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Accident: 202488003 - Employee Amputates Fingertip In Pneumatic Pruner

Accident: 202488003 -- Report ID: 0950621 -- Event Date: 09/15/2008
InspectionOpen DateSICEstablishment Name
31186515809/19/20080181Stuke Nursery Co., Inc.
On September 15, 2008, Employee #1, a farm worker, was working from a tractor-pulled trailer. He was working with a coworker pruning the tops off small walnut trees in a tree nursery. The pneumatic pruner was telescoping in a design and was connected to an air compressor in the trailer. A twig became jammed in the pruner head. Employee #1 lowered the pruner, so that the trigger end came to rest on or near the trailer floor. Employee #1 was standing up and trying to remove the jammed material from the pruning head, when the pruner activated, amputating the tip of his left right finger. The finger tip was reattached but the process failed, so Employee #1 went to Biggs-Gridley Memorial Hospital two days later to have his fingertip surgically amputated. Upon the investigation, Employee #1 acknowledged that he forgot to disconnect the air line from the pruner. He believed a twig on the trailer floor slipped into the trigger mechanism and safety switch, causing the pruner to activate.
Keywords: amputated, finger, jammed, caught between, tree, tractor trailer, powder actuated tool, air line, tree trimming
Employee # Inspection Age Sex Degree Nature Occupation
1 311865158 Non Hospitalized injury Amputation Farm workers

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