Abstract: Employee #1, a farm equipment mechanic, came out of the shop in the early morning darkness and without a flashlight to check the tension on the belt drive. Earlier, the equipment operator had failed to turn off the engine or disengage the PTO-drive to the shredder, in violation of the employer's safety policy. Employee #1 assumed that all the devices were shut off because he could not hear them owing to the high background noise. He was reaching in to check the tension on the belt drive when his left hand contacted the belt and pulley drive. Four of the fingers on his left hand were amputated. Employee #1 was transported by coworkers to Valley Medical Center and then transferred to Davis Hospital in San Francisco. The field supervisor was not enforcing compliance with company safety policies.