I have to be very careful about cuts because I take a blood thinner. So I do take precautions. I have guards on all my rulers. DH cut a long guard into several small pieces to use on the short rulers. If I'm going to be cutting a lot of fabric for something, I wear my Klutz glove. Right after I starting using my rotary cuter, I dropped it and it missed my foot (in flip-flops) about a half-inch, so I got in the habit of closing my cutter "every" time I lay it down. I do have one that closes automatically and that's the best one to use around others.