Failure to isolate machine causes massive head injury

The Artisan Press has been fined £25,900 (inc.costs) on 12th December 2013 following a accident in a stacker.
The circumstances were

• On 6 March 2012, David Howkins was asked to replace a bearing in the automated stacker on a web-fed press.
• The gate to the area in which Howkins was injured was neither fixed in place nor interlocked, allowing free access to the moving parts of the stacker.
• He went around the back of the machine without isolating the power supply.
• His head became trapped between moving parts. 

The HSE inspector said: 

“Mr Howkins’ life has been devastated by the horrific injuries he sustained as a result of The Artisan Press failing to effectively prevent access to dangerous moving machinery. Incidents where workers are injured, or even killed, by moving machinery are easily avoided if employers provide suitable guarding. Effective measures were not taken by The Artisan Press to prevent their workforce from accessing dangerous moving parts, in this case the stacker and sword drive mechanism. In addition, safe systems of work, information, instruction and training are required to control the risks during both production and maintenance activities.”