Its standard HR policy, any company I've ever been at the HR policy bans "weapons such as guns, knives, ...". They don't define the difference between tool and weapon (IMHO they are all tools until they are used as a weapon and many other things can be used as a weapon besides the items HR calls weapons).

One thing I didn't think of is jobs like bankers, programmers, etc. that are office related or non blue collar where doing any kind of a repair or assembly that is not in your classification may have a more stringent policy on knives. In my line of work where using my tools is my living, usually HR has policies on knives but it usually is for blades over 5 inches, and until recently, we use to could take them with us all over the flight line at airports, but now we have to get a waver to keep them in our tool boxes and they stay there and you are not allowed to go to and from work with them. But you still have access to them at work and you would have to leave another one in the car. I have left that field of work after over 25 years due to an car related injury from a man who was not medically suppose to be driving and decided one day to take his car out for a spin at a high rate of speed. My new job has been good to me and has a relaxed policy on knives so I've been very fortunate.

The leatherman has long been the staple of the IT worker, no matter if your the tech who actually touches the hardware or the admin/programmer/etc, you always had a leatherman. I carried mine for a years and had a manager who told me he has no problem with it but took his off his belt when one of his friends was let go. He thought HR was looking for a reason to let him go and found out he carried a knife so they made that the reason.