Abstract: At about 3:30 a.m. on May 29, 1992, Employee #1 was doing maintenance work on the meat folder machine gear. He had turned the machine off, removed the guard, and worked on it. After greasing the gears, he turned the machine on to see if he had greased them properly. At this point, he noticed excess grease and tried to wipe it off without shutting the machine off. The gears caught the glove he was wearing, pulling his right little finger and crushing it. He was taken to Placencia Linda Hospital for treatment. His right little finger had to be surgically amputated. The employer has a lockout/tagout program. Employee #1 said that he had been trained on the lockout/tagout procedures and that he knew better than to wipe off excess grease with his hand while the machine was energized. He said that the accident was his fault. To prevent re-occurrence of the accident, the employer held an emergency safety meeting of all employees. There was no accident-related violation that could be established after the investigation.