Abstract: At 8:45 a.m. on December 28, 2002, Employee #1, a recycling sorter employed by EDCO Disposal Corporation of Lemon Grove, California, suffered a partial amputation of the right index finger. Employee #1 had begun his normal shift at 4:30 a.m. in the MRF area. His job task was to sort and clean up the area around the trash compactor. Later during his shift, at approximately 8:30 a.m., the entire system was shut down to clean the roller heads above the compactor. Employee #1 was unaware that the system shut down included the compactor and noticed that the compactor was full. He proceeded to attempt to engage the compactor by checking the lower level switch and emergency stop button. Upon failing to start the compactor, he asked for assistance from another employee and he was directed to try the switches he had previously tried. When another attempt failed, Employee #1 proceeded to climb the ladder to the second level and saw that a coworker was bringing an empty receiver box to change out. Employee #1 came back down the ladder to assist the coworker by disconnecting the full receiver box from the compactor. He had loosened the ratchet assembly and removed the connector hook from the North side of the box and proceeded to the South side of the box. He loosened the ratchet assembly and while he was attempting to remove the connector hook, the entire system was reenergized, causing the hook assembly to turn. It caught Employee #1's right index finger resulting in an amputation and he was hospitalized for treatment.