Abstract: Employee #1, a pressman, was part of an eight-person crew processing cotton bales. At 8:00 a.m. on January 23, 1996, the lever-puller/press operator stopped decompression of a bale at approximately mid-cycle. He initiated recompression instead of using the established procedure of allowing the bale to decompress fully with all personnel clear of the area, and then re-initiating compression and correcting the problem. As compression occurred, Employee #1 reached in to put the cover material in place. The kick-bar had been enabled just prior to the decompression phase. The kick-bar control operator, unsure if he had heard the verbal "hold" signal to the lever puller, triggered the kick-bar control. The bar swung down in an approximately 90 degree arc and struck Employee #1's left hand, crushing it against a compressed bale. He sustained contusions, serious crushing injuries, and a dislocated thumb. On the day of the accident, the production rate had been approximately 130 bales in the first hour from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. There was then a personnel change to accommodate a crew member break, after which another three or four bales were processed before the accident. The press was being operated at a speed that created an unsafe condition: approximately 2.2 bales per minute (27 seconds per bale) were being cycled through the press. A deviation in procedure or rhythm aggravated this unsafe condition, which was a contributing factor to this accident. In addition, the compression controls were not interlocked to prevent operation unless all controls were operated simultaneously.