Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1220067.015 - Northgate Gonzalez Llc

Inspection Information - Office: San Diego District Office

Investigation Summary

At 2:45 or 2:50 p.m. on March 18, 2017, an employee was working for a general line grocery merchant wholesaler. She was a meat clerk in the meat department. At the time of the incident, she was assisting a customer who wanted a rack of pork shoulders cut. She was using a Hobart meat saw to cut the rack of shoulders in to four parts. At the time of the incident, five workers were working in the meat department. Two were certified meat cutters. Her supervisor was about 18.3 meters (60 feet) away helping another customer at the time of the incident. The employee was experienced in operating the meat saw, but due to a company safety policy change, she had been instructed not to operate the meat saw. She had always asked one to the certified meat cutters for help in cutting meat. This time, she assumed the customer's request was a small enough task that she could handle it. She took it upon herself to cut the meat. She made the first cut without incident. When she was performing the final cut, though, a piece of fat got caught on the blade and jerked the meat. When the employee tried to pull the meat back, her left thumb came into contact with the blade. The tip of her left thumb was injured. She was taken to the hospital, where a partial amputation was performed as part of the surgery procedure. The employer reported the event to the Division at 4:48 p.m. on Monday, March 20, 2017. The Division opened an inspection at 2:30 p.m. on March 24, 2017. The employee stated during interviews after the incident that she was aware that it was against company policy for her to operate the meat saw.

Keywords: Amputation, Blade, Food Preparation, Meat Slicing Machine, Rotating Parts, Struck Against, Thumb, Untrained, Work Rules