Abstract: Employee #1 was cutting material with a 50 in. Seybold Guillotine shear, serial #16580,equipped with two hand-trip buttons. The buttons had been installed to prevent employees from getting their hands into the blade area. Employee #1 had taped up one of the buttons and used his knee to trip the other button. He had both hands under the blade when he accidentally hit the untaped button with his knee. This activated a stroke of the blade, which amputated both of his hands just below the wrists. The distance from the trip buttons to the blade area was 26 inches. The shear blade made a complete cycle in one second.