Posted By John Murgatroyd A question: What do you do with a guy who continuously levers the [locked] guard on a 3 metre guillotine UP so that he can get his hand under it to position items to be cut ? So much so that the guard bottom bar has broken due to the bending, which allows others to bend it higher still. This may seem an easy question, but the employer is aware of the [mis]use and tolerates it because of the higher productivity of the machine.

Posted By Peter Hamilton Simple answer is this looks to me like a clear case of misuse/abuse of something provided for his and others safety. provided that it is actually a guard provided as part of the safe design of this machinea0. If his employer condones it knowingly, he is complicit in the offence. He would be well advised to review some recent court cases involving knowing disregard for H&S. In my view you would fail in your duty as a H&S professional if you do not ensure that this is reported to the responsible manager/employer outlining the legal situation and requesting that it be stopped immediately. (in writing if it is as serious as it sounds from your description) God help you if this is your employer cos you may have to do it as diplomatically as possible, but do it you must. Best of luck Peter

Posted By Karen Todd Most guillotines I've seen operate with a foot bar. I've never had anyone try to meddle with guarding on a guillotine before. Parts are usually marked out with chalk, then the parts are fed in and the chalk line lined up with the edge of where the guillotine will come down (on some you have to peer through the small gap where the parts are fed in to see - which I think is the problem here?). I don't recall anyone ever not being able to see what they were doing and cutting parts to the wrong size or not square. I think some guillotines also have a light line that shines down, so you can align the light line with your chalk line. Most frequent guillotine accident I've come across is ends of tape measures being chopped off (where 2 people don't bother to mark a chalk line, feed a sheet of metal into the guillotine each measuring how far in they've put it on their own side (to get it square) with their tape measure, one forgetting to remove their tape measure before foot bar is pressed...). Karen

Posted By Jonathan Breeze John, A few weeks ago someone suggested a demonstration involving a pigs trotter (available from the local butcher). Would that sort of thing be appropriate here to get your message across? Just a thought. Also the idea of a 2 handed control sounds good (until they learn to defeat it!).

Posted By Keith Archer. John, It appears that you may have the problem of “Employer Greed” where profit takes priority over everything including the safety of his employees. As mentioned by other respondents you can show him the consequences of his actions unfortunately though with people of this mind set they will not listen to any amount of discussion which impedes on their profitability and have the attitude that “it will never happen to me” until it does happen. It is obvious that there are serious safety issues on this piece of equipment and it makes you wonder if this is isolated or is it happening throughout the whole of the company? If it is a case of the employer will not listen and continues to show a total disregard to the safety of his employees then I would contact my local HSE office and report the incident as I would find it very difficult to have an accident (it is a case of when not if) on my conscience that could have been prevented. With regards to the guarding of the guillotine until the employer is hit in his pocket he will not enforce any controls because as you say he is actively encouraging these unsafe acts. Hope this helps Keith

Posted By Barry Cooper John In May 1997 an operator of a paper reel guillotine (similar but larger than yours) had all the fingers of both hands amputated when the blade descended uncontrolled. The machine was neglected, misused, and guards were bypassed. The operators were allowed to enter the blade area and do what they wanted as long as they got the job done. Luckily his fingers were stitched back on, but is still partially disabled. Rehabilitation lasted 2yrs with numerous operations. Company presecuted £17k. A prohibition notice was slapped on the machine which then had to be fully rebuilt £65k. The cost of having the machine out of service for 11 months cost the company in excess of £1m. If that doesn't convince companies to take H&S serious they should be closed down. Barry