This item is an update of the 25th September prism posting, sent to PIAC members today. For further information read on, or go to this HSE link. 

1.    Following the hand fed platen accidents at the  Terry Smith Group in 2007 and at Bezier Group in 2008, the HSE issued a safety alert.  Please see the attached link.  http://www.hse.gov.uk/printing/alert.htm. The advice in this safety alert still holds good.  The alert highlights the particular risk associated with the use of the dwell function where whole body access onto the bed of the movable platen is required.
 
2.    An important point to note is that even though physical safety protective devices fitted to a machine to prevent crushing between the platens may well be consistant with normal industry practice and comply with European Standards such as EN1010-5, the physical safeguards alone do not give adequate protection in the forseeable circumstances when an operative gets onto the bed of the movable platen to, for example, clear a mis-feed.
 
3.    Employers will also need to carry out a risk assessment  which is sufficient to identify the limitations of the physical protective safety devices, and establish a suitable safe system of work to prevent the platen moving during whole body access for activities such as cleaning and adjustment etc. The safe system of work is likely to require actions which have the effect of isolating and locking 'off' the power supply. The employer should also rigorousley enforce the required working proceedures.
 
4.    Since the HSE safety alert was released, the HSE has taken the issue further by raising the issue of hand fed platen presses with other European Regulators at a recent meeting of the ADCO Machinery Directive 98/37EC committee for member states (countries).  The ADCO committee members showed a great deal of interest, concern, and support for the issues we raised.  As a follow up to this, the HSE has now formally submitted a 'safeguard action' to the Machinery Directive 98/37/EC working group on 'standards and technical regulations'.  We are able to do this under article 6 of the machinery directive that provides for the possibility for a member state to contest a harmonised standard that (in our opinion) does not fully meet the applicable essential health and safety requirements as set out in the machinery directive. The submission concerns EN1010-5 Section 5.5 - the standard for hand fed platen machines.  We will keep you informed of any development on this front in due course.
 
5.    You may be interested to note that I ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) will be presenting a powerpoint presentation at the forthcomming PIAC Open meeting that highlights some of the key issues described above for users of hand fed platen machines. The presentation will include a discussion of; 
 

* How hand fed platens work;
* What the dwell is and how it works;
* A demonstration of typical operations;
* An explaination of why operators may need whole body access onto the bed of the movable platen;
* A summary of the 2 fatal accidents and high risk interventions;
* A discussion of safe interventions/safe systems of work;
* A discussion of unsafe interventions/unsafe systems of work;
* A discussion of other considerations: eg physical safeguarding; daily checks; maintenance; training and supervision.