Accident Report Detail
Accident: 116890.015 - Worker Retrieving Tool Suffers Partial Amputation Of Finger
Accident: 116890.015 -- Report ID: 0524500 -- Event Date: 03/19/2019 | |||||||
Inspection | Open Date | SIC | Establishment Name | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1406234.015 | 06/05/2019 | Swift Pork Company | |||||
At 11:15 p.m. on March 19, 2019, an employee was working as a janitor at a meatp acking facility. He was working with the maintenance foreman near the loin saddl e position on the main break of the cut floor. They were clearing fat from a con veyor. He was observing as supervisors were using a long stainless product hook to freeing clogged product in a conveyor. The hook became caught in loin saddle conveyor #1. The hook cycled through to rest at the west end, where the producti on processes continued to flow unimpeded. The employee went to retrieve the hook while he was adjacent, under, and north of the saddle conveyor. The employee at tempted to retrieve a long handled hook that had been left in the machine by the supervisor. When the employee grabbed the hook by the handle, the tool rotated. This rotation caused the tool to become caught on the material conveyor belt ag ain. The tool was jerked in the direction that the belt was running. The hook wa s pulled while the employee was still holding on. The employee was pulled across an in-running nip point, between the conveyor belt and a supporting frame struc ture. The employee's right ring finger was pinched between the tool handle and t he machine frame. The employee suffered a partial amputation of the tip of the r ight ring finger. Another account said that his right hand ring finger was sever ed at the mid-point of the first finger digit (knuckle, probably). The narrative wasn't clear. Either way, the employee was taken to an emergency department, wh ere medical personnel were able to reattach the finger. He was not hospitalized. The employer had provided written standard operating procedures (SOP) for unjam ming product, boxes, or items from the machine and conveyor. The procedures were not specific enough for this task, and the procedures currently provided would not effectively protect employees from hazards. | |||||||
Keywords:
amputated, amputation, caught between, cleaning, conveyor belt, finger, fingertip, jammed, meat processing, nip point, partial amputation, training, work rules
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Employee # | Inspection | Age | Sex | Degree | Nature | Occupation | |
1 | 1406234.015 | 45 | M | Non Hospitalized injury | Janitors and cleaners |