Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1301970.015 - Valfilm, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Toledo Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 1:40 p.m. on March 7, 2018, a 26-year-old male employee was working for a firm that manufactured unlaminated plastics film and sheet (except packaging). He was operating a REI-ZR guillotine located in the facility's Stretch Production Department. He was placing a roll with film into the REI-ZR guillotine's point of operation. He climbed onto a table, located on the back side of the guillotine, to load the roll with the film into the guillotine's point of operation, by rolling it under the blade. The roll weighed approximately 90 to 180 kilograms (200 to 400 pounds). When the employee rolled the roll toward the blade, he stopped the roll under the blade with his left hand. This way, the roll would not hit his coworker, who was standing on the opposite side. At that time, the employee had his left hand stuck between the roll with plastic and the blade of the guillotine. He asked a coworker (the narrative did not note whether this was a second coworker or not) to move the blade up. That could be done by pressing two buttons on the control panel located on the right side of the guillotine. This coworker pressed the wrong button, and the blade moved down. As a result, the employee sustained the partial amputation of the index, middle, and ring fingers on his left hand. He was hospitalized.

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Equipment Operator, Finger, Guillotine Shear, Hand, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Machine Guarding, Point Of Operation, Untrained, Work Rules