Accident: 101280709 - Dies After Arm Amputated In Baler

Employee #1's left arm became caught in the power take-off shaft of a hay baler and was amputated. He died from excessive loss of blood.

baler, agriculture, arm, amputated, loss of blood, rotating shaft, caught by, power take-off

Accident: 906800 - Injured When Clothes Ignited By Weed Burner

Employee #1, who was working alone, was removing a piece of wood that had become wedged in the compression ram of a scrap metal baler. The wood had first been soaked with oil to lubricate it in the hope that the ram would move and dislodge it. When this process did not work, gasoline was poured on the wood and a weed burner applied in an effort to burn it out. Employee #1 inadvertently ignited his clothing and sustained severe burns from the waist up. There were no witnesses to the accident.

fire, baler, gasoline, jammed, clothing, burn, flammable vapors, flammable liquid, work rules

Accident: 510032 - Fingers Amputated In Compactor/Baler

Employee #1, of Sanitary Disposal, Inc., was operating a cardboard compactor/baler. He was removing some extraneous wire from inside the tie enclosure when his hand became entangled in the wire twisters in the bale tie mechanism. He was unable to remove his hand before the tie mechanism cycled, and three of his fingers were amputated. Employee #1 received first aid and was transported by ambulance to the local hospital and then to a larger hospital in Portland. Surgery to reattach his fingers was not successful. Employee #1 did not stop the machine prior to opening the tie enclosure nor did he activate the emergency STOP button on top of the enclosure.

baler, hand, entangled, finger, amputated, lockout, work rules, caught by, emergency stop

Accident: 201080488 - Killed When Caught In Baler

At approximately 10:40 p.m. on July 23, 1997, Employee #1 was working alone in the back room of a supermarket, apparently trying to remove jammed cardboard from a vertical baling machine. A coworker walked in and found Employee #1 pulled up into the baler, with his head, arm, and shoulder caught between the top of the ram and the frame. The coworker called 911. The "jaws of life" were required to extricate Employee #1, who was pronounced dead at 11:10 p.m. The baler was taken out of service until OSHA investigators arrived. A service technician operated the baler, with its gate down, and it ran until the ram hit the cardboard, whereupon it stopped. This indicated that the baler was full, and wires needed to be tied around the bale so it could be ejected. At this time, several pieces of cardboard were also found jammed against the back wall of the baler. These jammed pieces are normally removed prior to baling, sometimes with the ram in the 'down' position and sometimes in the 'up' position. Employee #1 was likely doing this at the time of the accident. The baler had an interlock, but it only prevented the baler from operating with the gate up when the START button was pushed. Once the baler was in operation, the gate could be fully opened and the ram would stop its down cycle, and cycle up. The START button could also override the interlock, if constant pressure was applied to it, allowing the gate to be open while the ram was in the up or down stroke. The employer was cited for three general and four serious violations.

baler, caught between, head, crushed, arm, shoulder, jammed, work rules, interlock, start button

Accident: 201140332 - Fingertip Amputated In Baler

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on May 22, 1997, Employee #1 was working on a baler machine when it became jammed. Without turning off the power, he tried to pull out the jammed bale by holding a wire handle for a gallon can of paint with his bare right hand. The machine cycled, amputating the tip of his right index finger. Employee #1 was taken to Saint Joseph Clinic in Santa Ana for treatment.

baler, jammed, extension handle, amputated, finger, caught by, work rules