Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1364587.015 - Bodega Latina Corporation, A Delaware Corporation Dba El Super

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At 8:00 p.m. on Friday, November 23, 2018, an employee was working at a supermarket. He was working in the meat cutting department, behind the meat counter. He was a direct employee of the store. The store or firm had a meat manager, who was the employee's supervisor. There were two dispatchers working at the meat counter in front. The employee was working alone in the meat cutting department, in the back of the meat counter. The employee was working the evening shift instead of his usual day shift. This incident occurred on his fourth time cleaning the meat cutting machines. The employee was cleaning a Hobart Model Number 6801 meat cutting band saw. It operated at 3,450 rpm. The employee had opened up the guard on the band saw blade and was hosing it off. He turned on the band saw to clean all the parts of the band saw blade, as he had seen other employees do when closing, and then turned the machine off. Specifically, he turned on the band saw to clean the lower parts of the band saw blade. While the blade was still moving, he placed the middle finger of his left hand in the vicinity of the point of operation. The fingertip of his middle finger was amputated. The employee said he was in a hurry and should have waited for the blade to stop turning and unplugged the machine. He was transported by ambulance to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The employer reported the incident to the Division at 9:19 p.m. that same day, on November 23, 2018, in compliance with 342(a). DOSH arrived to investigate the accident at approximately 9:00 a.m. on December 7, 2018. A Serious accident related citation was issued for 3314(c).

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Bandsaw, Blade, Cleaning, Emergency Response, Finger, Fingertip, Food Preparation, Lockout, Machine Guarding, Point Of Operation, Saw, Training