In December 2019, OSHA issued an updated National Emphasis Program (NEP) to focus agency inspections on amputation hazards in manufacturing industries. The NEP targets industrial and manufacturing workplaces where employees are injured at higher rates by unguarded or improperly guarded machinery and equipment. Because of injury data, OSHA included print manufacturing sectors in the previous NEP, and thus industry companies had a greater likelihood of being inspected. The good news is that after reviewing data from the last three years OSHA has removed print manufacturing from the NEP. Of course, printing companies are still responsible for ensuring machines are properly safeguarded to prevent worker amputations and other fatal injuries. To view the updated NEP, click here: National Emphasis Program (NEP).
A Safer Year: Printing Industry's Injury and Illness Rates Fall Dramatically in 2023
The printing industry has seen a remarkable improvement in safety, with injury and illness rates for 2023 showing a dramatic decrease. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of reported workplace injuries and illnesses in printing operations dropped by 1,200 incidents from 2022 to 2023, marking a 20.3% decrease.
