Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1499642.015 - Rite-Way Meat Packers, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At 11:15 a.m. on Friday, October 9, 2020, an employee was working for a firm that processed meat from carcasses. The firm ran a slaughterhouse or packing house. It prepared and packaged food. The employee worked in machinery maintenance. He was employed by the firm. He was helping a coworker troubleshoot a bucket lifter to figure out why it wasn't lifting. The lifter was part a 1500-lb. (680-kg.) model B-1196 paddle blender, with serial number 4302, located in the prep room. With the use of standard hand tools, the workers were replacing parts. The employee replaced the belt that connected the electric motor to the top of the bucket lifter's corkscrew-style lifting mechanism. As the employee was testing the tension with his left hand, the other worker turned on the machine. The middle finger on the employee's left hand was crushed. The employee sustained a degloving of the tip of his left hand middle finger. During a surgical procedure, some bone was removed. The employee was treated at and released from a medical center without hospitalization. The Division learned of the incident through a phone call from the employer at 4:26 p.m. that same day. The employer met the reporting requirement. DOSH arrived at approximately 10:51 a.m. on Tuesday, October 27, 2020. DOSH issued accident-related citations for T8CCR 3314(c) The object that directly harmed the employee was the belt and pulley, when the machine was turned on by a coworker. The primary contributing factor to the accident was failure to lock out or tag out the machine.

Keywords: Avulsion, Belt, Caught Between, Caught By, Caught In, Crushed, Degloving, Energized, Finger, Fingertip, I2P2, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Maintenance, Mistake By Coworker, Pulley, Skin, Training, Troubleshooting