Abstract: At approximately 9:00 p.m. on April 12, 2002, Employee #1 was operating a tortilla-making machine. He began to notice broken tortillas exiting from the apparatus. The raw materials, also known as maza, are placed on the front conveyor belt that directs the materials into the machinery. As the material underwent processing, they are flattened, trimmed and cooked. The tortillas then exit from the machine on the rear conveyor belt where they are collected. When broken tortillas began exiting from the machine, Employee #1 decided to fix the device. While it was still running, he removed the metal guard and opened the doors of the machine. He then tried to remove the debris that had stopped the processing. As he placed his hand into the machine, he touched its gear mechanism. The gear mechanism contained two wheels with an approximate 5-in. diameter and rotated inwards. The rotating wheels caught the middle finger of his left hand, crushing it. He was transported to a hospital where medical personnel amputated the crushed portion of the finger due to its excessive damage. After the surgical procedure, he was hospitalized for postoperative care.