Abstract: Employee #1 was operating an Irvington cut-off saw with a 14 in. blade when sawdust began to fly up in his face. Suspecting the dust collection system had become plugged, he shut off the saw using the operator's controls and got down onto floor level. He pulled the vacuum hose off the saw and looked inside. Noting that wood and sawdust had accumulated there, he opened an inspection plate on the side of the saw. As Employee #1 was reaching into the interior of the saw housing to clear the obstruction, his right hand struck the still rotating blade. He sustained partial amputation of his ring finger, damaged nerves in his thumb, loss of skin from his ring and index fingers.