Abstract: At about 11:00 a.m. on July 14, 2005, Employee #1, a laboratory technician, was training a newly hired coworker in the laboratory area. When Employee #1 attempted to wipe clean some soil from the top of a piston-retaining ring of a compactor unit, his left index finger got pinched between the upward moving piston-retaining ring and the piston base plate at the top of the unit. As a consequence, Employee #1 suffered an amputated finger and was hospitalized. The unit involved in the incident was a Cox and Sons Kneading Compactor, Model Number 1000. The employer was in the business of material testing, such as soil and asphalt, for its customers. Employee #1 was considered to be a new employee.