Inspection Detail

Inspection: 116022831 - American Family Market

Inspection Information - Office: Osha Philadelphia Area Office

Investigation Summary

On February 9, 2007, an employee was working in the meat department of the American Family Market. He was not using the eighteen inch long aluminum plunger type tool, provided by the employer to push beef and beef fat into the grinder to make hamburger. Instead the employee, inexplicably, was using his hands to push the beef and beef fat from the grinder's feed bin into the feed chute. At some point during the grinding operation, a large quantity of beef and beef fat became stuck in the mouth of the feed chute, in log-jam fashion. The employee used his right hand to apply pressure on the stuck meat, instead of using the plunger tool, which was only a short distance away. The stuck meat gave way suddenly, causing his hand and coat sleeve to enter the feed chute. The employee believed that his sleeve was caught by the internal point of operation on the grinder, which in turn pulled his hand into the same point of operation, thus severing his right hand. The employee admitted that he was instructed by management to always use the plunger tool and could not explain why he wasn't using it at the time of the accident. The employee was hospitalized and treated for amputation.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, JAMMED, CAUGHT BETWEEN, HAND, MEAT GRINDER