A safety front door for a baling press having a vertically acting pressure ram for producing tied bales of old cardboard, foils and other used packaging material, wherein the door area for the filling shaft of the press is constructed as a flap which can be opened by manually swinging it about a horizontal axis into an essentially horizontal position. In the horizontal plane, the flap is divided by an additional hinge and, in the final opening position of the flap, the forward free flap portion extends in an approximately vertical direction relative to the press bottom portion. The upper side of the frame of the front door and the door sliding angle attached to the housing are located approximately by a hand's width above the upper side of the pressure ram plate when the pressure ram is in its uppermost end position. In addition to hinges, the two portions of the filling shaft flap are connected to the front door frame through gas springs or similar braking elements, so that the forward free flap portion is swung down into the vertical position only after the entire flap has reached the horizontal position.