Abstract: At approximately 7:30 a.m. on July 11, 2007, an employee with assistance from a coworker was operating a Chicago Mechanical Steel Press Brake to Form Number 2 Aluminum Drip Stops. As the employee used his right hand to remove the strip of drip stop from the press brake bottom dye for repositioning, the press brake inadvertently repeated, causing the press brakes top die piece to crash down from the open position to the closed position. The tip of employee's right thumb was crushed. The coworker notified the supervisor of the incident, who brought the employee to the company's clinic. The clinic referred the employee to the Western Hand and Orthopedics, Downey CA, where the tip of employee's right thumb was amputated. The employee was hospitalized.