Inspection Detail

Inspection: 126085356 - Golden State Foods Corporation

Inspection Information - Office: Monrovia District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 11:45 p.m. on January 17, 2002, Employee #1, a mixing and blending machine operator for Golden State Foods Incorporated, amputated his left index finger. Just prior to the accident, Employee #1 went up the stairs to a landing to look into the blender Number 3 to see if there was any meat left that needed to be cleared. He saw meat in the blender and instructed a coworker to start the blender to move the meat out. They both waited there until the meat was gone. Employee #1 instructed his coworker to turn the blender off. Employee #1 went below to the sample grinder to pull the meat that was left with his hand. He placed his hand into the sample grinder as far as the belly grinder. Then, he placed his hand in a second time. Employee #1 heard the blender Number 3 turn on, but did not have enough time to pull his hand out. The blender cut off his finger. His supervisors indicated that the blender Number 3 does automatically turn on when the load sensor has meat on it in order to move the meat out of the machine. However, employees indicated that the blender Number 3 to their knowledge had not done so before but believe that an employee had switched the blender Number 3 on without looking to see that Employee #1 had his arm inside the machine. His employer failed to apply logout and tagout procedures. Employee #1 was hospitalized to treat his fingers.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, FINGER, MACHINIST, CLEANING, MIXER, LOCKOUT