Struck by running powered equipment during maintenance, cleaning, testing · Amputations involving bone loss
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Orion Ropeworks, Inc., 953 Benton Avenue, WINSLOW, MAINE 04901
on — Amputations involving bone loss, affecting the Other finger(s) n.e.c..
Final narrative
An employee was manufacturing fiber on an extruder machine when fiber became tangled in the machine. The employee went to clear the tangle when his left middle finger became caught in the fiber. The bone was dislocated from the first knuckle, resulting in a medical amputation.
Amputation Other finger(s) n.e.c. Extruding machinery
A temporary employee turned off a planer machine, opened the housing, and began clearing a jam. The machine's spinning blade caught his right hand and degloved the index finger.
An employee was using a tool to remove a rag from a roll on the tube mill. The roll pulled the tool and the employee's right hand into the roll, resulting in a partial amputation of the little finger and a fracture to the index finger.
A production sanitation employee was pre-rinsing an incline conveyor and noticed cheese stuck between the belt idler. The employee went to remove the cheese and their glove got caught and pulled their left forearm into the conveyor. The employee's arm was fractured. The machine was not locked out/tagged out at the time.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 314991)
An employee was walking/standing and waiting for instructions on the floor next to a machine, when his right hand became entangled by the fiber and the machine. The middle finger was amputated.
An employee was preparing a winder machine to start a new spool of twine. When she started the machine, it caught and damaged her right index fingertip, requiring surgical amputation.
An employee was changing dies when a metal guard flipped down, causing the insulator on the energized 240V (die heating element) heater wires to break. The employee suffered an electrical shock to his shoulder, lost consciousness, and then collapsed forward, hitting his head on a metal track.
A crew was installing drilled micropiles alongside an outdoor covered deck foundation. The injured employee was working the front of the drill when a loose section of casing dropped onto the tip of a rig wrench and pulled the wrench down to an embedded casing. The employee's left little finger was caught between the rig wrench and the embedded casing and was amputated above the top knuckle.
Two employees were working to change a tire on a mobile slasher saw. The slasher weighs around 2,000 pounds and is towed. Employee 2 was lifting the saw while the injured employee was placing a block of wood under the frame for support. The slasher then lowered onto the block and the injured employee's left thumb was crushed between the slasher frame and the wood block, leading to an amputation at the first knuckle.
An employee was using a crane to move a 44-foot, 3,343-pound I-beam. As the beam was moving west, it straightened out (north to south), beginning to swing south toward the northwest corner of a building. The crane then sent the beam southward, directly toward the corner of the building. The beam caught the tips of the employee's left index, middle, and ring fingers against the building. The last joints of the middle and ring fingers were amputated, and the last joint of the index finger was partially crushed.
An employee was standing on a step stool, removing the nuts and bolts from the frame of a solar panel that was being replaced. The employee's cheek made contact with a connector with damaged insulation. The employee was shocked, briefly lost consciousness, and fell to the ground, suffering an injury to the left shoulder.