UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

On February 21, 2022, three flashlight production line employees were tasked wit h performing flashlight assembly work. The three employees arrived on site in th e Flashlight Assembly Room at approximately 8:00 a.m., where they were tasked wi th duties that included, but not limited to, flashlight line assembly, back stri pping flashlights, and operating a mechanical punch press machine. Employee #1 was operating Machine #252 (Havir Manufacturing Co., Press-Rite Single Trip Clut ch Model #1-1/2 full revolution punch press machine) with pierce flashlight refl ector trim die (#1004-1 pierce flashlight). Employee #1 was tasked with operati ng machine #252 to pierce two to four boxes of raw product, i.e., metal reflecto r pieces that were approximately 6.3 inches in circumference with approximately 15,000 pieces per box. Machine #252 procedures required the operator to be in a seated position directly in front of the machine. Employee #1 manually fed t he raw product from the right side into the die, the point of operation, then pr essed the foot pedal, which tripped a full revolution clutch. After the foot pe dal is pressed, the machine would complete a cycle that resulted in two hole pun ches into the reflector piece, and the operator would manually remove the final product from the left side and place the piece into a finished product box. At a pproximately 11:15 a.m., during operation of machine #252, Employee #1 was manua lly handling a product piece with her left hand and activated the full revolutio n clutch by pressing her foot onto the foot pedal, which resulted in the first a nd second fingers of her left hand to be caught in the point of operation betwee n the die block and the punch plate of the die set. Employee #1 suffered amputat ion injuries of the first and second fingers of her left hand, requiring hospita lization.