Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1525721.015 - Hughes Network Systems, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation Division Of Labor And Industry Maryland Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

At 7:47 a.m. on April 15, 2021, a 70-year-old employee was working for a firm that provided broadband network services. He was working at a manufacturing facility in a suburban industrial park. He was a senior maintenance specialist. He was in the maintenance shop, when another employee came in and requested that a piece of oak plywood be cut. The plywood was 28 in. by 24 in. (711-mm by 610-mm) and 0.5 in. thick (13 mm thick). The employee was cutting it down to 8 in. by 24 in. (203 mm by 610 mm). He was operating a 10-in. (254-mm) Delta Unisaw tilting arbor saw that ran at approximately 3450 rpm to cut the plywood. He was not using a hood, spreader, anti-kickback devices, or an engineering control such as a push stick to push the piece of plywood into the blade. He was wearing his prescribed lens eyeglasses and not impact-resistant eye protection. He had just made a straight 8-in. (200 mm) cut off the left side of the wood and was bending down to turn off the saw, when the right side of the board contacted the rotating blade and kicked back. The wood hit the employee's left ring finger. Upon seeing blood, the employee grabbed a cloth to wrap around his finger and requested that a coworker take him to the hospital. The hospital administered first aid. An x-ray found a broken bone in the ring finger. Given a choice of going home or staying overnight in case the pain levels increased, the employee opted to stay overnight. He was released from the hospital at around 11:00 a.m. the following morning, Friday, April 16, 2021. He went back for scheduled surgery that afternoon. He had suffered a broken bone, a laceration, and ligament damage to his ring finger.

Keywords: Blade, Broken Bone, Carpenter, Elderly, Engineering Controls, Eye protection, Fracture, Glass, Kick Back, Lack of Engineering Controls, Ligament, Machine Guarding, Machine operator, PPE, Plywood, Push Stick, Rotating Parts, Safety Device, Saw, Sawblade, Struck Against, Table Saw, Wood Board