Smurfit News Press Ltd has been fined €1 million for health and safety offences at its premises in Kells, Co Meath.
The fine is the largest ever imposed for breaches in the regulations and follows investigations by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) into two serious accidents at the plant in April and May 2002.
Imposing sentence today in Trim Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Raymond Groarke said the company had displayed a "cavalier attitude" to safety and had placed the pursuit of profit over the safety of its workers.
During the case the court heard how both accidents had occurred within two weeks of each other and had arose from almost identical circumstances.
In the first incident, an employee was working at a printing press when his leg became entrapped and as a result he suffered a below the knee amputation of the right leg.
Two weeks later, another employee at the same plant was badly injured when his hand became entrapped in a printing press. The man suffered what doctors described as a "de-gloving injury" to his left wrist - which happens when the skin is ripped off.
The court was told that the cause of the accidents were "inadequate guarding and a failure to prepare an adequate risk assessment on the hazards involved in working on printing presses".
Smurfit News Press Ltd pleaded guilty to six of eight charges, three relating to each accident.
Welcoming the judgement, the HSA's chief executive, Mr Tom Beegan, said: "This is largest ever fine for health and safety offences and a milestone for the protection of people at work."
Mr Breegan said: "It reflects the growing seriousness with which the courts are dealing with these cases and with those companies who flout the law by exposing their workers to unnecessary risks.
Smurfit News Press Ltd, which prints a number of newspaper titles, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jefferson Smurfit.