Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1491711.015 - Abbyland Foods, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Appleton Area Office

Investigation Summary

On August 31, 2020, an employee was working for a firm that produced meat processed from carcasses. It was a slaughterhouse or meatpacking plant. The employee was a machine operator. He was using a small mixer or blender, known as the chub blender, to blend meat. The machine was getting full, so he opened the pneumatic doors to the small blender to unload the blended meat into a combo container. The blender's auger was still running. As the machine was nearly empty, the employee reached down to wipe meat from the machine outside the door. During this motion, the employee's right index, middle, and ring finger were partially amputated by the auger that was pushing meat out from the blender. The employee was hospitalized. As abatement, the employer installed two hand controls and barrier guards on the equipment.

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Auger, Barrier Guard, Finger, Food processing, Hand Control, Instantaneous amputation, Machine Guarding, Machine operator, Meat Blending Mach, Meat Processing, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Mixer, Nip Point, Partial Amputation, Rotating Parts, Training, Traumatic Amputation