Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310825237 - Prison Industry Authority

Inspection Information - Office: Fresno District Office

Investigation Summary

On February 8, 2008, Employee #1 was an inmate at Avenal State Prison in Avenal, CA. He was using a Northfield table saw equipped with a stacked dado blade to perform a dado operation. His raw material was fifty to sixty pieces of oak wood with a plastic laminate on one side. Each piece measured 2.25 in. wide by thirty-four in. long by 0.75 in. tall. The blind dado he was using measured 0.5 in. wide by 0.34 in. deep along the long axis of the material. It stopped 1.875 in. from each end, and stop marks were placed on the fence to indicate when the cut was within 1.875 in. of the end. Work procedures required the operator to make an initial plunge cut, feed the material into the blade, and lift the material off the blade at the far end stop mark. Employee #1 was positioned at the left-hand side of the saw, parallel to the arbor. He intended to work right to left, with his hand positioned at each end of the material. He started the first cut by using his left hand to lower material onto the blade. He maintained force to keep the material down and against the fence and used his right hand to feed material into the blade. When the end of the workpiece was aligned with the stop mark, he raised the material with his right hand. He made a partial pass, which indicated that the dado was not deep enough. He adjusted the blade height and started another pass. On the second pass, the material kicked back, causing his left hand to follow the material through the rotating blade. As a result, he sustained minor injury to the third and fourth digits of his left hand and the traumatic amputation of the fifth digit proximal to the distal interphalangeal joint. No method or device, such as an anti-kickback device, was identified as being in place to prevent an operator from contacting a rotating blade.

Keywords: KICK BACK, AMPUTATED, CARPENTER, FINGER, STRUCK AGAINST, RIP, SAW, BLADE, TABLE SAW