Newquest fined after worker was caught in press

Newsquest Media was fined  £4,560 (inc. costs) after a worker was injured when his hand was caught in a rotating printer roller.

The circumstances were:

• On 6 February 2013 the employee and colleagues had been having problems with paper breaking and wrapping itself around ink rollers.
• Sections of the press had been removed to clear paper from the ink rollers and had not been replaced.
• It was a regular practice of print room staff to deal with paper breaks in this way.
• He cleared most of the paper and set the machine running at a medium speed. 
• He noticed a bit of paper still on the roller and tried to brush it off with a piece of cloth. 
• As he did, the cloth was dragged into the nip of the ink roller, injuring his right hand.

The HSE Inspector said:

“This was an easily preventable incident. If Newsquest had ensured its employees ran the press with the machine rollers not exposed, there would have been no injury. It was only down to luck that an incident had not happened before and also that this injury was not more serious. It is critical that companies make sure that effective guards are in place on machinery to protect their employees from dangerous moving parts. If there is a part of a machine that serves another purpose but is protecting staff from contact regardless, then it needs to be treated as a guard.”