Abstract: At 8:00 a.m. on August 7, 1998, Employee #1 working in a carpet manufacturing mill was injured when his right hand was caught between the rope and an idler roller. This resulted in partial amputation, permanent disfiguration, and reduced range of motion of the right fifth finger. Employee #1 was initially treated at the Inter Valley Occupational Clinic and then referred to the Western Hand Center. At the time of the accident, the production process was malfunctioning; the carpet tore and continued to get stuck. Therefore, a coworker told Employee #1 to pull rope (tied to the carpet so it could be rethreaded through the "J" box) manually. When Employee #1 pulled the rope, another coworker started the carpet roll-up machine, which was not electrically or mechanically locked or blocked out to prevent the accident.