News

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a safety alert to the cardboard packaging and printing industries warning of the risks of using hand-fed platen machines in 'dwell' mode.

The HSE is urging firms to introduce procedures to prevent plates from stroking when workers are in the platen area, following two fatal accidents, currently under investigation, in the past 13 months.

It suggested isolation and lock-off of the power supply before the worker accesses the platen bed as a possible method, although recognised the strong commercial reasons for using 'dwell' modes to speed up production.

Machines bought before May 2005 must comply with European Standard EN 101-5. A British standard is currently being developed, and the HSE said it was looking to see what improvements could be made.

The full safety alert is available here.