Inspection Detail

Inspection: 124628439 - Weather Shield Mfg Inc .

Inspection Information - Office: Utah Division Of Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

Employee #1 was at his work station cutting bark and irregularities out of pieces of wood with a Whirlwind industrial chopsaw. The procedure is to salvage and study the longest piece of useable wood, then cut around the bad sections, so that a 10 ft strip may yield two good 3 ft pieces, one 2 ft section, a 1 ft section, and 1 ft of scrap. The proper way to handle the material is to have one hand on either side of the cutting surface while pulling the material through the saw. Employee #1 had his hand on the wood while pushing it toward the saw blade. When he activated the saw, the guard descended onto his hand while the saw blade then came up and severed the ends of his little, ring, and middle fingers on his right hand. Employee #1 and his fingers were transported to a medical facility where his fingers were reattached. Earlier in the day, Employee #1, who had worked for the company for only two days, had been cautioned because he had both of his hands on the same side of the blade and was pushing the wood into the blade. Employee #1 had undergone four hours of training, which included learning how to identify bad portions of wood and how to cut them out. He was then directed on how to operate the equipment. Employee #1 was working between two more experienced operators who were cutting and able to observe his work.

Keywords: SEVERED, FINGER, GUARD, WORK RULES, SAW, BLADE