Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1468749.015 - Amgraph Packaging, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Hartford Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 8:46 p.m. on March 6, 2020, an employee was working as an assistant extruder operator for a commercial printer. The company manufactured food packaging material for products that were sealed in pouches, such as tea bags and powered soup. The material consisted of several layers. To make the material, rolled stock was run through a large laminating machine. Different materials were introduced at stations and pressed together. Along the way, material such as polyethylene (poly) was melted in extruding dies positioned over laminating rollers. A thin sheet of melted poly fell onto the material in a nip point, and the laminated layers were run over chill rollers to squeeze them together. The liquid poly was referred to as "drool." A die made of sheet metal dispensed the drool. Joints in the die were not liquid-tight, so the drool would leak and form a hardened drip or "polyglob" on the die. It was normal for operators and assistant operators to remove the drips during a production run. Plastic grabbers were provided for employees to remove the drips. In this incident, the employee was monitoring the operation of the machine. He saw a polyglob on the die for extruder number 1 and attempted to remove it. He did not remember what happened after that. A video recording showed that he approached the machine, sat on one of the access steps, and reached toward the die with his right hand. A coworker walking toward the laminating stand saw the employee with his hand down in the machine. He initiated an emergency stop. The chill rollers moved apart, releasing the employee's hand. The employee walked away from the machine and lay down on the floor while his coworkers summoned assistance. The employee's right hand had been pulled into the in-running nip point of the chill rollers on extruder number1. He suffered a partial amputation of the small finger on his right hand and a partial degloving or avulsion of his right hand that later required skin grafts. He was hospitalized.

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Avulsion, Caught Between, Caught In, Cleaning, Degloving, Emergency Stop, Extrude, Extrusion, Finger, Hand, Hand Tool, Hot Plastic, Inexperience, Instantaneous amputation, Machine Guarding, Machine operator, Nip Point, Partial Amputation, Press Cylinder, Roller--Mach/Part, Skin, Traumatic Amputation, Unguarded