Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1398724.015 - Rubber & Silicone Products Co. Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Parsippany Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 8:45 a.m. on May 7, 2019, an employee was working for a firm that manufactured rubber products for mechanical use. She was operating a Manhattan MSC heavy duty 1284 model 951220 drill press. She was removing excess rubber material from a manufactured wheel product. She was holding the wheel product up toward the rotating drill bit on the drill press. She was using the unguarded rotating drill bit to drill holes in and form rubber on urethane wheels. She was wearing gloves. One of her gloves was caught in the nip joint formed between the machine and the rotating bit. She suffered a fractured finger. She was hospitalized, and it was necessary for surgery to be performed on her joint. She later received physical therapy. The employer was aware that it was the practice of the workers there to manually hold stock material facing toward the rotating drill bits, in order to drill holes and form rubber in urethane wheels. Following the incident, the employer provided workers with further training on machine guarding and the proper use of drilling machines. The employer took the machine out of service. The employer has advised his staff to no longer hold stock material manually in order to drill and use to use locking pliers, such as vise grips, instead. The employer also took the Grob vertical RWB #20856 bandsaw out of service.

Keywords: Bandsaw, Caught Between, Caught By, Caught In, Drill Press, Finger, Fracture, Glove, Hand, Hand Tool, Machine Guarding, Machine operator, Nip Point, Rotating Parts, Training, Unguarded, Untrained, Work Rules