Caught in running equipment or machinery during maintenance, cleaning · Amputations
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Treehouse Foods, 680 West Chestnut Street, HANOVER, PENNSYLVANIA 17331
on — Amputations, affecting the fingertip(s).
Final narrative
An employee was doing maintenance work on an air cylinder that operates a jaw bagger when their finger was pinched by the air cylinder. The employee sustained an amputation to the left distal fingertip without bone loss.
An employee was using a magnet in the waste bin while cleaning the metal. The employee walked the magnet to the other side of the line, then placed the magnet on a metal surface which caught their hands between the metal and the magnet, resulting in amputation of the middle fingertip.
An employee was cleaning excess dough from a dough machine's rollers. The employee's hand was caught between the feed roller and the roller die, causing a fingertip amputation.
On April 18, 2017, at approximately 9:00 p.m., an employee was using a spray nozzle when it stopped working then suddenly started up again. He lost control of the nozzle and sprayed his right thumb lacerating it. He was hospitalized for surgery on a torn tendon.
An employee was cleaning an automatic roll-up door while working from a ladder. The employee's rag and gloves became caught between the roll-up door, which subsequently broke the employee's left arm.
Two employees were repairing the hydraulic engagement pins on a rented front-end wheel loader. The machine controls were activated to move the attachment pins and an employee's finger was caught between the pins and the bushings. Their right index finger was partially amputated.
An employee was cleaning the conveyor on a piece of equipment when they slipped and their right hand was pulled into the chain sprocket. The employee's fifth fingertip was amputated.
An employee was throwing blankets onto a blanket folding and stacking machine. A blanket got stuck in the machine and she attempted to remove it when the machine contacted her right little finger, resulting in a fingertip amputation.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 311919)
While attending the slab line, an employee observed that dough was accumulating on the plastic blades. He proceeded to clean the blades. His left index finger came into contact with an adjacent blade that moves laterally (left to right), resulting in a partial amputation.
A sanitation employee entered the chemical room and slipped on the wet floor. When he slipped, he kicked over a bucket containing cleaning chemicals. The chemicals splashed onto the employee's clothing and burned his skin.
An employee's right middle fingertip was caught between a chain and a sprocket in a machine. The fingertip was amputated. The machine was unguarded at the time.
An employee had just finished unloading material from a truck. He was descending using the truck's built-in ladder when he missed the last rung, fell to the ground, and broke his hip and left wrist.
An employee was using a handheld grinder to cut a bolt. The grinding wheel broke apart and a fragment struck the employee s right hand, causing a laceration to the palm near the little finger.
An employee was walking into the motor control center (MCC) room when his right ring finger was caught in the hinge of a doorway. He sustained an open phalanx fracture, which resulted in a partial amputation above the first knuckle.
An employee was changing the spacing on a telehandler's forks. A fork slipped, and the employee's left index finger was caught between it and the mast. The fingertip was medically amputated at the first knuckle.
An employee was pulling down a broken skid with a forklift. When the employee backed up the forklift to get the forks out of the skid he pulled down, he contacted the forks of another parked forklift, fracturing both of his legs. He was hospitalized.
An employee was carrying cups back to the kitchen when her foot got caught on a cart and she fell face-first. During the fall, a piece of glass from a cup cut the inside of her mouth, severing an artery. She also sustained a laceration on her lower lip. The employee was hospitalized.