Abstract: At approximately 7:15 a.m. on January 21, 1998, Employee #1, a poly bag machine operator with eight years of experience in the repack department of a frozen fruit packaging company, was just starting his shift . The poly bag machine feeds plastic bags that are pushed by belts, filled with fruit or vegetables, sealed, and dropped onto a conveyor line. The machine had been cleaned during the night shift, and Employee #1 noticed that the poly bags were bunching up because the belts were wet and slipping. He was using paper towels to wipe them off when his right hand slipped into the machine's sealing jaws, amputating the tip of his middle finger. The machine had a large clear plastic cover with two front doors, but the interlock on the doors was not working at the time of the accident.