: CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments. This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, scored, and verified.
