Understanding Amputation Prevention in the Printing Industry

I entered the printing industry as a workplace safety & health specialist over twenty years ago. One of the first things I noticed, back then, before Y2K, was the number of production workers at the “safety training sign in table” who had “less than ten digits” – evidence of traumatic injuries suffered on the job.

My observation wasn’t unique. When I entered the industry, I would hear from the “old timers” that they could tell how long a machine operator had been “in printing” by the number of fingers they had lost. Dark humor, to be sure, but also indicative of a real problem. The data bore out these statistics, which, at the time (based only on available information) showed that statistically, there were over 4,000 amputations in our industry, and to put it another way, every printing company in America could expect to experience an amputation among their workforce at least once every eight years.

Eventually, these startling statistics came to the attention of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration. In 2006, the printing industry was placed into a new National Emphasis Program on Preventing Amputations in the Workplace. Since then, this program has prompted more OSHA inspections than any other reason. “Amputation Prevention Inspections” continue to this day. They are called “Programmed Inspections” by OSHA – but they will be a surprise to you when Compliance Officers come knocking at your door.

Machine safeguarding, lockout/tagout and electrical safety – along with written programs, procedures and training, are required not only to prevent accidents resulting in electrocutions. Once OSHA is onsite, however, they may cite you for violations of other standards, that are “open and obvious.”

August is Workplace Safety Month at the Printing & Imaging Association of MidAmerica. We kicked off “safety month” this year with a Quick Takes Webinar titled “Understanding Amputation Prevention in the Printing Industry” on July 26 at 11:30 CST. If you are interested in learning more, please contact PIA MidAmerica.