Caught in running equipment or machinery during regular operation · Amputations
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Gates Corporation, 700 East Redwood Boulevard, BRANDON, SOUTH DAKOTA 57005
on — Amputations, affecting the finger(s), fingernail(s), unspecified.
Final narrative
An employee was operating a hose/bender machine. He was reaching to adjust a piece of hose and got caught in a pinch point, sustaining an amputation to his finger.
Two maintenance technicians were changing out drive belts on the south end of the vulcanizing vessel. To check the proper function of the drive belts, the technicians manually cycled the cars into and then out of the vessel. One technician was manually cycling the vessel back out and the injured technician was inspecting the belts and checking the tension. The injured technician's right index finger was pinched between the belt and the pulley, resulting in an amputation of the distal phalanx.
An employee was cleaning a mandrel shaft with an emery cloth when their glove became caught on the rotating shaft. Their right hand was pulled in with the glove and their thumb was amputated.
On February 20, 2024, at approximately 6:30 a.m., an employee was unjamming rubber that had become stuck in a machine. When the machine started, the flapper moved, striking and compressing the employee. The employee was hospitalized for three fractured ribs, a partially collapsed lung, and a puncture wound in the middle of their back.
On 8/9/2023, an employee was pressure washing a mandrel shell when the pressurized mixture lacerated their right hand near the thumb. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was sharpening peeler blades when their shirt was caught in the grinding wheel. The employee sustained tendon damage and a crushed right hand.
An employee was preparing to cut lumber on a panel saw when the clamp engaged and caught the employee's left middle finger, resulting in a fingertip amputation.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 332912)
An employee was retooling a pipe bending machine while it was energized when the machine clamp function activated. Their left hand was caught as the machine's radius die closed on the clamp and it crushed his left ring finger, resulting in medical amputation to the second knuckle.
On April 19, 2023, an employee was assembling a hose and performing a pull test. During the pull test, the employee's left index fingertip was amputated by the longitudinal pull tester.
On March 9, 2023, an employee was assembling manifolds. While pushing an end fitting into the hose of an automatic pushing machine, the employee suffered an amputation to the tip of the right index finger.
An employee was running a hone machining center and was walking around to the rear of the machine to evaluate a coolant pressure gauge. The employee tripped over a steel angle iron that was on the floor and sustained a fractured hip requiring hospitalization.
An employee was moving a tensile strength test device with a dolly. The device fell from the dolly onto the employee's right leg, causing a compound fracture.
An employee was walking past a crossover conveyor when a ramp came down and hit them in the back. The employee sustained a broken back vertebra, as well as a concussion, and was hospitalized.
An employee was using a hook tool to pull a pallet onto the lift gate of a tractor trailer. The hook detached from the underside of the pallet, causing the employee to fall backward off the lift gate. The employee landed on the concrete parking lot about 5 feet below, suffering fractures to the skull and two thoracic vertebrae.
An employee was walking on a truss table when he lost his balance and fell approximately 3 feet to the floor. The employee sustained a dislocated and fractured left ankle.