PRINTING firms are being given a safety warning after two fatal incidents where machine operators were crushed.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued the alert aimed at employers in the printing industry who use hand-fed platen machines.
Both incidents, including one at Bezier, on Balne Lane, Wakefield, have happened during the past 13 months and
involved operators using hand-fed platen machines.
And they are currently under investigation.
Hand-fed platens are versatile machines with a long history in the industry
Their design is based on old platen printing presses.
They are widely used in the printing, corrugating, packaging and paper industries for a range of jobs from making cardboard packaging to manufacture of point of sale displays.
The HSE is concerned when the platen is in dwell mode and it reaches the end of this period safety devices may not be activated.
And the HSE has written to the British Printing Industries Federation, the Confederation of Paper Industries and members of both the Printing Industry Advisory Committee and the Paper and Board Industry Advisory Committee to ensure that they are aware of the safety alert.
A full version of the safety alert is available on the HSE website, www.hse.gov.uk
The full article contains 212 words and appears in Wakefield Express City newspaper.
