Unfortunately, they will also shred most anything else that gets to, and fits in, the cutting wheels of the shredder. Just recently, an employee was leaning on a counter near a paper shredder when the corner of her coat slipped into the shredder opening, activating the cutting wheels and pulling her coat into the shredder. The result was a very anxious employee and the loss of a fairly large piece of the coat.
Shredders come in a variety of designs with different ways to activate the cutting wheels.
One position turns on the shredder, allowing the wheels to start rotating anytime a sheet of paper, or other object, passes through the sensor beam. The other two positions are Off and Reverse. In this particular incident, the shredder was in the ON position, allowing the unit to start operating as soon as the person's coat inadvertently crossed the path of the sensor, turning the shredder on and pulling in the person's coat. The person sustained no injuries but there was considerable damage to the coat. Recommended Action 1.