Inspection Detail

Inspection: 307161802 - Southland Box Company

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 08:19 a.m. on July 10, 2004, Employee #1 was working for a company that manufactured corrugated boxes for wholesale distribution. After finishing an order of boxes, Employee #1 began cleaning the trim that was cut during the operation near the middle rollers of the stacking portion of the machine. The machine was a Ward corrugated box die cutting machine Serial Number 150552BSYGE. As Employee #1 was removing the trim, he rested his right hand on one of the middle rollers when the machine operator at the time of the incident asked another machine operator if it was alright to turn on the power to the machine. The second operator stated that it was. The first operator pulled out one of the machine control button which controlled the lower rollers of the machine. When he did so, however, the entire machine became energized and began to move, pulling Employee #1's right arm into the middle rollers of the machine up to his shoulder. Part of the machine's electrical control board had burnt out approximately 10 days before, and that the nonfunctioning portion had been bypassed so that the entire machine was connected to a single switch. The first operator stated that he was not aware that the switch that he pulled would energize the entire machine and that it is only supposed to control the lower rollers. (The original narrative did not state the nature of the injuries but noted that Employee #1 was not hospitalized.)

Keywords: SHOULDER, CLEANING, CAUGHT BY, EQUIPMENT FAILURE, ROLLER--MACH/PART, ARM