Abstract: At approximately 5:00 a.m. on December 15th, 2004, Employee #1, an Esparza Enterprises employee contracted as a food sanitation laborer for Grimmway Farms, Inc., (a major grower and processor of carrots), was working the third shift sanitizing food processing equipment. Employee #1 noticed a piece of plastic hanging down from the opening to a "bean cutting" machine, which was used to cut carrots into various sizes. Employee #1 shut off the pneumatic half-angle valve, which shut down the bean cutting machine, but Employee #1 did not lockout the machine. Employee #1 then reached into an opening to retrieve the piece of plastic hanging from the bean cutting machine's blades. At the same time, Employee #1 hit the angle valve with a water hose to clean the equipment and inadvertently activated the valve. Employee #1's left index finger was amputated. He was treated at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, California.