OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221392574

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE

COLUMBUS, OH· 2021-09-12T00:00:00

Event: Amputated, Amputation, Catch Point, Caught In, Chain, Electronic Technicn, Finger, Fingertip, Hand, Instantaneous amputation, Laceration, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Machine Cycled, Maintenance, Material Handling, Partial Amputation, Sprocket, Technician, Thumb, Traumatic Amputation, Unsafe Position
NAICS: 491110
Inspection type: Referral
Activity number: #345536627
Employer profile: U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
Summary number: 221392574
Report ID: 0522500

Event description

Employee amputates thumb tip when caught in conveyor drive c

Investigation abstract

At 9:16 a.m. on September 12, 2021, an employee working as an maintenance technician for the US Post Office was performing maintenance on a flat sync sorter (FSS) de-stacking machine. The FSS required a new conveyor belt and needed tightened drive chain tension. The employee stopped the machine and opened the covers to access the conveyor. The employee then removed the conveyor belt which needed to be replaced. The employee reached over the top of the conveyor to tighten the conveyor drive chain by hand when the drive motor started. The employee had his thumb near the unguarded sprocket at the time. The employee was hospitalized to treat an amputation injury to his thumb tip.

Victim

#1 Hospitalized Age 30 M

Event type
2

Occupation code
213

Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.