The Ipswich-based company received the fine after pleading guilty to breaching regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations and was also forced to pay £8,272 costs.

Print manager John Stagg, 40, was attempting to clear a blockage from underneath a conveyor belt on a stacking machine when his right hand got caught in its toothed cogs.

He sustained a fracture to his index finger, his middle finger was severed to its first joint and he lost the nail and a section of his ring finger. He required plastic surgery and was off work for seven months.

The HSE' subsequent investigation found a fixed guard that would have prevented access to the underside of the machine had been removed. Around 20 other guards and safety devices on machines around the factory were also found to be missing or disabled.

A statement from the company said: "We very much regret what has happened and the effect it has had on one of our loyal long-term employees. The accident is being taken very seriously indeed by the entire management team at AHP.

"Immediately following the incident, we implemented a formal system of checking guards with full recording of findings. We instructed the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF) to undertake a comprehensive audit of our health and safety management system.

"The audit findings have been used to identify minor deficiencies and an action list has been created to address these deficiencies in a priority risk order. A training programme has also been put in place and delivered to line management and supervisors in order to raise competency and health and safety awareness at management level.

"More frequent health and safety committee meetings have been scheduled and we have recruited more people to join. Going forward our first priority is to provide a safe place for our employees to work and we will undertake whatever steps required to achieve this."

HSE inspector, Paul Unwin, said: "This was a serious and entirely preventable incident which left this employee with horrific injuries which he will never fully recover from.

"The fixed guard would have prevented access to the dangerous moving parts of the machine while it was running, and looked as if it had been missing for several weeks, if not months.

"An interlock device that should have turned off the conveyor when the fixed guard was opened had been overridden, which left the machine running with no guard in place. Had the interlock been working, opening the fixed guard would have turned the belt off and prevented the injury.

"These machines come complete with many safety features as standard and these must be used to ensure accidents like this do not happen."