OSHA Targets Amputations

The most recent incident at a printing company in California where a guillotine operator cut off his hand is a gruesome reminder that working with printing equipment requires a special focus on safety. Unfortunately, the printing industry has earned a dubious distinction and is now considered one of the most hazardous industries to work in as it pertains to amputations.

As a result, OSHA has initiated a special program targeted directly at printing operations and has been aggressively inspecting and issuing citations in the thousands of dollars. Since 2008 Printing Industries of America has seen a dramatic increase in the number of members reporting that they have been inspected under the special amputation prevention inspection program and many of them are receiving citations for violations.

Under the inspection program, each of OSHA’s Regional Offices develops a list of targeted companies in their area including printing companies. Once the list is developed, OSHA conducts random inspections of the companies on the list. The inspections are focused on machine guarding, lockout/tagout, and safe work practices. Understand that once OSHA starts an inspection, they can and will look for other possible violations and with 250 newly trained inspectors being recently released, there will be more inspections.

To help prepare its members to pass an inspection under the new amputation prevention program, Printing Industries of America has developed a toolkit that will enable printing operations to adopt and implement a prevention program suited to meet OSHA’s regulations and protect its employees from serious injury. The guideline, “What You Need To Know For Safe Equipment Operation” was designed and produced to assist the printer in evaluating their production operation and help reduce the overall amputation injuries associated with equipment operations.

The guidance publication enables members to:

• Increase awareness and understanding by supervisors and equipment operators of amputation hazards and controls specific to their workplace
• Establish an amputation prevention program specific to the printing industry with a focus on the common circumstances and activities that have lead to amputations.
• Develop site specific amputation prevention training material using the power point presentation, workbooks, and fact sheet as a basis.

Get your copy of What You Need To Know For Safe Equipment Operation today.