Abstract: At 12:05 p.m. on January 23, 2002, a serious occupational injury occurred at the McKeever and Danlee Confectionery Company in Azusa, California. The injury occurred while Employee #1 was attempting to unjam a strand of hard candy in the hard candy roller taper, a Klockner Hansel leveling machine, HZY 2606, serial number 2606 0192. Employee #1 was using an ice pick in his right hand to draw the candy out of the extractor and was wearing hand protection on his left hand due to the temperature of the hard candy. The employer did not require the power source to be de-energized or disengaged nor did the employer require the movable parts to be mechanically blocked or locked out to prevent inadvertent movement during the unjamming operations. An emergency stop button was available but seldom used. A brake that stopped the machine as long as it was depressed was also available and used most of the time. The employer did provide an extension tool, the ice pick. However no extension tool or protection was provided for the other hand. It was this off hand that was injured. The hand protection or gloves provided by the employer at the time of the accident were too large, especially the fingers. It was the finger of the left glove that became entangled in the unguarded extractor gears of the hard candy roller, drawing the hand of Employee #1 into the gears. A coworker was cleaning pallets on the south side of the room when he saw the hand and arm of Employee #1 in an odd position. The coworker came over to Employee #1 and saw that the hand of Employee #1 was caught in the rope sizer and pushed the emergency stop button. The coworker grabbed a screw driver and began to remove a screw when he saw another employee who called to the mechanic, who was working on the west side of the machine. The injury occurred on the east side about midway between the north and south ends. The coworker called to the mechanic and pointed to the stuck hand of Employee #1. The mechanic used his tools to remove the cover plate of the extractor and tried to turn the gears manually but that was causing pain so the mechanic used a Sawzall to cut through the shafts driving the gears and removed three of the four shafts and gears and turning the rest of the rescue over to the on-scene paramedics. Employee #1 was transported to USC Medical Center where he remained for three days. His injuries included fractures of the index and ring finger and numbness of the index, middle and little fingers of the left hand.