HSE urges industry to check guidance after explosion in Swindon and investigates any possible link between this and a previous incident in South Wales in 2023. It has ‘significant concerns’ about the safe use of the machines.
The machines
The machines in question are sublimation calender machines manufactured by Diferro. These are used to print / transfer designs onto fabrics or other materials.
The press has a sealed oil-filled heated drum (roller), which is used to apply pressure and heat to transfer the designs.
The machine also incorporates a weekly programming function, allowing the user to pre-heat the roller/drum to a set temperature at a specific date and time.
These features do not require an operator to be in attendance.
The incident
At this latest incident (September 2025), the machine was in use at a printers in Swindon, and thankfully nobody was injured.
A similar explosion had already occurred in South Wales in 2023, which resulted in the death of a person in a neighbouring business.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are linking these together.
What is happening now?
The HSE is urgently asking any companies using similar printing machinery to consult the guidance published last year and updated Friday, 10 October 2025.
Following the Swindon incident, the HSE, acting in its role as the Market Surveillance Authority, has directly contacted all known users, instructing them to ensure they have referenced this guidance and cease operations if they are in any doubt.
The regulator is attempting to identify any other users of machines believed to have been sold by two known distributors and is taking steps to prevent any other Diferro machines coming into the country through liaison with UK border officials.
Following the 2023 incident, the HSE worked with the Office for Product Safety Standards (OPSS), to produce a key alert, known as a Product Safety Report, relating to the machinery involved. This included advice that ‘the device should not be left unattended when connected to the power supply.’
The recent incident has caused HSE to review the Product Safety Report and make some key additions, which include the instruction to cease operating these machines until a second independent Safety-Related Control System (SRCS) has been installed by a competent person and validated to appropriate standards.
The Product Safety Report, including the updated advice and guidance, can be found here.