"The worker's ring, middle and index fingers...on both hands...."

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents where moving machine parts caused injuries, amputations, burns, blindness, and death. Machine guards are essential for protecting workers from these preventable injuries. Any machine part, function, or process that may cause injury must be safeguarded. When the operation of a machine or accidental contact injure the operator or others in the vicinity, the hazards must be eliminated or controlled. Here is a recent story:

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited an aluminium extrusion company for "one willful and one serious safety violation" during the first week of May 2016.

Following a six-month investigation, federal inspectors found that the amputation of the worker's six fingers was preventable, if the company had installed proper safety guards to keep the operator's hands out of the metal press' danger zone, according to an agency news release.

The OSHA investigation determined the worker, employed for four weeks, suffered the loss of his ring, middle and index fingers and part of his right pinkie finger when his hands became caught as he hand-fed parts into an aluminum press, per the release.

"It's hard to imagine the agony and pain this young man suffered when six of his fingers were amputated," said the local OSHA's area director. "His life is now forever altered because the press lacked required safeguarding devices. These devices would have prevented his hands from coming in contact with the operating parts of the machine."

The aluminum company specializes in custom extrusions, fabrication, welding, bending, painting, anodizing, assembly, packing and inventory warehousing in the Midwest United States.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

A company spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

We acknowledge the severity of this injury and pray that the injured worker heals. We hope that the injured worker is provided with rehab regarding life skills as well as mental health counseling. In addition, we hope that his loved ones are provided mental health counseling too.

Amputations for us personally at the APSB hit close to home. We have relatives who lost finger(s) in workplace accidents. Overtime they have adapted with their disability. The physical scars that amputations leave are a lifelong weight and burden that some find at times to be unbearable. Prior to those times occurring the APSB recommends finding mental health counseling to deal with the mental anger and anguish.

The lack of machine guards in our industry typically resort from older machinery being still in use. Many of our facilities have older machinery that is still used in production. The concern is does that older machinery have the latest safety measures installed. In other words, if that older machinery was brand new what safety measures would it have installed that the older model does not? By consulting with the original equipment manufacturer or a professional licensed engineer older machinery can be retrofitted to have the latest safety measures.

The Aluminium Times magazine had an article about the hazards of older machinery.

The internet has lots of options on how to begin to cope with with an amputation. We found this article to be very informative and enlightening on the range of emotions that someone (and their family) will experience when dealing with an amputation. Here it is.

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