UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Inspection Detail

Inspection: 307162065 - Owens Corning

Inspection Information - Office: Ca Pico Rivera

Investigation Summary

On July 21, 2004, Employee #1, a temporary employee with American Work Force Temporary Agency, was working alone at an Owens Corning jobsite, operating a forklift to empty debris into a large bin dumpster. As he lowered the forks containing the bin, he discovered that the self-engagement mechanism was not functioning properly. He dismounted the forklift to manually engage the latch and bar pin. In order to correctly reposition the latch and bar pin to manually engage, Employee #1 had to tilt the bin dumpster forward. He positioned his left hand on the mast of the forklift and his right hand on the bin dumpster in order to simultaneously support himself and manually engage the latching mechanism. The bin dumpster then tilted backwards unexpectedly, amputating the tip of Employee #1's left index finger between the mast of the forklift and the top lip rear section of the bin dumpster. He was transported to U.S. Health Works and then transferred to Downey Surgical Center for treatment. The cause of the accident was failure to maintain the self-engagement feature of latch and bar pin mechanism in a safe operating condition. Equipment information is as follows: bin dumpster Number 1 McCullough Industries P.O. Box 370 Kenton, Ohio 43326; forklift 770 Hyster 80 Type LP E-833031, Serial Number E004V03886A; the hollow metal bar used to activate lever to empty trash measured 5.5-ft long and 2-in. diameter.

Keywords:amputated, finger, work rules, dumpster, caught between, industrial truck