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At around 11:30 a.m. on March 21, 2005, Employee #1 was working in the corrugator department of the Gabriel Container Co. He had been an employee of this manufacturer of corrugated boxes, located in Santa Fe Springs, CA, for one month. He was using a baling machine to compact paper and cardboard debris. He had his right hand on one of the baler's controls and his left hand in the danger zone near the platen, when his left hand got caught by the baler's moving ram. His left wrist was fractured. He was transported to Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier, where he underwent surgery. He was hospitalized there for a week. A grille-type door intended to shield the danger zone and point of operation of the baler was not kept closed prior to the baler's activation. There was no safety interlock or safety sensor installed on the gate at the time of the incident either. The baler had been in use for some time without an interlock, according to an official who participated in the inspection. An interlock was installed a day after the incident, according to the same management official, who participated in an inspection on April 4, 2005. Another management official present at the inspection stated that Employee #1 had bypassed one of the two controls, using a rope attached to a wood stick, and was running the baler machine by pressing one control only with one hand. Another employee was standing on the back side of machine and witnessed the incident.
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| Keywords:
fracture, work rules, caught by, caught between, inexperience, point of operation, baler, unguarded, ram, wrist
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