Abstract: At 11:35 a.m. on September 23, 1999, Employee #1, a carpenter, amputated his left thumb while attempting to cut a block for a bathroom wall with a portable circular saw. The wall was laying on second-story sheeting and the block, which was to be placed between two vertical studs, required a notch to be cut prior to nailing in place. Employee #1 held the 16-inch two by four block with his left hand and began to cut the notch. Just before the blade reached the cross-grain cut, the blade bucked and ran back along the top of the board, cutting off his left thumb below the knuckle and the hand. Employee #1 ran down the stairs into the job shack to inform the owner. The Paramedics arrived in about ten minutes. Employee #1 was taken to a local trauma center where doctors were unable to reattach the thumb.