by business editor Trevor Sturgess

A printing firm has been fined £3,000 for endangering staff by removing safety guards from its machines.

Printwells, based in North Farm, Tunbridge Wells, was also ordered to pay costs of £2,500 for putting employees "needlessly at risk".

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the firm after inspectors discovered guards were in not place when employees used the machines, despite being ordered to do so after a similar offence in 2003.

Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court heard that on April 13 last year, two HSE inspectors visited the company's premises unannounced.

They found machine guards, known as safety interlocks, deactivated on two machines.

The guards should have been in place to protect employees from dangerous parts of the machinery.

HSE's investigation found the interlocks had been removed to allow the department supervisor to undertake routine maintenance work, a common practice at the Tunbridge Wells plant.

The firm pleaded guilty to two counts under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

HSE inspector Guy Widdowson said: "Printwell employees were needlessly put at risk.

"There could easily have been a serious injury during the maintenance of these machines.

"It is purely down to luck that a serious incident did not occur at this company before.

"As this case demonstrates, HSE will take robust enforcement action against any company found removing safety devices, whether an injury has occurred or not."