Abstract: On March 10, 2007, Employee #1 was operating a SteelCrete punch machine, which was a customized hydro-electric machine manufactured by Charles Meisner Company. This machine was used for forming J-shaped hooks on the sides of 6-in.-wide galvanized steel studs used in the commercial and residential construction. The machine bed was 8 ft long and had 16 sets of dies which closed horizontally around the 6-in.-wide stock positioned along the length of the 8-ft long machine bed. Operation of this machine was controlled via a two-hand trip control. The J-hooks were formed in two steps; in each stepc the machine worked on a 4-ft segment of the steel stud. The stock was manually fed horizontally into the machine. The first 4-ft segment of the stock would be placed into the machine and the two-hand trip control would be activated to complete the first step. Then the stock would be moved forward into the machine to align the first 4-ft segment of the stock into the second stage of the machine and the second 4-ft segment of the stock would be aligned into the first stage of the machine. Then the two-hand trip control would be activated again to accomplish the second step in the formation of the J-hooks for the first 4-ft segment and first formation step for the second 4-ft segment of the stock and so on. At the time of this accident, Employee #1 and a coworker were working together. Employee #1 would position the stock inside the punch dies and then he would take his hands out of the dies and ask the coworker to go ahead to operate the two-hand trip control. Due to a miscommunication between the two of them, the coworker activated the machine while Employee #1 still had his hands inside the punch dies. Employee #1 sustained the amputation of approximately 1 in. on both of his index fingers. These amputated tips were reattached in the hospital. Employee #1 also lost approximately 1 in. of his left middle finger and approximately 0.5 in. of his left ring finger, and his right middle fingertip bone was also chipped. Employee #1 was treated in the emergency room and was not hospitalized.