Inspection Detail

Inspection: 125946798 - Cedarlane Natural Foods, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 2:15 a.m. on February 14, 2007, an employee was operating the smaller of the two pesto machine, pouring and spreading pesto on top of pieces of bread. The pesto machine was a v-shaped hopper with a roller at the bottom. Pesto was poured at the top of the rectangular shaped hopper into a rotating wheel with spindles. Pesto Sauce was then spread out to fill the entire length of the rotating wheel which then dumps the sauce into the moving roller as the wheel rotates down ward. The pesto laden roller "wiped off" the sauce into the pieces of bread that passes underneath it, on the table conveyor. The top of the hopper was designed to have an interlocked cover made of grilles spaced about 2 inches apart to allow pouring of the pesto through and for visibility. At the time of the accident, said guard was not installed on the smaller pesto machine. The mode activation for the smaller pesto machine was the e-stop button. The machine was measured at 48 inches from the floor to the top of the machine, 36 inches from left to right and the hopper was about 24 inches deep. The employee reached in with her left hand into the hopper and while she was spreading the pesto sauce along the length of the rotating wheel, her left thumb got caught between the rotating wheel and the inner face of the inside front side and sheared it off. This pesto machine was designed by the employer and was built for them; hence there is no manufacturer, model as well as serial number. The employee was not hospitalized.

Keywords: ROTATING PARTS, AMPUTATED, THUMB, CAUGHT BETWEEN