Inspection Detail

Inspection: 315531061 - Optimus Group Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Santa Ana District Office

Investigation Summary

On November 20, 2012, Employee #1, a 35-year old male with Optimus Group Inc., had been hired through the primary employer's placement service; to assist in assembly and fabrication of Aircraft ground Support Equipment (GSE). Employee #1 was using a 20 in. Conquest industrial disc sander, model number 20 ARCH, serial number 2030371BM with a 2 HP motor, operating at 1,725 RPMs and at the time of the event had a 36-grit sanding disc. Employee #1 was using the disk sander to smooth the edges of a 2.5 in. square piece of metal that was approximately 0.1875 in. thick. Employee #1 had been wearing gloves but removed the gloves and stated that the gloves were too loose and kept getting caught by the sander. Then the edge of the square piece of metal got loose from Employee #1's hand and his thumb, down to the first knuckle, was pulled into the space between the work table and the sanding disc causing a serious injury. Employee #1 sustained a serious abrasion/avulsion on the dorsal (nail) side of his right thumb and suffered injuries to the tendon in his thumb and an avulsion from the nail to the first joint with all the nail bed gone. Employee #1 underwent two outpatient surgeries with a third surgery still pending to repair the injury. Employee #1 had limited experience in metal fabrication, having worked as a laborer for a sheet metal manufacturing company and a roofing contractor, prior to working at the secondary employer's facility as an Assembler. Employee #1 had worked at the secondary employer's worksite since October 22, 2010.

Keywords: SANDING MACHINE, FINGER, LACERATION, HAND TOOL, HAND