OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221463904
LARRY HILLS & SONS EXCAVATING, INC.
GREAT MILLS, MD·
Event description
Employee amputates arm when glove is caught in auger
Investigation abstract
At 9:00 a.m. on January 12, 2022, an employee was emptying salt from the bed of employee works alone during this process and therefore there were no witnesses to the incident. The employee does not remember exactly what occured; however, he recalled he was wearing rubber gloves because the salt irritates his hands. He stated, "I don't remember, but somehow the auger grabbed my glove and pulled my arm in. There was a clump of salt and I was either trying to pound out the clump or pull it out but I can't remember why my hand was there." The employee's right arm was pulled into the auger and amputated just below the elbow. The employee also broke four ribs and incurred bruising on his right-side chest area and was hospitalized. his dump truck for storage in a container for later use. The employee stated that he had to close the tailgate of the dump truck to gain open access to the auger/spreader. Once the salt is cleared from the auger/spreader, he is able to completely close the auger/spreader allowing the tailgate to swing freely. The employee is able to then unhook the tail gate chains and dump the load over top of the auger/spreader and onto the ground for transfer into the container. The employee reported that the auger and spinner had to be engaged during this process to grind up salt clumps and remove all the salt from the spreader. The
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 52 M
- Event type
- 2
- Occupation code
- 856
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.