Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1524556.015 - Pactiv Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Process Safety Management - North Non-Refinery

Investigation Summary

At 6:50 p.m. on February 7, 2021, an employee working as an extrusion operator for a food packaging product manufacturer was working in the extrusion building. In this building, styrene is forced through an extrusion die, a laminate is applied, and then the product is rolled into large segments for transportation to a holding area. There were two temporary labor agencies on site which were not involved in the incident. The employee was performing the string up process on the line 507 laminator. During this process, the employee feeds sheets of styrene and laminate from large rolls into the laminator machine. The employer's procedure for the laminator instructs the operator to place the heat roller in the elevated position during the string up process. The employee was feeding the material through the laminating heat roller with the roller in the down position. The employee's gloved hand was pulled into the nip point between two rollers. The employee stated that he initially thought the heat roller was in the elevated position but didn't realize it was down until it was too late. The employee had received crushing injuries to his right hand middle and ring fingers. The employee was hospitalized and released the next morning after being referred to a hand specialist.

Keywords: Caught Between, Contusion, Crushed, Extrusion, Extrusion Machine, Finger, Glove, Hand, Laborer, Lack of Engineering Controls, Machine Guarding, Machine operator, Nip Point, Packaging, Packaging Machine, Packaging Machinery, Pinch Point, Pinched, Point Of Operation, Power Roller, Pulled In, Roller--Mach/Part