Inspection Detail

Inspection: 301137501 - Tharco Containers - Colorado, Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Oakland District Office

Investigation Summary

On August 5, 2003, Employee #1, a working foreman in a box manufacturing company, incurred an injury to his right hand. Employee #1 was assigned to his usual and customary occupation, part of which included assisting workers with a "print problem" as they were operating an EMBA Model 240 Flexo Folder and Gluer, Machine Number 655112. The machine is designed to print, fold and glue corrugated boxes from flat paperboard or corrugated stock. A section of the Flexo Folder and Gluer contains an area of operation called the "spanker". The spankers are reciprocating jogging plates for squaring the boxes. Each spanker moves back and forth between two stationary support plates, creating a shear point on each of its sides. Employee #1 says one particular order kept coming out crooked, and he and the machine operator were trying to analyze why that was happening. He says "It was like a set up. The machine had to be running to figure out what was wrong." Employee #1 grasped the paperboard while it was still in the machine, with the machine running, and his right middle finger entered the shear point between a spanker and a support plate. The shearing action partially amputated the flesh of the distal phalanx of Employee #1's right middle finger. Employee #1 was taken to San Leandro Hospital where he was treated for the partial amputation of the tip of the right middle finger but he was not hospitalized.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, SHEAR, FINGER, MACHINE OPERATOR, CAUGHT BETWEEN, PAPERBOARD