Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1551018.015 - Cortech West Staffing, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At 8:00 p.m. on August 18, 2021, an employee was working as a mechanic helper for a staffing service at a client site. The client was a manufacturer of Asian style frozen foods. The coworker supervising the employee was not present at the time. The employee was working alone in the maintenance shop repairing the #3 large shumai machine. The machine been taken off the production line to the maintenance shop for troubleshooting. The employee removed the guards while it was still energized in order to check the timing which was believed to be off. The employee was looking at the mechanism at the bottom of the machine. He reached his left hand into the machine with a flashlight while it was still running to provide more light when the mechanism caught his left arm. The employer reported that the employee got too close to the machine and an extension tool could have helped avoid this. The employee reported that he had run out of time and having more personnel could help to prevent the incident due to less stress and job pressure. The employee crushed and lacerated his arm, including the elbow. He was transported to a local medical center, where he was hospitalized for two nights.

Keywords: Arm, Catch Point, Caught By, Caught In, Contusion, Crushed, Elbow, Energized, Food processing, Guard, Hand Tool, Laceration, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Maintenance, Mechanic, Pulled In, Struck By, Troubleshooting