Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310877451 - Ryan'S Family Steak House Buffets, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Cincinnati Area Office

Investigation Summary

On March 6, 2007, Employee #1 was working at a Ryan's Family Steak House restaurant. Using a Hobart meat cutting band saw, she was cutting a large piece of frozen pork into pork chops. She had been cutting meat with this meat saw for approximately three weeks. The machine had its unused blade guard in place and adjusted to within an inch of the meat. The saw was equipped with a sliding carriage that enabled ease of movement across the cutting blade and with a gauge plate/fence that the meat was pressed against. Employee #1 had cut the meat until the remaining meat was approximately 4 to 5 inches thick. She was not using "back-up meat," which is two or three chops used to press the smaller thickness of the meat against the fence in order to maintain a distance between the employee's hands and the blade. She also was not using a pusher plate to press the pork to the gauge plate/fence. As she brought the meat and sliding carriage across the blade in the typical cutting motion, from right to left, her right hand slipped up to the top of the meat and into the blade. The index finger on her right hand was partially amputated. The injury line incorrectly says that there was no injury. It cannot be determined whether or not she was hospitalized. Employee #1 had been given on-the-job training prior to cutting meat on her own, in the form of approximately 3 or 4 days with an experienced meat cutter and 2 days with the corporate quality control supervisor. She had been trained to adjust the unused blade guard to within an inch of the meat, to make adjustments to the unused blade guard as the meat varied in size, and to use a pusher plate or back-up meat as the meat got closer to its small end. No apparent violations could be substantiated.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, FOOD PREPARATION, BANDSAW, FINGER, MEAT SLICING MACHINE, POINT OF OPERATION, HAND