OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #785048
HARCO MANUFACTURING CO
PORTLAND, OR·
Event description
Employee's fingers amputated in punch press
Investigation abstract
At approximately 2:50 p.m. on May 17, 1989, Employee #1 was operating an L & J 5 0 ton punch press to form 1 1/8 in. by 34 in. long pieces with a press brake-typ e die set. To achieve the close tolerances required for these parts, Employee #1 had to lower the ram adjustment to get the worn shop-built dies to close adequa tely. After the ram of the press stopped at the top of its stroke on the 43rd pa rt, Employee #1 reached into the dies with his right hand to retrieve the part. The clutch key broke and the ram came down on his hand. Employee #1 pulled his h and back as the dies opened and the machine continued to stroke. Portions of all four fingers on his right hand were amputated.
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 25 Male
- Nature of injury
- Amputation (1)
- Part of body
- FINGER(S) (10)
- Accident type
- CAUGHT IN OR BETWEEN (2)
- Source of injury
- MACHINE (26)
- Occupation
- Punching and stamping press machine operators (706)
- Human factor
- SAFETY DEVICES REMOVED/INOPER. (9)
- Environmental factor
- SQUEEZE POINT ACTION (4)
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
Labels are OSHA's own, from the code dictionary published with the accident-investigation file. The raw code is shown beside each one so this page can be reconciled against OSHA's bulk data. OSHA notes that nature of injury, part of body, source of injury and accident type in this file are not coded to the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System, and that the occupation titles are not standardised — so these values are not directly comparable with the OIICS-coded severe injury reports.