California Department of Health Services
This
document is a summary of a larger
document in english.
SUMMARY : CASE
192-207-01
A farm
worker was driving a mechanical harvester in a fig orchard.
This harvester swept up the figs from the orchard ground.
Then, a conveyor belt carried the figs past a big fan on the
side of the machine which blew the dirt off them. A metal
cover guarded the fan blades, but not the fan's exhaust outlet.
Before his lunch break, the worker left the fan running and
stood in front of the exhaust outlet, blowing the dirt and
dust off his clothing. His foot entered the exhaust outlet
to where it could touch the fan blades, about nine inches
inside. The fan blades amputated his foot below the ankle.
A co-worker
turned off the harvester, and the worker's foreman called
911 from a truck. Paramedics took the worker and his severed
foot to the hospital. The foot was too mangled for doctors
to sew back on. Later, doctors amputated his left leg below
the knee so he could use an artificial leg.
How
could this injury have been prevented?
- Employers
should put guards wherever a person can touch moving equipment.
- Workers
should use machinery only for the purposes for which it
was designed, and for which safety training has been given.
Disclaimer
and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not
represent NIOSH policy. Information included in NASD appears
by permission of the author and/or copyright holder. More
NASD Review: 04/2002
This
document,
CDHS(COHP)-FI-92-005-21
,
was extracted from a series of the Nurses Using Rural Sentinal
Events (NURSE) project, conducted by the California Occupational
Health Program of the California Department of Health Services,
in conjunction with the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health. Publication date: December 1992.
The NURSE (Nurses Using Rural Sentinel Events) project is
conducted by the California Occupational Health Program
of the California Department of Health Services, in conjunction
with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health. The program's goal is to prevent occupational injuries
associated with agriculture. Injuries are reported by hospitals,
emergency medical services, clinics, medical examiners,
and coroners. Selected cases are followed up by conducting
interviews of injured workers, co-workers, employers, and
others involved in the incident. An on-site safety investigation
is also conducted. These investigations provide detailed
information on the worker, the work environment, and the
potential risk factors resulting in the injury. Each investigation
concludes with specific recommendations designed to prevent
injuries, for the use of employers, workers, and others
concerned about health and safety in agriculture.
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