Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1507504.015 - Fine Lumber & Plywood Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Austin Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 2:55 p.m. on December 4, 2020, an employee was working as a furniture and wood finisher at a lumberyard. He was working on the Profimat P22N line in the facility's wood mill. He was operating a Weining Profimat 22N molder machine or molding machine. In the wood mill, some five employees used one of the three molding machines daily for most of their shift. The Profimat 22N was one of the molder machines. It had a hood on the top that acted as a machine guard to protect employees from the cutting heads and other moving parts of the machine. In this incident, the employee and a coworker were cleaning wood chips and sawdust from a Profimat 22N with the hood/guard in a raised position. The machine cutting heads were still rotating and the machine was still running, exposing the workers to amputation and lacerations from the cutter heads in the machine. During the cleaning, the employee removing some debris near a cutter head with his hands. He was wearing gloves. His glove was caught in the cutter head. His right hand was pulled into the cutter head. He suffered lacerations to his right hand, and two fingers on his right hand, including his right index finger, were amputated. He was treated without hospitalization. The machine had a danger sign on it that said, "Guards and hoods have been installed for your protection; do not operate the machine without having them in place and properly adjusted." In section A01.8 of the operator's manual for the machine it was stated, "Do not begin any maintenance or setup work before the machine has been switch off and comes to a complete stand still. Do not open doors or covers before the machine has come to a complete stand still." During interviews with the employer and employees it was established that employees regularly opened the hood/guard to clean the machine approximately four times a day, for about one minute at a time.

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Caught By, Cutter, Finger, Glove, Hand, Instantaneous amputation, Laceration, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Machine operator, Molding Machine, Pulled In, Rotating Parts, Supervision, Training, Traumatic Amputation, Wood, Wood Shaper, Work Rules