Commercial printing fined after employees injured

Telford Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 17 October 2018, an employee of Precision Colour Printing in Telford sustained a de-gloving injury when his hand was dragged into the rollers of a printing press, as he cleared a blockage. In a second incident, on 18 January 2019, another employee sustained a broken wrist whilst dealing with a misaligned paper log on a palletiser machine. The clamping arm descended and crushed his hand.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that, in both cases, the risk assessments in place were not suitable and sufficient as they did not consider the risks of clearing blockages or dealing with misaligned paper logs. As a consequence, the employees involved in the incidents had not been provided with safe systems of work, sufficient information, instruction or training for such tasks.

Precision Colour Printing Limited of 1 Halesfield, Telford, pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. They were fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,547.60

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Keeley Eves said, “These incidents could so easily have been avoided by simply identifying and implementing appropriate control measures and safe working practices.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”