Prosecution Details

Being the owner of plant, namely a printing machine serial number 780511 and marked Queen's Machinery Co Ltd, which plant was not so positioned or constructed that it was as safe as it would be if securely guarded, failed to ensure that every dangerous part of the plant was securely guarded.

The injured person was threading a roll of plastic bags through sets of rollers and a cylinder for printing purposes. The machine, or the rollers and cylinder, were driven by power during threading. After successfully threading the roll of plastic bags into the sets of rollers and cylinder, the injured person, seeing that there was a piece of plastic stuck to the stencil, tried to remove it using his left hand. The nip point (between the print cylinder and the ink transfer roller) caught his left hand middle and ring fingers. The nip point was not guarded at the time of the accident.

The Magistrate commented that primary significance must be attached to the failures of the defendant itself - as a distinct person employing the injured employee - properly to guard the machine and generally to provide and maintain a safe working environment.

A plea of guilty was entered