Inspection Detail

Inspection: 126082411 - Rand Pacific Sales Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

On June 1, 2002, Employee #1, age 25, was operating the "Big Slitter" machine. Employee #1 considered himself as an experienced operator. There were three parts to the procedures of cutting the coils; first to install the rolls of coil, second to feed the machine with coil, and last to program the control panel. Employee #1 observed slack from the coil and inserted a strip of cardboards into the machine to take up slack so the machine could run smoothly. According to the company, the BSM will have slack from time to time and it is a common practice for employees to use cardboard strip to remedy this problem. There was no procedures written to run the machine nor was there rules of how long of a strip should be used. The employees had at their own discretion to use whatever is available at their disposal. Employee #1's right hand was drawn into the machine as he was trying to insert the strip. He was wearing work gloves provided by the company at the time. There were no safety rules prohibiting the use of gloves for this particular procedure and the use of work gloves was common practice. There are no safety procedures set forth about the sizes and types of material to be used when remedying the slack. It was entirely at the employees' discretion on what is available at their disposal when slack occurred. In addition, there were no safety rules about using gloves where there is a danger of the hand protection becoming entangled in moving machinery or materials. Employee #1 was taken to San Francis Medical Center for emergency treatment by the paramedic and was later scheduled to undergo surgery. Cal/OSHA has determined the accident was caused by the improper use of hand protection where there is a great danger of the gloves becoming entangled or drawn into moving parts. Rand Pacific Sales is a metal processing job shop who cuts and trims metal coils for its customers according to specifications and tolerances required. As part of their daily operation, slitter machines were used to cut and trim the width of metal coils. There were a total of three slitter machines, and they were named as "Big, Mini, and small". All three machines had different capacities in accepting the thickness of the coils being work on. The "Big Slitter" machine (BSM) which involved in the accident, had the capacity to work with coils ranging from gauge 32 in. to 0.25 in.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, MACHINE OPERATOR, HAND