Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1521851.015 - Weyerhaeuser Nr

Inspection Information - Office: Jackson Area Office

Investigation Summary

On Friday, March 19, 2021, an employee was working at a sawmill. He was the day shift millwright. He had 21 to 30 years' experience. The facility had two continuous dry kilns, or CDK machines, for drying sawdust. Moist sawdust traveled through a rotary fuel feeder into each kiln. This sawdust was rotated and dried, dumped into a blow line, and transferred to a silo. The sawdust in the silo was then used as fuel. The two CDKs, CDK 5 and CDK 6, were beside each other. Each had a rotary valve to rotate the sawdust within. The rotary valve was behind a door, fastened to the machine with bolts. It occasionally happened that a rotary valve became jammed with debris, in which case maintenance by an authorized employee was required. There was one control panel for both CDKs, located alongside CDK 5. There were two 460/480 volt electrical disconnects, one mounted above the other on a uni-strut next to CDK 6. One disconnect had a hand written "5" and a label that read, "VTM6 Rotary Valve 2." The other disconnect had a handwritten "6" and a label that read, "VTM2 Rotary Valve 1." Before 6:45 a.m., the employee was notified by an alarm of a default in one of the CDKs. He responded. He determined that rotary valve 2 for CDK 5 was not running. When a fault occurred, an employee had to reset the fault on the control panel. The millwright locked out the rotary feeder to clear the debris, but he inadvertently locked out rotary valve 1 on CDK 6, not rotary valve 2 on CDK 5. The disconnect for CDK 5 had not been deenergized. The employee removed the maintenance door to the feeder, to find debris and sawdust blocking the view of the feeder's fan vanes. The employee reached into the opening with his right hand to wipe away the debris and get a better view. The tip of his right middle finger contacted the vanes, which were still rotating. The moving vanes pushed his finger into a knife. The employee's middle right fingertip was amputated. The employee was treated without hospitalization.

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Blade, Clearing, Finger, Fingertip, Hand, Instantaneous amputation, Jammed, Kiln, Lack of Work Procedures, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Maintenance, Obstructed View, Reach, Reaching, Rotating Parts, Sawdust, Sawmill, Struck Against, Traumatic Amputation