Inspection Detail

Inspection: 126072883 - Mercury Die & Container

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 2:50 a.m. on October 5, 2004, Employee #1 of Mercury Die & Container experienced the partial amputation of his left index finger when he reached into the machine he was operating. The employee was a press operator who had been with the company for four years. He was a machine operator for one year and an assistant for two years before that. Employee #1 was working on Isowa Press #202 when he noticed that the cardboard sheet was not coming out straight onto the belt section from the press. The belt carries the cardboard sheets to the layboy section for stacking. Employee #1 opened the metal gate on the belt section and entered the secured area while the press was running. Then he tried to straighten the cardboard sheet by lifting it from the belt section with his left hand. As Employee #1 was lifting the cardboard, his left index finger was caught between the 0.625 inch-wide V-belt and the four inch-diameter pulley; the tip of his left index finger was amputated. There are four shafts on the belt and pulley section, and each shaft has two V-belts. The length of the shaft from one pulley end to the other is forty-eight inches. The night shift superintendent took Employee #1 to the Alhambra Hospital; later he was transferred to the Los Angeles County+University of Southern California Medical Center. The worker sustained an amputation of the distal phalanx of his left index finger. The cause of the accident was the failure of Employee #1 to follow the energy control procedure established by the employer. Mercury Die & Container's main operations involve the printing; cutting and creasing; and folding and bundling of corrugated packaging materials.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, BELT, FINGER, WORK RULES, PAPERBOARD, NIP POINT, PULLEY, DRIVE SHAFT, PRESS