Staff member Michael Taylor’s right hand and forearm were drawn into gluing rollers following which he has had four operations and physiotherapy but is unlikely to regain full movement in his hand. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the firm for the accident, which happened in January 2012. Wellingborough Magistrates’ Court heard how the company, which uses recycled paper to make pallets, failed to ensure a honeycomb laminating machine was guarded and that staff were adequately trained and supervised in order to use it safely. The Paper Pallet Company pleaded guilty health and safety breaches and was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £10,877 costs. Following the incident it introduced a light guard system to shut down the line if anyone breaks a beam. HSE said it found several failings: Taylor was inadequately supervised and the machinery was unguarded at several points; insufficient guarding over the gears and chains allowed access to dangerous moving parts; and some of the emergency stops did not work properly. In addition the company had not carried out a risk assessment on the machine. This meant there was no safe system of work for cleaning the gluing rollers or for the operation, use and maintenance of the line. The company’s managing director Graham Hayes said he did not have guards in place, “as we were in the middle of installation”. The Paper Pallet Company had spent a lot of money on safety since but in manufacturing situations “these things can happen”, he added. HSE inspector Elizabeth Hornsby said: “This is a very serious case of a company neglecting its duty to supervise and protect its employees from potentially dangerous machinery. Basic risk assessments weren’t carried out and Mr Taylor was not given suitable instruction. “Even his supervisor had not been given appropriate health and safety training to allow him to discharge his responsibilities adequately. The Paper Pallet Company has now introduced measures that will cut the power to the machinery if anyone approaches dangerous moving parts. It’s just a shame this did not happen before Mr Taylor suffered such severe injuries.” Taylor said: “The physical scars I have, both on my hand and from skin grafts, mean I’ll be reminded of this accident everyday for the rest of my life. Since the accident I have struggled to get back into work.”...

The Latex 3000 is suitable for both indoor and outdoor wide-format products such as billboards, banners, textiles, self-adhesive vinyl and truck curtains. It prints at 1,200dpi in six colours and has HP’s Ink Optimizer, with production speeds for indoor applications of 77sqm/hr and outdoor quality printed at 120sqm/hr. The machine can print on single rolls up to 3.2m or dual rolls up to 1.6m each. The world’s first signing for the £230,000 machine, which will be delivered to Rochester-based PressOn on 1 July straight from the Fespa stand, will take place this afternoon (25 June). The purchase is part of a £600,000 investment at the wide-format specialist printer that recently included an EFI Vutek QS2 Pro 3.2m wide-format flatbed and roll-fed UV-curable printer. The Latex 3000 will replace two of the firm’s existing HP latex printers including an LX850 and an LX600, which have been with the business for around three years. Two HP LX 65500s will remain on site. Joint managing director Andy Wilson said its latex machines had “transformed the business”. “We used to print on solvent machines, the HP 9000s, but after beta-testing the 26500s a few years ago and we immediately saw big advantages, particularly with our self-adhesive vinyl work.” “With our solvent printers we could have to wait up to 24-hours to complete the post-cure but with the latex machines, it’s a whole new ball game,” he added. “We print a lot of self-adhesive vinyl and with these machines there is no gassing-off time required, which gives us a time advantage against our competitors.” “We’ve hammered our 850 and it has stood up to the job well but with growing demand we needed a more industrial and robust model and this was perfect.” Wilson said that the new five-litre ink cartridges that come with the Latex 3000 were a big selling point for the company as well. The 14-staff business turns over £2.5m and Wilson hopes to see annual growth of 10% following its latest investment....

Staff member Michael Taylor’s right hand and forearm were drawn into gluing rollers following which he has had four operations and physiotherapy but is unlikely to regain full movement in his hand. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the firm for the accident, which happened in January 2012. Wellingborough Magistrates’ Court heard how the company, which uses recycled paper to make pallets, failed to ensure a honeycomb laminating machine was guarded and that staff were adequately trained and supervised in order to use it safely. The Paper Pallet Company pleaded guilty health and safety breaches and was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £10,877 costs. Following the incident it introduced a light guard system to shut down the line if anyone breaks a beam. HSE said it found several failings: Taylor was inadequately supervised and the machinery was unguarded at several points; insufficient guarding over the gears and chains allowed access to dangerous moving parts; and some of the emergency stops did not work properly. In addition the company had not carried out a risk assessment on the machine. This meant there was no safe system of work for cleaning the gluing rollers or for the operation, use and maintenance of the line. The company’s managing director Graham Hayes said he did not have guards in place, “as we were in the middle of installation”. The Paper Pallet Company had spent a lot of money on safety since but in manufacturing situations “these things can happen”, he added. HSE inspector Elizabeth Hornsby said: “This is a very serious case of a company neglecting its duty to supervise and protect its employees from potentially dangerous machinery. Basic risk assessments weren’t carried out and Mr Taylor was not given suitable instruction. “Even his supervisor had not been given appropriate health and safety training to allow him to discharge his responsibilities adequately. The Paper Pallet Company has now introduced measures that will cut the power to the machinery if anyone approaches dangerous moving parts. It’s just a shame this did not happen before Mr Taylor suffered such severe injuries.” Taylor said: “The physical scars I have, both on my hand and from skin grafts, mean I’ll be reminded of this accident everyday for the rest of my life. Since the accident I have struggled to get back into work.”...

The colour management software specialist said ProductionSuite 2.0 was targeted at printers and firms producing vehicle wraps, banners, indoor and outdoor large format signage and point-of-sale materials. Highlights include an updated version of SmartProfiler, a calibration and profiling tool, to profile all combinations of printers, media and inks, and a new interior decoration option to support digitised creation and printing of textiles and wallpapers. The ProductionSuite modular system includes a pre-press file editor and RIP as well as the SmartProfiler and PrintStation. The new version supports more than 200 additional output devices bringing the total supported to more than 1,000. Prices start at €3,000 (£2,552). The updated SmartProfiler within ProductionSuite 2.0 has a new user interface and now operates on OS X and Windows platforms. It also creates optimised test chart layouts for wide format printers. According to GMG wide format director Markus Finkbeiner the latest version makes profile creation even easier through features like automatic rendering intent. He said: “While most profiling and colour management tools may require a number of trial-and-error steps to obtain a satisfactory separation, this takes responsibility for building the profile.” GMG is also releasing ProductionSuite-Focus Edition, an entry-level-price version meant for print firms that want to bundle a complete workflow, instead of solely a RIP, when buying a new digital printer....

The South Wales-based self-adhesive vinyl manufacturer has launched a velvet wrap, currently available in six colours, with a seventh to be released later this year. The patented material, which according to KPMF can withstand jet-washing, has been developed with two European partners. It has also unveiled the Starlight visual effects range, which includes sparkle and pearlescent effects. The range also includes a vinyl overlaminate in four colours that can be combined with standard colour vinyl. Both ranges are available as standard in 1.52m x 25m rolls, although bespoke orders can be catered for, and KPMF is also able to colour-match for specific requirements. Managing director of the Newport-based company Rob Musto said the new laminates were targeted at the automotive industry. “This is very much going to be a fashion related item and I think we’ll see people getting their cars temporarily fully or partially wrapped.” The business, which is part of KPMF USA, is also developing a 3D effect product for vehicle wrapping that gives an embossed effect to whatever surface it is applied to. Further details were not available but the range is due to be released in September....