Abstract: At approximately 4:30 p.m. on February 20, 2004, a maintenance mechanic had been doing paper work in the maintenance office and then went to the maintenance work area. As he walked by the Ingersoll Rand Air Compressor cabinet, he decided to check it since there have been recent problems with oil blow-by. He removed the front cabinet door and saw the oil on the floor, inside the cabinet. With the compressor still running, he knelt down in front of the cabinet, and began wiping up the oil with paper towels in his right hand. His left hand was supporting his weight on the frame of the cabinet. After a few minutes he felt like he was falling forward. He attributed this to having the flu and being feverish. He pushed himself away from the cabinet with his left hand and his right hand swung up and hit the moving unguarded fan blades. According to the employee, he had removed the guard from the fan a few days earlier when he was going to clean the radiator. The fan blade was between 1.5 feet and 2 feet in diameter. He stated that he forgot to replace the guard because he was called away to work on another machine. The employee's thumb was broken in three places, his index finger was broken in four places, and the bone in his hand was broken. These injuries required surgery to insert a metal plate in his hand and also skin grafts. His middle finger was broken in three places and his ring finger had one break. He was hospitalized for three days and has had six surgeries on his hand since the accident.