UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Abstract: At approximately 9:25 p.m. on June 1, 2002, Employee #1, an assistant operator of a steel rolling machine, and a coworker, the lead operator, were running their ninth coil of the day. The ninth coil started out at .0226 gauge and made one pass taking it down to .0194. As the second pass began, Employee #1 inserted the coil into the left reel. The coworker then used an electric hand saw to cut out a semi-circular test piece from the coil, while Employee #1 held it steady. Having made the cut, the coworker removed the test piece and went to the mill's console while Employee #1 aligned the coil on the left reel. After aligning the coil, Employee #1 inserted a paper marking flag to mark the location of the test cut, a procedure that was always done on a coil's last pass. As he did this, his back was to the coworker at the control console. The coworker saw Employee #1 insert the paper flag and then, believing that Employee #1's hands were clear of the coil, slowly started the mill. Employee #1's left hand was caught and pulled into the coil. He called out to the coworker, who hit the emergency stop button. The left reel stopped, followed by the mill a few seconds later. This allowed enough slack to build on the left reel for Employee #1 to remove his fractured and crushed left hand. Employee #1 was hospitalized.