Iron Foundries

NarrativeAt 6:00 p.m. on October 30, 2017, Employee #1 stated that the sand molder on the Redford #3 core machine was making "weird" noises, so he started troubleshooting the machine, including checking the sand magazine for sand. Normal troubleshooting procedure for the machine involves removing fixed guards on the machine and moving machine parts independently by using selector switches on the machine's control panel. To check for sand in the sand magazine, Employee #1 put his right hand on top of the sand magazine while the sand magazine moved forward toward the blow position. The sand magazine has a vertical clamp that comes down on the top of the sand magazine when the sand magazine reaches the blow position. With the selector switch for the vertical clamp set in manual mode, the vertical clamp engages automatically when the sand magazine reaches the limit of the blow position. However, with the selector switch for the vertical clamp set in the automatic mode, the vertical clamp will not engage automatically when the sand magazine reaches the limit of the blow position. The selector switch for the vertical clamp was in the manual setting when Employee# 1 put his right hand on top of the sand magazine to check for sand. When the sand magazine reached the limit of the blow position, the vertical clamp engaged automatically, catching his right middle finger, and resulting in an oblique partial amputation of the distal phalanx on the right middle finger.

NarrativeAt 8:40 a.m. on September 25, 2017, Employee #1 was working at the east mixer in the black building, filling sand molds and noticed that the sand was not flowing out of the spout very quickly. A guard that had been welded over the spout was missing. The employee reached his right hand into the mixer's spout while the machine was running, in order to try to clear any sand that might have been obstructing the flow. His hand contacted the mixer's tines and the employee's right middle finger was amputated at the distal phalange joint and the right ring fingertip was lacerated.