Product category:
General Print Supplies, Services for Printers
News Release from: HSE Health and Safety Executive
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 06 February 2004
Used Machinery Buyers Get Health and
Safety Warnin
The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a warning to firms buying second hand industrial machinery to ensure it is safe at all times when being set, used, cleaned and maintained.
The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a warning to firms buying second hand industrial machinery to ensure it is safe at all times when being set, used, cleaned and maintained The warning has followed a court case which hear that a print operator received serious crush injuries to his hands, leaving him partially disabled
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 22 Jul 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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The HSE has warned that buyers and sellers of machinery that statements such as 'sold as seen' are no protection from liabilities under health and safety laws.
The HSE had successfully prosecuted a supplier of second-hand machinery and the printing company that bought the machine.
Maureen Kingman, HM Principal Inspector of HSE Manufacturing Sector commented: "Suppliers have explicit duties to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that articles for use at work will be safe at all times.
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Suppliers should, so far as is reasonably practicable, safeguard second hand machines or first obtain a written undertaking from the purchaser that they would take specified steps to ensure that the article would be safe." Sold as seen does not absolve the supplier or the buyer of their duties under the law, she added.
In the case of the successful prosecution, the machine had been supplied 'as seen, as is'.
It had come from a previous user who had had it in storage for some years.
No changes were made to the machine by the supplier before delivery and no documentation other than an invoice stating 'free from any damage other than normal wear and tear' and machine manuals were provided to the user.
The supplier did not obtain any written undertaking from the user about its safety before use.
The user carried out an extensive overhaul returning the machine to almost original condition, but made no changes to its design or safety features.
Experienced members of staff with appropriate machine knowledge trained an experienced machine operator on the machine.
However, when the operator cleaned the powered rotating gravure and pressure rollers by hand with a cloth, his hand was drawn in between them, sustaining serious crush injuries.
At the hearing in 2003, a printing firm pleaded guilty to a breach of duties under Section 6 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) and was fined £5,000 plus costs of £698 awarded to HSE.
The machinery supplier pleaded guilty to a breach of duties under regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and was fined £2,800 and pleaded guilty to a breach of duties under regulation 11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) and was fined £2,800 plus costs of ?698 awarded to HSE.
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