Inspection Detail

Inspection: 303370985 - Genpak Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Albany Area Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1, age 20, was operating the calendar, or S-wrap section, of an extrusion machine manufactured by the Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering Company, Inc. This machine transformed polystyrene pellets into sheets of styrofoam packing material used by food stores for meat and fish packing and by restaurants for take-out food containers. The supervisor, who was on the other side of the S-wrap calendar, had just handed Employee #1 a sheet of styrofoam to feed it into the winder section of the machine directly behind him. Somehow in the process, his torso became caught in the 6 1/4 in. nip point between the two lowest rollers. As he was pulled in, he apparently managed to pull the trip wire to stop the rollers, but this dropped the 312 lb upper roller down 2 1/4 in., reducing the nip point to 4 in., and further crushing his torso. This caused the most serious damage to his abdomen and internal organs. When the supervisor walked around the calendar to verify that the feeding and winding had been done correctly, he found Employee #1's body half-way in the nip point. It took maintenance workers approximately 45 minutes to torch-cut one of the rollers and extricate Employee #1 from the nip point. He was transported to the hospital, where he underwent surgery. Employee #1 died several hours later.

Keywords: TORSO, ROLLER--MACH/PART, CAUGHT BETWEEN, CRUSHED, PLASTIC MFG, NIP POINT, CALENDER