UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

On January 20, 1995, Employee #1 was working in the north yard outside the Western Tube and Conduit Factory, Long Beach, stacking steel tube bundles on the ground with a Komatsu forklift truck, model FG30SG11, serial #491833A. He stacked four bundles and was bringing another stack to make the fifth one when he saw that two wooden blocks above the fourth stack were displaced from their proper position. According to Employee #1, he got off the forklift truck and repositioned the left side of the wooden block with his left hand. In order to reposition the right side, he extended his right hand through the two masts of the forklift truck. At this point, the forklift load came down on his right hand. As he was trying to extricate his right hand, the tip of his middle finger was amputated. He was taken to Del Amo Medical Clinic. There were no witnesses. Employee #1 must have caused the accident when he touched the forklift control levers while extending his right hand through the forklift truck masts. The forklift was relatively new.