Abstract: At about 7:50 a.m. on July 24, 2005, Employee #1 was working as a certified forklift operator at A-Throne, Inc., which rented portable latrines in Long Beach, CA. He had come to A-Throne from the Labor Ready staffing service. He had been driving a pickup truck pulling a VIP trailer carrying four latrines out of the A-Throne lot, when he went over a deep rain gutter. The resultant jolt disconnected the rig. He got a Hyster Model Number 50 propane-powered forklift, with Serial Number 503-746964, to reposition the trailer hitch. Employee #1 maneuvered the forklift forward to lift the disconnected tongue of the tow bar and place its socket over the ball of the truck's fitting. He experienced difficulty connecting the ball and socket, and he felt this was due to a defective part in the socket. He got the trailer tongue lifted and had almost positioned the socket over the ball, but he had forgotten that his left hand was gripping the forklift cab's upright structure. As he inched forward at a right angle to the truck, his hand became entrapped between the back left corner of the pickup and the forklift. Startled by the pain, Employee #1 hit the accelerator, thinking it was the brake. The forklift shot forward, forcing his hand backward through the narrow space between the forklift and the truck, and stripping a substantial amount of flesh from his palm and breaking four fingers. The forklift crashed into the truck and trailer, leaving gashes in the forklift and truck. His left hand was caught between the left side of the ROPS frame of the forklift and the back tailgate side of the pickup truck. He suffered an avulsion injury to the palm of his left (dominant) hand and four broken fingers of the same hand. A visitor to the worksite called emergency medical services. Employee #1 was taken to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, where reconstructive surgery was performed on his left hand over a period of several days. Following hospitalization, Employee #1 was released for recuperation and rehabilitation. He was expected to regain full use of the left hand eventually.