Inspection Detail

Inspection: 119624997 - County Of Napa

Inspection Information - Office: American Canyon District Office

Investigation Summary

On August 7, 2002, Employee #1, a maintenance worker, was performing repairs at a county-owned family support building. He was applying taping mud, or sheetrock compound, to a damaged wall corner, when he spilled some of the mud onto the carpet. He entered an adjacent rest room to get some wet paper towels to wipe up the spill. As he kneeled down to start cleaning, he wrapped his left hand around the jamb of the open restroom door. The self-closing door started to shut, squeezing his fingers. Employee #1 quickly pulled his hand out of the door jamb, but the tip of his fourth finger was torn off. Employee #1 was treated at a local emergency room and referred to a specialist, who in turn referred him to a surgeon for surgical amputation of the fingertip. During the accident investigation, it was revealed that Employee #1 failed to push the door open all the way and secure it to prevent it from closing on his hand.

Keywords: MAINTENANCE, AMPUTATED, FINGER, CLEANING, CAUGHT BETWEEN, DOOR, INATTENTION