Inspection Detail

Inspection: 301334801 - Natvar- A Tekni Plex Company

Inspection Information - Office: Monrovia District Office

Investigation Summary

At about 1:10 p.m. on March 22, 2005, Employee #1 was working for Natvar, a division of Tekni-Plex, which has been in the plastics extrusion and manufacturing business for about 25 years in Industry, or City of Industry, CA. It had approximately 108 employees on its payroll on the day of the accident. The injured employee had been employed for about three years as a maintenance electrician. He was a full-time employee and not a contract employee. In a later interview, he stated that he was using a drill press to drill a hole in a metal band for a heater, when the drill bit got caught in the workpiece. The metal band spun around, catching his left thumb and tearing away flesh from the top of the thumb. He sustained a partial amputation of the tip of his left thumb. Another version of the account says that, during the course of some work on a drill press located in the company's maintenance department, his thumb contacted the moving drill bit. He reported back to work the next day, according to a management official. A coworker witnessed the accident. An inspection of the drill press, the metal band, and the drill bit of the drill press uncovered no violations relating to this accident. Some non-accident-related violations were observed, however, and the employer was cited with a monetary penalty.

Keywords: MAINTENANCE, ROTATING PARTS, AMPUTATED, MACHINE OPERATOR, CAUGHT BY, THUMB, PLASTIC MFG, DRILL PRESS