Abstract: At approximately 3:30 p.m. on June 9, 1999, and employee was injured while working for Pacific Underground in Capitola, California. The auger section must be secured to the boring machine and in order to remove an auger section from a bored hole, the boring machine must be reversed. The process is repeated until all of the auger sections are dismantled. At the time of the accident, the employee was inserting a bolt that was stuck in the hex drive of a boring machine. The employee was attempting to release the stuck bolt in the hex drive by "feathering" the controls. The boring machine activated and the employees hand was in the point of operation. The employee's left hand was amputated in the machine and he was taken to Stanford Hospital.