Inspection Detail

Inspection: 316344134 - Mission Foods

Inspection Information - Office: Monrovia District Office

Investigation Summary

At 2:15 a.m. on April 17, 2012, Employee #1 of Mission Foods suffered second and third degree burns to his left forearm and hand and right hand with no skin grafting, when sparks erupted during the connection of a power plug into a 480-volt power outlet on the wall of a wash room. Mission Foods has been in the business of making tortillas over many years at Rancho Cucamonga, California, and employed about 800 employees on its payroll on inspection day. The employer also has another tortilla manufacturing facility in El Monte, California. Employee #1 was employed about nine months as a sanitation technician with the above employer before the accident occurred to him at the Rancho Cucamonga facility. At time of the accident, Employee #1 was plugging the 480-volt washer machine electrical plug to a power outlet on the wall when sparks erupted and struck Employee #1's hands and forearm, resulting in burn injuries. Employee #1 was wearing latex gloves not approved for this job when the accident occurred, per the safety official who participated in the walk around inspection on June 20, 2012. The safety official also stated that Employee #1 was forcing the 4-pin power plug of the NILFISK ALTO POSEIDON 7 washer machine into the 480-volts AC outlet on the wall instead of twisting the plug slightly and then pressing it into the outlet. Employee #1 was interviewed at a later date about the accident and stated that he was not trained for the task he was doing at time of the accident. Employee #1 was transported to Arrowhead Medical Center in Colton by paramedics for medical treatment where he was treated for a couple of hours and released.

Keywords: BURN, GLOVE, FOREARM, SPARK, ELECTRICAL BOX, UNTRAINED, WASHING MACHINE, HAND