Inspection Detail

Inspection: 314858598 - Hostess Brands

Inspection Information - Office: Los Angeles District Office

Investigation Summary

On December 26, 2010, Employee #1 was working at a facility where various bakery products ranging from sliced white bread to cakes, pies, pastries, and cookies were produced. Operations performed started with turning raw flour into dough, cooking it in ovens, and finishing by wrapping the baked products for distribution. There were 180 employees at the facility, in Los Angeles, CA. The accident happened on the cupcake production line. According to Employee #1, he was one of several line tenders; he was assigned at the line where returning cups enter a greasing machine. After greasing, the cups pass under dosing nozzles, where cake material is dosed off into the cups. At his station, Employee #1 noticed that the returning cups were not thoroughly cleaned. Overspill or tails of dough were still on the cups. He decided to correct this by repositioning the dosing nozzles backward. This would cause the cups to stay under the nozzles longer, causing all the cake to go into the cup and avoiding overspill. He claimed, that he, his supervisor, and others in the line had made this correction lots of times before. It was a production routine to correct the spills of cake material into the cups. As he moved the dosing nozzles, the little finger on his left hand was caught in the pinch point of a slider. The pinch point had no cover. The tip of his little finger was amputated inside the cotton glove he was wearing. He was not hospitalized.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, FOOD PREPARATION, FINGER, MACHINE OPERATOR, CAUGHT BETWEEN, CONVEYOR, NIP POINT