Abstract: At approximately 6:00 p.m. on March 3, 2000, Employee #1 was working at a restaurant specializing in serving hot soups, hot and cold drinks and other foods for dine-in or take-out. The employer uses a machine that applies a hot sealed lid to the top of the cup for orders to-go. The machine had a metal strip that was taped across the front of the sealing machine. The metal strip restricted the point of entree to the point of operation but did not prevent it. The injury occurred when Employee #1 was attempting to seal the top of a drink. Employee #1 was using the hot sealing machine manufactured by Kai Will Industrial Co LTD Model K-260c to place the seal on the top of the cup. The sealing machine has an operating temperature of between 180-and-200 degrees Centigrade which is equivalent to between 356-and-392-degrees Fahrenheit. Employee #1 placed the cup in the cup sealing machine, and the cup went into the machine but did not come out. Employee #1 told a coworker that something was wrong with the machine. Employee #1 reached into the machine to pull the cup out when the coworker pushed the green button and the plastic sealing went on top of her hand. Employee #1 could not get her hand out of the machine. One of the owners was contacted and arrived in about ten minutes and used a screw driver to pry open the parts of the machine and free Employee #1's hand. Employee #1 was taken to the hospital where her first, second and third fingers were surgically removed due to the burns she received. Employee #1 was not hospitalized.