OSHA investigators arrived in Buena Park, CA on Tuesday, January 29th 2019 and began an accident investigation which had occured previously at True Fresh Hpp. A 23 year old Machine operator had been injured when the
Accident Date2018-09-27
Accident DegreeNon Hospitalized injury
NarrativeAt 3:45 p.m. on September 27, 2018, an employee was working at a food packaging facility. The employer purees and packages baby food at this facility. On the day of the accident, Employee #1's supervisor and a coworker were trying to repair and set up the Waukesha 130 PD Pump for the food item to be processed the following day since it was making an unidentifiable noise. It was the end of the shift, and Employee #1's supervisor told him to stay and help in finding the source of an unidentifiable noise on the Waukesha 130 PD Pump. This pump purees food, and needed to be set up for the next shift, as a different food item would be processed through this machine. Employee #1 and his supervisor took apart the machine to investigate. The machine was located on the floor. They did not find anything, so they started to put the machine back together. While Employee #1 had his hands near the roaders, which is a rotating part on the machine, Employee #1's supervisor stood up and turned on the machine at a panel on the wall. This is a cord and plug machine, and it was not locked out, nor was the plug under the exclusive control of the employees performing the work. Employee #1 suffered an amputation injury with bone loss to the pinky finger on the right hand. Employee #1 was treated at Hoag Hospital in Irvine, California, and had surgery on October 3, 2018 for this injury.