Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1444957.015 - Tri-State Iron & Metal Co.

Inspection Information - Office: Little Rock Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 12:30 p.m. on November 14, 2019, an employee was working for a wholesaler of recyclable materials. It was a scrap yard. The firm recycled steel, iron, aluminum, brass, copper, auto bodies, military scrap, and many other materials. The employee was blowing down a conveyor system with compressed air. According to the maintenance lead, cleaning the conveyor system was a task that normally needed to be done about once a week. On down days, workers locked the conveyor out to wipe it down and clean it. Recently, the conveyor's flaps were getting worn, and that was allowing debris to build up. Thus, cleaning was necessitated more frequently than before. Maintenance technicians were given the job of clearing the system. In this incident, the employee was using compressed air to blow down the conveyor system. The compressed air wand was caught by the magnetic roller. The employee's hand was pulled in between the magnetic roller and the conveyor belt. Which hand was not specified. He suffered fractures of his middle and ring fingers. They had to be surgically amputated later. The employee was hospitalized. The conveyor belt system was still running, it was not isolated from its electrical power source.

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Belt Conveyor, Broken Bone, Caught In, Cleaning, Compressed Air, Conveyor, Conveyor Belt, Debris, Electric Magnet, Finger, Fracture, Hand, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Magnet, Maintenance, Roller--Mach/Part, Scrap Metal, Scrap Yard, Surgical Amputation