WARD VESSEL & EXCHANGER CORPORATION

Employee suffers amputations when coworker turns on machine

At 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, January 23, 2021, an employee was working for a firm that manufactured heavy gauge metal tanks. He was working as a helper, mechanic, and repair technician. The firm operated a metal fabrication facility at this location. The employer had 24 employees at this facility and approximately 100 employees throughout the United States. The employee and a coworker were working on a Roundo plate roller. The plate roller was located at the facility's north wall by the bay door. The plate roller was operated with a pendant control, but there were electrical issues with the control. The coworker was doing electrical work while the employee cleaned the plate roller. The coworker, not knowing that the employee was cleaning the rollers on the plate roller, started up the machine. More than one finger on the employee's left hand was caught in the rollers. The employee suffered the amputation of all or part of the middle and index fingers on his left hand. The employee was taken to the hospital for treatment. He was hospitalized. During a visual inspection, the CSHO noted there was no guard for the point of operation for the roller. A control pendant was lying on the roller, bearing a tag that stated "out of service," with initials and dated 1-25-21. The control buttons to the pendant had no labeling on them to identify their direction. The CSHO inspected the electrical cord for the roller.t had black tape wrapped around the cord. Upon verifying that the roller was disconnected, the CSHO removed the black tape. Underneath, the inner cables were revealed, but no exposed wiring.