Missing fixed guard on printing press almost causes finger amputation

A Norwich printing firm has been fined for safety failings after a worker injured his finger in an unguarded machine.

The circumstances were:

• The employee was working for Swallowtail Print Ltd., when the incident happened on
  1 November 2012.
• He opened a service compartment at the side of a printing press to make some adjustments.
• A fixed metal guard had been removed from the compartment five weeks earlier by other employees who were also making machine adjustments and had not been replaced.
•  As he leant in, he slipped and put his hand out, which became entangled in the machine's moving drive belts and pulleys, almost severing his right index finger.

Swallowtail Print Ltd was fined £9,850 (inc. costs and victim surcharge) on 28 August 2013.

The HSE Inspector said:

"This incident was entirely foreseeable and therefore preventable. The risks to employees from exposed machinery are well known. Had Swallowtail Print Ltd met its duties, it would not have been possible for the employee to have accessed moving parts of machinery in this way and an injury would not have occurred."