Inspection Detail

Inspection: 125796870 - Raley'S

Inspection Information - Office: Sacramento District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 4:15 p.m. on March 23, 1998, Employee #1, a meat cutter at Raley's Store in South Lake Tahoe, CA, was using a large hopper-fed meat grinder with mixing paddles to prepare a package of meat. The hopper was covered with a lid equipped with a magnetic interlock switch. Employee #1 placed a 2 to 3 lb package of meat in the grinder and turned on the machine. As the ground meat came out, he caught it to run it through the grinder a second time. Employee #1 used his left hand to raise the lid off the hopper and was throwing the meat in again when the lid dropped down across his right forearm, pushing his hand down into the hopper. The end of the mixing paddle caught the back of his right hand and crushed it against the side of the hopper. He was immediately driven to Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe for treatment of several broken bones and partial degloving of the backside of the right hand. The interlock on the lid prevented the paddle from making more than a quarter turn after being contacted; timing of the paddle showed it took about 3 seconds to stop when turned off. Employee #1 was in too much of a hurry when grinding the meat order.

Keywords: GRINDER, FRACTURE, ROTATING KNIFE, WORK RULES, CAUGHT BY, CRUSHED, GRINDING MACHINE, HAND, INATTENTION, MEAT GRINDER