Unqualified insurance assessors are inspecting guillotines and charging companies for the service, a leading supplier has warned.


Geliot Hurner Ewen managing director Brian Mickels told PrintWeek of his growing concern at the practice.
We were recently called out by a customer to carry out routine safety checks, and the customer said that an insurance inspector was coming too. It soon became apparent that the insurers representative was attempting to learn how to carry out the checks by watching our engineer.


The GHE employee informed Mickels of the situation and was instructed to leave the premises.
Nobody can be competent on every model of guillotine, and it raises serious questions when insurance companies can subcontract untrained people to do very important jobs. Insurers are insisting on these inspections and its becoming a gravy train at the end of the day customers are charged, he added.


Health & Safety legislation requires two forms of guillotine inspection. The first is a simple daily check that can be carried out by the user, for which the HSE can provide a checklist. In addition the HSE requires that guillotines be subject to a six-monthly examination by a competent engineer.


Some insurers do use appropriately qualified engineers, but we would be concerned if we thought any incompetent engineer was attempting to examine a guillotine, said Mike Wilcock, head of the HSEs paper and printing national interest group. It is critical that a printer understands that an engineer is competent.


See www.hse.gov.uk


Story by Jo Francis