Inspection Detail

Inspection: 120320734 - Gruber Systems, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Van Nuys District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 2:00 a.m. on April 13, 2003, Employee #1 of Gruber Systems Incorporated was working in the casting area. The casting area consisted of a vacuum mold machine and a bandsaw. An employee assigned to the vacuum mold machine takes raw sheets of plastic puts them into the vacuum mold machine. After the sheet takes the hat, it is removed and placed next to the bandsaw to be trimmed. The operator of the bandsaw places up to 10 hats stacked together on the band saw table and trims the hats to roughly the finished size. Because of the irregular shape of the hats, the blade guard is set at a opening that will accommodate the high end of the hats, which is roughly 3.5 inches tall. Employee #1 was working with another employee. The other employee was working the vacuum mold machine which stood approximately 10 feet away. Employee #1 had just trimmed the hats to size when he pulled the excess material away from the saw blade. He misjudged how close his fingers were to the blade. As a result, his left middle finger came in contact with the bandsaw blade between the worktable and the lower part of the guard. The contact caused a laceration to his finger which required surgery. Employee #1 was taken to Henry Mayo Hospital and transferred to Valencia Surgical Center where he was treated and hospitalized for his injuries.

Keywords: BANDSAW, FINGER, GUARD, CASTING, LACERATION, BLADE, FORMING MACHINE