Abstract: At approximately 7:30 a.m. on July 17, 2003, Employee #1 was setting up a Polymac dowel-inserting machine (Serial No. 12543). The dowel machine had four clamps to hold the wood while it drilled holes for the dowels. The two middle drills were not being used, so a board was placed under them as a spacer. Employee #1 was checking the board on the right side of the machine to see where the drill would bore the dowel hole. As he pushed the foot pedal he thought someone called him and turned to see who it was. The very tip of his left little finger got pinched by the outside edge of the middle right clamp. The employee pulled his hand back and that caused the nail to be pulled off. He was treated at Universal Industrial Clinic in Industry, California. Employee #1's little finger on his left hand was amputated at the tip and he was not hospitalized. The employee had worked for the company for 4 years and had set up and operated the Polymac dowel machine for 2 of those years. He had been trained by the machine's manufacturer when the machine was installed and by his supervisor.