Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025
105,991Records 71,450Employers 85,836Hospitalizations 27,959Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-11-30

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221416811

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO HEALTH

Event
Amputated, Amputation, Fan Belt, Finger, Fingertip, Unguarded
NAICS
622110
Inspection type
Referral
Activity number
#345671895
Employer profile
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO HEALTH
Summary number
221416811
Report ID
0830500

Event description

Employee amputates fingertips after placing hand on fan bel

Investigation abstract

At approximately 6:00 a.m. on November 27, 2021, an employee deenergized the unit fans from the building automation system (computer) and disconnected the interlocked door to the unit. The unit was shut down, and staff entered the space so they could hear which of the bearings might be failing. The fan motors were not energized, but there was still residual motion of the belt/pulley. The rate of rotation was very slow, but enough motion to allow for identification of which bearing might be failing. The employee placed his hand on one of the fan belts, and two fingers were rotated between the belt and wheel, resulting in amputation of two fingertips. The employee was treated without hospitalization.

Victim

  1. #1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 55 M

    Event type
    2

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.