Abstract: An accident occurred on April 21, 2001, in the "Number 1 Tube Reducer Shed", when Employee #1 was working on the Number 1 tube reducer machine. Employee #1 had been performing his usual tasks of checking and replacing oils in the machine and operating the machine by placing tubes in the machine, when he heard an "unusual noise" coming from the back end of the machine. He looked around the machine, but could not locate the source of the noise. Employee #1 then asked a coworker who was working nearby at the "forge machine" to come over to the operator's station on the Number 1 tube reducer and place a tube in the machine, while he was standing near the chain mechanism at the mandrel rotation feeding mechanism. As the machine began its cycle, he heard the noise again and identified that it was coming from the gears located on the mandrel rotation feeding mechanism. Employee #1 first poured some oil onto the gears, however, the noise continued so he got an Allen wrench from off the machine and went back to the gears. He reached over and hit one of the two smaller gears, which he had observed was making contact with the larger gear and identified this as the source of the noise. As he struck the gear with the Allen wrench, the machine moved, causing his right hand to be caught between the two smaller gears. Employee #1 was wearing two gloves on his right hand. However, his right thumb was amputated below the first knuckle. Employee #1 was taken by a coworker to the Healthline Medical Clinic, where he was treated, released, and told to go to a hand specialist on the following Monday, where he would have surgery. Employee had surgery on April 23, 2001, but was not hospitalized overnight. Employee #1 returned to work on April 30, 2001, and subsequently was placed on disability twice, once from May 13, 2001, to June 18, 2001, and from August 14, 2001, to the present.