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Accident: 201080165 - Employee'S Fingers Amputated In Auger

Accident: 201080165 -- Report ID: 0950625 -- Event Date: 09/19/1996
InspectionOpen DateSICEstablishment Name
12577452103/13/19970723Dole Dried Fruit & Nut
At approximately 11:00 a.m. on September 19, 1996, Employee #1 was working on an incline auger at a dried fruit facility. The base of the auger was only inches from the floor and it had an approximately 3 in. by 6 in. slide gate with handle under the auger. The slide gate was only open when the conveyors were cleaned or when it was jammed by raisins. At the time of the accident, Employee #1 was using a water hose fed into the top of the auger to clean out stuck raisins; the guarding was adequate. He noticed that the water was not running through the bottom of the slide gate and assumed the gate was still shut. Since the slide gate was only inches from the floor, Employee #1 could not see that it was open. He placed his hand where the slide gate handle should have been, catching his fingers in the moving auger. The index, middle, and ring fingers on his left hand were amputated. Employee #1 was taken to R. K. Davies Medical Center, where his middle and ring fingers were reattached. His index finger was lost to the first joint. Employee #1 had worked for this company for eleven years and was the team leader/foreman for the application room. He had been trained in lockout/tagout, but in this case he did not follow the correct procedure of first de-energizing the equipment and then opening the gate. Employee #1 had performed this task on this and similar machines for many years. The company had an effective IIPP and a disciplinary policy. This area of the facility was permanently closed, and the rest of the plant was to close permanently on March 21, 1997.
Keywords: rotating parts, amputated, agriculture, finger, work rules, caught by, jammed, lockout, auger, blind reaching
Employee # Inspection Age Sex Degree Nature Occupation
1 125774521 Hospitalized injury Amputation Machinery maintenance occupations

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