Inspection Detail

Inspection: 14830087 - Grafco Div Of The Sheet Metal Coating & Litho Co

Inspection Information - Office: Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation Division Of Labor And Industry Maryland Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

An employee had worked on machinery maintenance and repair for 2 years. His job included making adjustments to the curler machine, which performed the last of a series of operations in the production of 4-oz spice can ends. The machine was a Cameron 176 curler on the 4-oz Durkee line, and there was an identical machine on the 4-oz Grafco line. Between adjustments it was necessary to turn the machine on to allow a few ends to pass through. One of the ends would be measured to check the effect of the adjustment. The ends were moved through the machine by a reciprocating feed bar having an 8-in. stroke at 120 cycles per minute. The bar moved in a horizontal 1-in.-wide slot. At the end of each feed stroke, the end of the feed bar was 0.0625 in. from the end of the slot. When the machine was turned off, the feed bar would make several strokes decelerating. The employee had made these adjustments hundreds of times. On the day of the accident, he reached for a finished end a second or two too soon and the tip of his right middle finger was nipped off by the feed bar at the end of the slot. Although this feed bar was not perceived as a hazard formerly, the employer acknowledged that the feed bar and slot could probably be guarded in a way that would not require removal of the guard for production adjustments.

Keywords: MAINTENANCE, AMPUTATED, FINGER, GUARD, LOCKOUT