Inspection Detail

Inspection: 125986612 - Lawrence Equipment Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Monrovia District Office

Investigation Summary

At 4:50 p.m. on January 7, 2003, Employee #1, a machine operator for tortilla-making machines, was trying to reattach a laser-cutting head to its connection point on the laser-cutting machine. The machine had a bed or a table on which a sheet metal was laid and moved along a y-axis. Beneath the bed was a pit where the cut out pieces were to fall from the sheet. When the laser head was moving over a bumpy spot of the sheet metal it tipped off the head from the connection. Just before the incident, the laser head detached four times at the same spot on the sheet while the sheet was being cut. Each time, Employee #1 moved the connecting point to far end and reattached the head from the side of the machine. But as the problem persisted, he climbed into the pit and reattached the head so the machine could bypass the trouble spot. After reattaching the head the fourth time, he told the operator of the next shift to start the button to resume cutting. Without knowing that Employee #1 was in the pit, the new shift employee pressed the "start" button, which caused the bed of the machine to move toward Employee #1. Employee #1's lower legs were then entrapped between the frame of the bed and a pipe in the pit. Employee #1 sustained fractures to his legs and was hospitalized.

Keywords: LASER, MACHINE OPERATOR, CRUSHED, LEG