Inspection Detail

Inspection: 315531541 - Universal Alloy Corporation

Inspection Information - Office: Santa Ana District Office

Investigation Summary

On November 4, 2012, Employee #1 was operating the Number 15 saw. He was cutting aluminum bars into smaller pieces at a facility that processed and distributed aluminum and other alloy materials. The saw had a circular blade and was manufactured by WUXI Fair-Tide Machinery company (Model Number 500X400, Serial Number GB7251.1-2005). The equipment was operated by a two-hand control. The rotating circular blade had a guard, which descended onto the material before the circular blade moved into the point of operation when the machine was activated by the controls. When the cut was finished, the controls were deactivated and the blade retracted into a safe position before the guard moved back into its starting position. Employee #1 made his last cut and was ready to shut down the machine. After releasing the two-hand controls, he immediately pushed the emergency stop button to shut down the machine. This action cut off all power, including the pneumatic power for the guard cover and the hydraulic power for the retraction mechanism for the blade. With no air pressure, the guard cover moved up exposing the blade and the blade did not retract into safe position because of the lack of hydraulic power. The exposed rotating blade kept rotating due to inertia. Employee #1 picked up a small cut piece of material, when his left little finger contacted the blade. He lost about 0.5 in of this finger. Employee #1 was transported to a medical center, where he was treated and released the same day.

Keywords: ROTATING PARTS, AMPUTATED, HAND CONTROL, FINGER, STRUCK AGAINST, EMERGENCY STOP, SAW, BLADE