"found a ... woman with a hand amputation"

Amputations are some of the most serious and debilitating workplace injuries. They

are widespread and involve a variety of activities and equipment in our industry. From machinery entanglement, to shearing forces from heavy items. Here is a recent incident highlighting the hazard of amputation risks.

 

A worker at (an extrusion plant) lost her hand during an accident at the (town name omitted) facility on Friday.

 

(Local) Fire Department responded to the plant about 2:32 p.m. Friday and found a 38-year-old woman with a hand amputation, said the lieutenant.

 

When they arrived, the employee was sitting in a chair. The Fire Department Lieutenant said EMS provided a tourniquet and gave medicine to stabilize her.

She was airlifted to a (hospital 140 kilometers away) for treatment.

 

(Company name omitted) “is a full-service aluminum extrusion plant offering 6,000 series extrusions as well as custom fabrication and friction stir welding solutions to the markets we serve,” according to its website.

 

We unfortunately don’t know if the worker’s arm was able to be reattached. All too often they amputated limb can not be reattached. We pray that all medical and mental health assistance will be provided to this worker. As we have loved ones with have suffered work related amputations this incident hits home to us here at the APSB. Every time we shake our loved one’s hand we can’t help but notice the missing finger. We pray for anyone who has suffered with an amputation.

 

We are reaching out to the company for information on what occurred. We will update this post with any new information. Why? Because we simply want to prevent a recurrence.

 

Light Metal Age magazine had an article on this topic. It can be found here.

 

 

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