A product safety report issued by the UK Government’s Office for Product Safety and Standards has recently been updated following a second recorded fire incident in the country.
All sublimation calender presses manufactured by Turkish firm Diferro, which feature a sealed oil-filled heated drum, are noted as not meeting the requirements of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008. These include, but are not limited to, these models:
- DE series
- DF series
- DM series
- DP series
- DR series
- DX series
- MP series
When the report was initially issued in April last year, suppliers in Great Britain were asked to stop selling these products until further notice. They were also asked to inform persons supplied with these presses that they must not be operated using the weekly programming function and must not be left unattended while connected to power.
Following last month’s explosion and fire on an industrial estate in Swindon, the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has updated its advice. Users are advised to cease operating these machines until a second independent Safety-Related Control System (SRCS) has been deployed. This SRCS is needed to monitor the equipment’s drum temperature and should be designed, installed and validated to the standards of BS EN ISO 13849 Parts 1 and 2.
The fatal tragedy which led to the first product warning
A company director was the victim of a neighbouring business’s machine explosion back in December 2023. Danielle Evans of Celtic Food Laboratories was crushed to death after a Diferro calender press exploded at printed towels wholesaler Bursali Towels (UK) Ltd, based in the same two-storey building.
The fireball-like explosion caused masonry to rain down in the Rizla House’s car park at Treforest Industrial Estate in Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales and radiators were blown off the walls of the gymnasium. “Earthquake-like booms” were felt in the era. The building was home to 13 businesses.
It’s believed lives were saved thanks to the heroic actions of eight gym visitors who helped people escape the “totally alight” building. Roughly 50 people were in the gym at the time of the explosion.
An investigation revealed that the Diferro calender press overheated due to a critical design flaw. The oil-filled drum reached extremely high temperatures yet had no safety feature to prevent pressure from rising to an explosive level.
“There’s no suggestion that Bursali Towels or its staff were at fault,” said Nathan Buckley, the company’s solicitor. “This was a catastrophic equipment failure, not negligence.”
Another incident causes more destruction
Over in Swindon, print-on-demand specialist business ESP Smile had its large-format printing unit decimated by a similar explosion and fire. This took place in September, with the effects of the explosion felt by residents more than a mile away.
Again, a sublimation calender manufactured by Diferro, was identified by HSE as the cause of the blast.
Thankfully, in this incident where a worker was present, no fatalities or casualties were reported.
“We have significant concerns about the safe use of these machines”, remarked Luke Messenger, HSE’s head of Technical Product Safety. “The guidance issued following the Treforest Industrial Estate incident has clear instructions – revisions to this have been published today and we will continue to share any further updates.”
“We never want to see a repeat of the fatality in 2023 or the recent catastrophic explosion in Swindon.”
Reflecting on the importance of PUWER
Local news outlet Valley Times reported the Diferro calender press, which malfunctioned in the first explosion, was CE marked and bought brand new from a UK distributor.
This highlights the importance of checking that machines are CE marked correctly at the point of supply. We provide thorough CE/UKCA audits for companies that have acquired or are about to acquire machinery. Our recommendation is to have a machine inspection at the manufacturer’s premises before taking delivery or making final payments, providing the opportunity to review the processes manufacturers have followed to ensure safety and technical information. This is a service we’ve provided for many companies throughout our history.
We must also underline the significance of the UK’s PUWER regulations, particularly regulation 10. This summary conveys the legal necessities for employers:
Everyone involved in the chain of supply of work equipment has legal obligations which are designed to ensure that new work equipment is safe.
PUWER regulation 12 outlines the requirements employers need to have in place to prevent hazards arising from work equipment that is subject to:
- Disintegration
- Overheating
- Fire risk
- Rupture of parts
The catastrophic incidents all stemmed from a design flaw. Understandably, this could and should have been covered at the point of design as part of the CE/UKCA marking process; however, the purchaser also has responsibilities under PUWER to ensure that the machine is compliant.
