Abstract: On June 26, 2007, Employee #1 suffered a serious injury during the oiling of the Combination Pleating Machine. Employee #1 has been working for World Pleating, Inc., for about three years. Some of his job duties included maintenance, oiling, adjusting, and replacing of fabric on the pleating machines. The employer is engaged in manufacturing and forming of pleats on textiles designed for women's apparel. The combination pleating machines are used to form pleats on textiles. The fabric is pressed between the rollers to create a desired pattern of pleats. On the day of the incident, the president of the company asked Employee #1 to turn on the pleating machine and apply oil to the gears. Employee #1 was wearing cloth gloves during the process. As he was applying oil on the rotating gear drives, his right hand glove was pulled and grabbed by the gear drive, followed by his right index finger. This resulted in the crushing of the distal phalanx of his right index finger. The gear drives were connected to belt and pulley drives and powered by a one horsepower Shidae motor. The gears drives, and moving parts of the belt and pulley system were not guarded at the time of the accident. Immediately after the incident Employee #1 notified and showed his finger to the employer and a coworker. Initially, they drove him to a nearby hospital located on Olympic and Atlantic Boulevard. However, since the hospital did not have orthopedic services, he was taken to USC County Medical Center. At USC Medical Center treatment was rendered and he was released around 4:00 a.m. on June 27, 2007.