Inspection Detail

Inspection: 313381667 - Overhill Farms Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At about 8:26 a.m. on June 29, 2010, Employee #1 was working at a frozen entry preparation and packaging facility with 700 employees. She had been working there for two years as an assembler, and her job included operating power tools. At the time of the accident, she was performing a sporadically assigned task of operating a Butcher Boy brand commercial food grade band saw to slice frozen slices of bread in half. The task involved stacking seven slices of frozen bread on a sliding cutting table attached to the band saw. The table had an attached guard to keep the employee's hand away from the blade. The operator manually pushed the table and bread into the band saw blade to cut the slices in half. Employee #1 had been cutting the bread for about two hours on the day of the injury, when she felt pain in her left hand and saw blood. She didn't know what happened, but she had amputated several fingers after her hand contacted the band saw blade. A nearby coworker, who did not see the accident, heard the injured worker scream and saw her severed fingers on the saw's table. Employee #1 was transported to Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center and admitted in excess of 24 hours. She had surgery to close the open wounds resulting from the traumatic amputation of three fingers. Interviews were conducted of the injured employee, the witness, other employees performing same tasks, and the immediate supervisor. The investigation concluded that the injured employee was trained and knew how to operate the band saw. She knew how to turn the saw on and off and would do so for breaks. On occasion, the sliced bread would bunch up or break apart, and she would need to clean the broken bread parts from the table. At these times, she did not turn the saw off or lock out the energy. The injured employee did not recall any specific instruction from the employer regarding the proper way to remove damaged bread pieces from the saw table area. Other employees performing the same tasks stated that when it was necessary to clean broken bread from the saw table, they would turn the saw off, and that was the way they were trained. At the time of the inspection, the employer asserted that the saw had been maintained in the same condition it was in at the time of the injury. Broken bread pieces were in the saw table area and would need to be removed before the cutting process could resume. As a result of the interviews and the site inspection, it is probable that Employee #1 was attempting to clean the band saw while it was still in operation. Cleaning the band saw while it was in operation would be in conflict with the employer's lockout/tagout policy and training. The employer provided documentation that the injured employee had been trained on the proper operating procedures for the band saw, and the injured employee did not follow them. As a result, the Division did not issue citations.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, FOOD PREPARATION, FINGER, WORK RULES, STRUCK AGAINST, LOCKOUT, SAW, BLADE, INATTENTION