Abstract: At approximately 9:00 a.m. on June 8, 2001, Employee #1, a production lab assistant at The Microfilm Company of California located in Los Angeles, CA, was cutting strips of paper using a hydraulic paper cutting machine. This hydraulic paper cutter trimed edges off paper and consisted of a 1.5-in.-wide hold-down clamp and a blade that did the shearing. During a normal cutting cycle, the clamp would come down to hold the paper in place and then the shearing blade would cut. There were two ways to activate the hold-down clamp; by a foot pedal or by a two hand control. While his hands were still in the point of operation, the employee accidentally stepped on the machine's foot pedal and activated the paper hold-down clamp. The hold-down clamp partially amputated the employee's right thumb. (The machine's paper shearing blade never activated.) The injured employee was taken to Gardena Memorial Hospital where surgery was performed.