Inspection Detail

Inspection: 301336947 - West Coast Plastics, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Monrovia District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 2:20 p.m. on November 26, 2005, Employee #1, a utility worker, was working for a plastic bottles manufacturer cleaning the inside of a plastic-grinding machine. As plastic bottles went into the grinder, they were ground into small pieces. The employee was emptying and unclogging scrap from the inside of the grinding chamber of the Foremost Scrap-Bottle-Grinding Machine (Model Number HD6). He went to the electric controls on the wall and turned off the machine. He then opened the lid of the grinding chamber and removed debris from the chamber with his hand. While his hand was in the chamber, a coworker, the lead-operator, turned on the machine. The blade in the grinder rotated and entrapped the employee's right hand between the blade and the housing of the chamber. He suffered fractures to his right index finger and right palm and lacerations to the top and bottom of his right hand. Employee #1 was hospitalized. The employer does not require the employees to lock out the grinders during their cleaning operations. The cleaning procedure is to unplug the grinding machine and the employee had not unplugged it at the time of the accident.

Keywords: GRINDER, FRACTURE, FINGER, WORK RULES, CLEANING, LOCKOUT, PLASTIC MFG, GRINDING MACHINE, HAND