Caught in running equipment or machinery during maintenance, cleaning · Amputations
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Ultra-Poly Corporation, 710 Warner Street, SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA 18505
on — Amputations, affecting the finger(s), fingernail(s), unspecified.
Final narrative
An employee was dislodging a piece of foam board from between the production line cage and the conveyor belt. Once the piece was unstuck, it fell into the production line, struck the rotor, and then shot back up. His thumb was then wedged between the plastic and the conveyor, resulting in a partial medical amputation.
At about 3:45 p.m. on July 12, 2018, an employee was replacing seals on a plastic extrusion machine. As the employee was installing a pin to connect the screen change plate to the hydraulic cylinder, the cylinder actuated causing the shaft to move outwards and crush his fingers against the extruder. One finger was amputated.
An employee was working on an extruder when his glove became caught in the machine. The extruder then pulled his hand in and amputated a fingertip. The machine was not locked out at the time.
An employee was working in the electric panel of a rotor machine when an arc flash occurred. The employee received burns on both arms and the face. The electric power was not locked out at the time of the incident.
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 326140)
An employee was performing a maintenance task on a shape mold machine. The equipment had a clog preventing it from pumping material into the next stage. The employee's left hand was inside the hopper's butterfly valve when it unexpectedly turned. The employee's index and middle fingertips were partially amputated.
An employee was stacking used cardboard onto a pallet in the shipping and receiving area when he tripped over the scale by the loading dock door. The employee fell to the concrete floor and was hospitalized with a fractured left hip that required surgery.
On May 14, 2025, an employee was manually adjusting a plastic sheet entering the thermoforming oven when their right hand was pulled into the pin chain and idler wheel. The employee sustained the amputation of their middle finger.
At 6:30 p.m. on April 23, 2025, an employee was using a CNC panel saw when his fingers were pinned in by the pressure beam used to hold the board he was cutting. The sawblade, coming from beneath, amputated about 1/4 inch of his right little fingertip.
An employee was diagnosing an issue with a bagger that had jammed. The employee was cleaning out a piece of supporting equipment (a scrap barrel) when the blower motor contacted his right middle fingertip and fingernail, resulting in an amputation. The blower motor was not guarded at the time.
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.