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Accident: 201147642 - Employee Amputates Finger In Hinged Truck Loading Dock

Accident: 201147642 -- Report ID: 0950631 -- Event Date: 02/01/2006
InspectionOpen DateSICEstablishment Name
12390133204/24/20062653Smurfit-Stone Container
On February 1, 2006, Employee #1 was working in the dock area of a company that manufactured corrugated paper products and cardboard containers. The docking bay has a spring-loaded rectangular metal ramp and a dock plate that is hinged along the leading edge of this ramp. The ramp is 6 feet wide by 6 feet, 9 inches long, and the dock plate is 6 feet long and 16 inches wide. The ramp can be tilted at an approximately 30 degree angle, so that the dock plate end of the ramp is about 2 feet above the dock floor and the truck bed. The ramp and dock plate bridge the gap between trucks and the loading dock, and they adjust to different floor heights on the trucks. At the time of the accident, a trailer was backed into the dock with the ramp in its lowest position. Employee #1 attempted to pop up the dock plate, but he could not do so. The dock plate was stuck between the dock and the trailer's bumper. When Employee #1 walked onto the trailer bed and manually tried to free the dock plate, it popped up and opened out to rest on the trailer bed. The dock plate fell onto the trailer bed, crushing the index finger on Employee #1's right hand between the plate and the trailer bed. Employee #1's right index finger was amputated. He lost about 1.25 inches of his finger, but he was not hospitalized.
Keywords: caught between, loading ramp, loading dock, jammed, falling object, amputated, finger, mech mat handling
Inspection Age Sex Degree Nature Occupation
1 123901332 Non Hospitalized injury Amputation Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators