Accident: 170205173 - Injured When Struck By Falling Beam

At approximately 9:45 a.m. on November 9, 2000, employees were stripping the deck of 2 by 4 falsework when part of the deck popped loose and knocked an 8 in. by 8 in. by 7 ft beam toward Employee #1. He was standing directly in front of the beam and could not get away in time. The beam fell, striking his head, face, nose, left hand, and knee. Employee #1 was stunned and felt slightly dizzy, but did not lose consciousness. No accident-related violations were found in connection with this incident.

construction, face, falling object, struck against, struck by, hand, beam, dizziness

Accident: 813386 - Killed When Caught In Mixer

On October 16, 2000, Employee #1, age 18 year, was cleaning a mixer. He was reaching inside when the mixer engaged and he was drawn in. Employee #1 was killed. The mixer was not locked out, and a device had been used to override the two-hand controls.

mixer, cleaning, caught by, lockout, work rules, two-hand control, rotating knife

Accident: 119947968 - Hand Lacerated In Circular Saw

At approximately 12:00 noon on September 28, 2000, Employee #1, a carpenter, was framing an addition to a private residence. He was using a Skilsaw to cut a 2-by-4 when he lacerated his left hand. Employee #1 refused transportation by paramedics and drove himself to the Big Bear Community Hospital. He was treated and subsequently transferred to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he underwent tendon repair and was hospitalized for two days.

carpenter, laceration, hand, portable power tool, struck against, saw, circular saw

Accident: 14318778 - Killed When Head Crushed By Gantry Crane

At approximately 1:49 a.m. on September 5, 2000, Employee #1 was working on the K-1 fixture at the Ford line, the start of the frame assembly for a pickup truck. He was relieving a coworker who had been operating the fixture at the northeast corner, and he was one of four employees to operate this machine. The workers installed rivets and crossmembers at key locations in the frame. After each worker installed approximately four rivets, they would retreat to a palm button station at each corner of the machine. Each station incorporated two palm buttons and a red stop button; three of the four employees had to depress their buttons and hold them in while the fourth operator depressed his buttons and became the trigger man. When the fourth employee depressed his buttons, the circuit was closed and a gantry crane on a monorail was signaled to descend and grasp the steel frame with four claws and carry it to another position to be worked on. The area around the truck frame was partially protected by a light curtain that angled away from the frame table. After Employee #1's coworker returned to the K-1 fixture, he stepped up on to the work platform and put on his left glove first. The operator at the north-west corner immediately across from Employee #1 and his coworker had just finished putting in his rivets and was standing at his palm buttons. Employee #1 was installing his last rivet, which required him to bend over the frame at an angle and place his head in close proximity to the frame. At this time, the gantry crane descended, traveling at 36 in. per second and covering the 48 in. in 1.5 seconds. Employee #1's head was pinched against the steel frame by one of the lifting claws. The machine then became locked in position, continuing to push his head against the steel frame. The machine shut down because the light curtain was broken by coworkers reaching in to help Employee #1, and at the same time one of the operators depressed his emergency STOP button. Employee #1 died of crushing injuries to his head. At the time of the accident, another operator was working at the southeast corner to the left of Employee #1. He had just come back from getting a crossmember and was placing in on the ground getting ready for the next frame; he was not on his palm buttons when the gantry descended. The other operator was at the southwest corner, had finished his rivets, and was depressing and holding his buttons when the crane came down. Only one of the four palm button stations was depressed at the time of the accident, and the light curtain was showing green for go. Subsequent examination of the light curtain determined that there was a dead zone between the curtain and the frame of the machine. At the lowest level, 24 inches were not covered by the light curtain; at the hip area, the distance increased to 31 inches. Immediately following the accident, the company installed another light curtain that covered all the dead zones missed by the original curtain.

caught between, crushed, head, work rules, communication, gantry crane, light curtain, work rules, hand control

Accident: 119828788 - Hand Amputated In Press

On September 7, 2000, Employee #1, a 19-year-old laborer, was manually feeding corrugated cardboard into an Akebono printing press, model manufacturer's #180.185.1, serial #185-1975-2. The large, roller-type press consisted of a coupled slotter, a slat feeder, a sheet inverter, and a stacker. While feeding in the cardboard, Employee #1 suffered a crushing injury to his right hand that subsequently resulted in its amputation. He had been employed by the company, which printed designs and lettering on unassembled corrugated cardboard boxes, for approximately three months prior to the accident. Some of the unprinted boxes had been delivered slightly warped. This was a common occurrence, and the employees used sticks with balls on the ends of them to safely guide the bent cardboard sheets into the rollers of the press. Employee #1 claimed that he had not received any training, verbal or written, other than that from his coworkers, who had instructed him to use his hands to guide the sheets. He also said that the foreman on duty saw him working in this manner but said nothing.

press, printing press, crushed, hand, amputated, untrained, unguarded, work rules, nip point, extension handle

Accident: 955823 - Killed When Head Struck By Flying Object

Employee #1 and a coworker were re-aligning the carriage sled on a container trailer. As they did so, a socket attachment on the wire rope used on the truck winch became hung up under pressure. Employee #1 began striking the carriage with a sledge hammer. At that point, the wire rope released and flew through the air with the socket assembly. It struck Employee #1 on the back of the head, killing him.

trailer, hand tool, wire rope, flying object, head, struck by, maintenance, struck against

Accident: 123304750 - Hand Injured When Caught In Conveyor Belt

Employee #1, the lead person on the shift, was reaching into a moving conveyor belt to clear a jam when his hand was pulled into the belt. He sustained injuries that required hospitalization.

conveyor belt, jammed, hand, caught by, lockout, work rules, unguarded

Accident: 119947364 - Burned When Splashed By Hot Chemical Mixture

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on May 15, 2000, Employee #1, an adhesive compound mixer, was working at an adhesive manufacturing facility. He was splashed with a hot chemical mixture he was preparing and sustained second-degree burns to his right arm and hand. Employee #1 was transported to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where he was hospitalized for eight days.

burn, arm, chemical, ppe, high temperature, struck by, hand, protective clothing, work rules

Accident: 120277397 - Wrist Lacerated Against Edge Of Sheet Metal

On May 2, 2000, Employee #1, a regular worker at a company that fabricated and installed sheet metal, and a coworker were removing a large piece of sheet metal plating from a storage area that had numerous pieces of sheet metal stacked together. As they pulled on the sheet metal, it started to move and then became stuck. Employee #1's right hand was moving forward and, when the sheet become stuck, he could not stop his hand's forward movement. It slipped off the piece they were trying to move and struck the sharp edge of another piece of sheet metal that was stacked in the area. He sustained a severe wrist laceration. Paramedics were called, and Employee #1 was transported to Grossmount Hospital, where he spent two days. He is expected to return to full duty.

construction, sheet metal, hand, struck against, wrist, laceration, stuck, manual mat handling

Accident: 125890723 - Fingers Lacerated In Hopper/Picker

At approximately 10:00 a.m. on April 19, 2000, Employee #1 was unclogging a hopper/picker. The machine caught his left hand, severely lacerating three of his fingers. Employee #1 was transported to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and was hospitalized for two to three days.

laceration, finger, hopper, work rules, hand, clogged, lockout, caught by