Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1495857.015 - Priority Envelope Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Iowa 0751910

Investigation Summary

At 9;30 a.m. on September 23, 2020, an employee was working for a firm that made envelopes. He was a machine operator. He was on the facility's work floor green. He was operating work floor green's Winkler + Dünnebier model 627 RC envelope production machine, with serial number15.982. He was setting it up for use. He was watching paper as it was fed through the machine. The paper that was being fed jammed in the machine. The employee reached into the machine while it was running at production speed to pull out the jammed paper. His fingers were pulled into the bottom flap-folding section of the machine. They came into contact with the revolving blade in that section. The tips of the employee's right middle finger and right thumb were amputated. The employee was treated without hospitalization. The guards had been removed from the machine in that the safety interlock that would have allowed the machine to run in "inching mode" had been disabled. This condition was noted, apparently during an inspection, on or about October 5, 2020. At the same time, it was noted that the employer had not ensured that the employee had been given authorized employee training. This condition exposed employees conducting service or maintenance to amputation hazards. Finally, it was also noted at that time that the employer had not ensured that employee lock out/tagout training had been administered and records kept of that training.

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Blade, Caught By, Caught In, Clearing, Energized, Finger, Fingertip, Instantaneous amputation, Interlock, Jammed, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Machine Guarding, Machine operator, Modified, Paper, Paper Cutter, Pulled In, Reach, Reaching, Recordkeeping, Records, Rotating Knife, Rotating Parts, Struck By, Thumb, Training, Traumatic Amputation, Unguarded