Inspection Detail

Inspection: 122040421 - Isis, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Milwaukee Area Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1 was operating a grinder which was attached to the power take off of a Hobart twenty-quart mixer. As she was stuffing cheese into the vertical feed opening of the meat grinder, her index, middle, and ring fingers were caught in the horizontal auger. The hopper portion of the grinder had been removed leaving an opening for the circular infeed at 2.5 inches wide by 4.5 inches deep. The opening served as the minimal "opening guard", which is the current industry practice on this type of grinder. A circular wooden accessory plunger is to be utilized by the operator to push the cheese down the throat of the feed opening. The absence of the hopper decreases the minimal "throat depth" from 5.5 to 4.5 inches. The actual grinder was not been located for identification and measurement. Current speculation is that the appliance was discarded at the hospital. The grinder throat infeed measurements were received from the presumed manufacturer of the grinder. The twenty-quart mixer to which this grinder was an accessory had no locatable model or serial number and was an older type by appearance. At this point, it is questionable as to whether the employee received any training as to proper operating instructions and why the hopper and plunger were not used. The employee was hospitalized.

Keywords: GRINDER, AMPUTATED, FINGER, GUARD, MIXER, AUGER, HOPPER