OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #673996
GEORGE A. HORMEL & COMPANY
OTTUMWA, IA·
Event description
FINGERTIP AMPUTATED BY PNEUMATIC STAPLER
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ASSIGNED THE TASK OF REPAIRING A PNEUMATIC CLIPPER/STAPLER, WHIC H WAS JAMMING UP. THE EMPLOYEE REMOVED THE STAPLER FROM ITS ATTACHMENT TO THE RO TARY TABLE AND RAISED IT, USING A MANUAL HOIST. HE THEN ATTACHED THE STAPLER TO AN AUXILEARY AIR LINE (80 PSI), SO HE COULD OBSERVE THE STAPLER'S OPERATION. THE EMPLOYEE STOOD WHERE HE COULD SEE THE OPERATION AND REACHED AROUND THE HANGING STAPLER, BLINDLY FEELING FOR THE MICROSWITCH. A SMALL PLATE (3 INCH BY 6 INCH) H AD BEEN REMOVED TO GIVE ACCESS TO THE PLUNGER SO THAT THE STAPLER COULD BE UNJAM MED. WHEN THE EMPLOYEE TRIPPED THE SWITCH, HIS LEFT LITTLE FINGER WAS CAUGHT BY THE CLOSING PNEUMATIC CYLINDER. HIS FINGERTIP WAS AMPUTATED.
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 27 M
- Nature of injury
- 1
- Part of body
- 10
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 26
- Occupation code
- 518
- Human factor
- 9
- Environmental factor
- 1
- Task assigned
- 1
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.