Abstract: At 4:30 a.m. on Friday, January 25, 1991, Employee #1, on the 3rd shift, was operating a Chicago press brake for a punch press operation. He had just returned from a lunch break and was running the drawer head liner part. The point of operation was guarded by Link-Lite light curtain technology. The employee had been running this same part since 10:30 p.m. on January 24, 1991. He relaxed his left hand and reached under a clearance zone at the bottom of the functioning light curtain zone. His left little and ring fingers came up and rested momentarily on the lower die in the impact zone. As the employee activated the cycle of the part revolution press brake with his right foot, the upper die struck the first and second phalanges of the left little and ring fingers and amputated them. The normal clearance under the light curtain is 2 in. but the 2nd shift setup die setter left a 3 in. opening. Employee #1, who had 4 1/2 months of experience on this machine, was known to have been greatly distracted by a divorce. He was a full-time farmer during the day and usually dozed off and slept during his lunch breaks at night. It is suspected that the employee fell asleep.