OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #735118
CAMDEN RECYCLE CENTER
LUGOFF, SC·
Event description
EMPLOYEE'S ARM AMPUTATED BY UNGUARDED CUTTER BLADE
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS TWO OTHER EMPLOYEES WERE OPERATING A GUILLOTINE CUTTER, SLICING BALES OF BUTICITE (CLEAR, STICKY MATERIAL USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SAFETY GLAS S). A BALE OF BUTICITE IS 4 FEET LONG, 4 FEET WIDE AND WEIGHS UP TO 800 POUNDS. TWO EMPLOYEES MANUALLY PLACE THE BUTICITE BALE UNDER THE BLADE AND THE THIRD EMP LOYEE OPERATES THE CONTROLS. EMPLOYEE #1 HAD HELPED MOVE A BALE INTO PLACE WHEN THE GUILLOTINE BLADE FELL, SEVERING HIS RIGHT ARM AT THE FOREARM AND TRAPPING HI S LEFT HAND. THE CUTTER BORE NO IDENTIFICATION. IT HAD A 6 INCH BLADE WHICH WAS NOT GUARDED. A COUPLING FAILED, ALLOWING THE BLADE TO FALL FREELY.
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 24 M
- Nature of injury
- 1
- Part of body
- 17
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 26
- Occupation code
- 769
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 3
- Hazardous substance
- 8880
- 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.