Abstract: On August 7, 2001, Employee #1 had his fingers caught within the jaws of an 1800 tail Extrusion Line stretcher and amputated. According to the Facilities Manager and VP of Operations, the previous light curtain malfunctioned and contributed to the accident. The light curtain system was replaced prior to additional stretching. The 1800 Extrusion Line was inadequately guarded for pinch points on the head and tail stretchers. Employees were exposed to pinch points as they placed the extrusion into the head and tail stretchers. Each stretcher had a light curtain system on the operator side of the stretchers (the opposite site was not accessible). Both the Tail and Head stretcher operators placed the extrusion into their stretcher and then utilized a deadman control (button or joystick) to close the stretcher jaws on the extrusion. A light curtain was in place to prevent access along the sides of the stretcher (however the tail stretcher light curtain malfunctioned and contributed to the accident). An additional problem was that there was no system in place to prevent access through the front of the stretcher. The operators were able to activate the deadman control to close the stretcher jaws and simultaneously reach over the side of the light curtain system into the front of the stretcher thus creating a situation where the stretchers were inadequately guarded.