Abstract: At approximately 3:30 a.m. on December 12, 2002, Employee #1 was driving a farm tractor pulling a chisel utensil. The chisel utensil had several rippers, which were set in and were pulled through the soil. The rippers were attached to the chisel by bolts. At the time of the incident, Employee #1 observed that a shear bolt had broken on a ripper of the chisel utensil. Employee #1 lifted the ripper and pushed out the old broken shear bolt with a new bolt. Employee #1 accidentally put his left index finger in the bolt hole, removing the old bolt and causing the ripper to drop. As he did this, he amputated his left index finger. Employee #1 was hospitalized to treat his finger.