Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1436892.015 - Cape Cod Ready Mix, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Boston South Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 2:15 p.m. on September 30, 2019, an employee was working for a ready-mix concrete firm. He worked in machinery maintenance. He had been employed as a technician for about thirteen years. He was cleaning the ring on a newly installed mixer drum on a front discharge cement truck. He had cleaned eleven or twelve of these drums during his employment. New mixer drums were painted per the firm's specifications. When the drums were delivered, they were placed on the trucks. Due to paint overspray and adhesive residue from masking tape, the rings needed to be cleaned. Employees would begin with a scraper to remove the overspray and adhesive, making sure that the mixer drum was rotating away from the bearing drive. Following the scraping, they used a rag with solvent to remove the remainder. They couldn't use a sanding disc, because that approach would put pits in the ring, causing the ring to wear down the bearing drive, and resulting in excessive vibration as the mixer drum was turning. On this day, the employee was cleaning the ring on truck number 66, a Terex front discharge mixer. The employee had finished the scraping and was working with a rag soaked in solvent. The drum was turning slowly toward the bearing drive. The rag was entwined between the fingers of the employee's left hand. The left sleeve of his sweatshirt was grabbed by a glob of paint on the mixer drum outside of the ring. The employee was unable to free the sleeve. The rag he had in his hand was caught between the bearing drive and the mixer drum. The employee's left hand was pulled in and caught between the drive and the drum. The employee shouted for help. The maintenance manager came out of the office, stopped the mixer drum, and put it into reverse to free the employee's hand. The employee had suffered injuries to his left-hand ring and little fingers. He was taken by ambulance to a large teaching hospital. He was hospitalized. He was awaiting a skin graft on the nail bed of the small finger.

Keywords: Bearing, Caught Between, Caught In, Cement truck, Cleaning, Clothing, Concrete, Drum, Finger, Hand, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Machine Guarding, Power Trans Appar, Pulled In, Roller--Mach/Part, Rotating Parts, Skin