OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #963827
PORTABLE POWER TOOL,AMPUTATED,FINGER,WORK RULES,CONSTRUCTION,CIRCULAR SAW,LOCKOUT,ELECTRIC CORD,ENTANGLED,BLADE
Event description
Employee's fingers amputated by portable circular saw
Investigation abstract
At approximately 1:30 p.m. on November 15, 1989, Employee #1, an experienced ope The saw was equipped with a constant pressure switch that should shut off the p ower when the pressure is released. Inspection of the saw revealed no defects. rator, was cutting a 2 by 4 with a Black & Decker, type 2,580 rpm, electric port able circular hand saw. The power cord became entangled and wedged between the b lade and the adjustable blade guard, causing the saw to stop. To free the cord, Employee #1 first set the saw upside down. He then held the saw with his right h and and steadied it with his left hand. He pulled on the cord with his right han d without realizing that he had the ON/OFF switch depressed with his left hand. The saw started as the cord came loose, causing his right hand to contact the mo ving saw blade. His little fingertip and half of his ring finger were amputated.
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 27 M
- Nature of injury
- 1
- Part of body
- 10
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 21
- Occupation code
- 567
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 18
- 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.