Safety failings blamed for worker's injury

Date:

30 November 2012

Release No:

Y&H/213/12

A West Yorkshire firm has been fined after an employee had a thumb and finger shattered when his hand was drawn into dangerous moving parts of a printing press.

Derek Shield, 55, needed a skin graft and had to have his left thumb and index finger pinned under a bandage for several months after the incident at CCL Label Ltd in Castleford on 27 February 2012.

Mr Shield, of Tingley, was cleaning a letter press printing machine when his left hand was drawn into a half-inch nip point between a large impression drum and a roller.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the company after its investigation found the incident could have been prevented if the press had effective protection against dangerous parts.

Leeds Magistrates were told today (30 Nov) that Mr Shield, who had worked for the firm and its predecessors for 27 years, was cleaning a central impression drum and feeling for any loose or foreign objects as it rotated so he could remove them. His left hand was drawn into the nip point while he was operating the machine with his right.

HSE found that a guard covering the nip point had been removed two years earlier and no checks were made to ensure guards were in place before the machine was used. CCL Label Ltd had identified that the machine could be operated without guards in place, but failed to take action to address the hazard.

CCL Label Ltd of Pioneer Way, Castleford, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £2,141 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Paul Newton said:

"Mr Shield's injury could have been avoided if there had been an effective guard in place. In addition employees need training in how to clean machinery safely. Companies should ensure there are regular checks on machine guards and that employees are properly supervised to ensure unsafe work practices do not develop.

"Unguarded or poorly guarded machinery is the cause of many injuries in workplaces across the country. In 2010/11 over 1,000 people were seriously injured from contact with dangerous moving parts of machines.

"Employees should not be exposed to risks to their safety through their everyday work."

For information and advice on safe working with machines, visit www.hse.gov.uk/manufacturing

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that measures are taken... to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery or to any rotating stock-bar; or to stop the movement of any dangerous part of machinery or rotating stock-bar before any part of a person enters a danger zone.

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