Tinplate printer fined £30,713 after hand was caught in press after an interlock has been defeated

Tinplate printing company Tinmasters Swansea Limited was fined £30,713 (inc. costs) after an employee was seriously injured when working on a printing press.
The circumstances were:

• There was no risk assessment for fault finding on the printing press.

• The printing press front guard's electronic interlock device had been defeated.

• There was no safe system of work.

• There was a lack of suitable training for employees.

• On Monday 19 June 2017, an employee trying to rectify an intermittent fault on the printing press.

• His hand became trapped between the rollers.

• He sustained a serious crushing and de-gloving injury to his hand.

 “This injury was easily prevented, and the risk of injury should have been identified. Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery, especially during maintenance and fault finding activities.”

The HSE inspector said: