Abstract: Employee #1, a security guard for Broadway Retail Store, was standing on a ladder inside a freight elevator attempting to look through the escape hatch. The hatch, a 4 ft by 2 ft heavy metal panel, slammed shut when the ladder slipped and landed on his fingers, amputating his left middle fingertip. The hatch was not a designated escape hatch but one of the 4 ft by 2 ft ceiling panels of the elevator. At his own initiative Employee #1 was checking an adjacent passenger elevator that was stuck with a coworker inside. The elevator service company was in transit to attend to the immobile passenger elevator.