Abstract: At approximately 1:00 p.m. on February 3, 2003, Employee #1, a journeyman carpenter, was using a Makita 10 in. table saw, model 2703, to rip cut a 79 3/8 in. long by 5-7/16 in. wide by 3/4 in. thick finger-jointed poplar board. As he was working, his left hand slipped under the plastic guard, amputating his ring finger and lacerating his third finger. He had difficulty extricating his left hand from the blade, and he was unable to find his amputated finger. Employee #1 was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where a rod was placed in his third finger for stabilization. The severed finger was later found by a coworker, but doctors were unable to reattach it. Employee #1 could not remember on which side of the blade the wood was being cut. He was wearing goggles, but they had a film of sawdust on them. A main causal factor was failure to use a push block or push stick. The kick back device was operational. The employer was cited for a violation, regulatory, of T8CCR 342(a); a violation, general, of T8CCR 1509(a); a violation, general, of T8CCR 1512(b); and an accident-related violation, serious, of T8CCR 4300(f.)