A new section of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website is now online, dedicated to the needs of the printing industry. Each year, printing companies report approximately 1400 work-related accidents to the HSE; over 200 of these accidents are classified as major injuries such as fractures and amputations. Contact with machinery is one of the most common types of accidents suffered by printers, with others being manual handling and slips/trips.
Machinery accidents represent around 16 per cent of all reported injuries, and most of these accidents occur during setting up or cleaning down of printing presses or print finishing machinery. From the HSE’s ‘Health and Safety in the Printing Industry’ web page, further information can be accessed about managing machinery safety. In particular, the HSE points readers towards further sources of information that it has already published.
For example, ‘The Printers Guide to Health and Safety’ (ISBN 0717622673, priced at £12.50 from HSE Books) includes a chapter that describes what is considered to be ‘best practice’, and there are seven free leaflets specifically for the printing industry, though not all of these focus on
 HSE publishes web pages for the printing industry |
machinery safety.
The printing industry area of the HSE’s website can be found from HSE site.
Procter Machine Guarding is experienced in providing guarding for printing machinery, with engineers available to undertake site surveys and discuss the guarding requirements with employers and machine operatives in order to develop designs that meet the latest safety requirements without adversely affecting production. In addition, the company provides a free Risk Assessment Calculator for machine builders and users who need to perform risk assessments in accordance with the requirements of BS EN 1050.
To discuss any requirements for guarding printing machinery, please contact Procter Machine Safety.