Hand stuck in sheeter

C

Crusher

New member
Just had an employee get his hand stuck in our dough sheeter. He is on his way to the hospital with some pretty nasty injuries. Has anyone had this happen to one of there employees? How did the insurance company handle it? I’m hoping he doesn’t lose any of the fingers.
 
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Wow, that’s horrible. I hope he is okay.

How is that even possible? Do you know exactly what happened? What make/model sheeter was involved?

We use sheeters at our stores and I’d really like to know what happened, as I’ve never even considered it a possibility.

(BTW, you should probably change your forum name - “Crusher” doesn’t seem appropriate anymore… 😉 )
 
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YUK !!!
Always have it in the back of my mind about fingers going in bewteen the rollers.
Insurance will want to have full details of the accident on the claim form. There should be special forms at the hospital that will be sent to you and then back to the hospital who forward it to insurance for payment.
In Australia if there is an accident involving machinery then it is probable to get a visit from thr Department of Workplace who send out inspectors to check the machinery, and then a concerted look at everything in the shop - all machinery, storeage of goods, etc
Hope everything goes well for the worker.

Dave
 
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I hope he is OK and there is no permanent damage.

Is there some kind of safety guard that is supposed to prevent hands from possibly entering the sheeter? Was it in place?
 
Sorry to hear about the injury. Being an operations manager for years in food service and construction I can offer my opinion for what it’s worth. First, put everything in writing about what happened. Get statements from other employees that witnessed the accident. Was any horseplay involved? I know it sounds low but you need to protect yourself a little bit too. What about the sheeter…are all the guards in place? Does it have a safety bar? Etc… Call your insurance carrier tomorrow and fill them in. The sooner the better. They might require a drug test of the employee for this type of injury…it might be in your policy. Show support and concern…but do not take responsibility until you have all the details. This can be ugly depending on the employee, the injury, all the imput he is getting from all his friends about his big lawsuit he has here…and trust me… they all have friends that want a cut and are already talking to their “lawyer buddies”… I know this sucks especially if it was really an innocent accident…but be careful. Do you have an employee handbook? Does it cover all power equipment specifically? Mixers? Sheeters? Etc… I know this is alot to take in…but this all comes from years of dealing with everything from papercuts to major injuries. Also, have any witness employees sign and date their statements and do it now before they talk to the injured person anymore. Statements tend to change as more talk goes on and it never looks good. It’s one reason most insurers require a First Report of Injury be filled out immediately as to try and get the real or as real of the story as possible. Good luck with everything. Oh…also… I am curious too… what brand and model of sheeter was involved? Take care.
 
Also don’t be surprised if you get a surprised visit from OSHA on this. It all depends on how busy they are in your area and how bad the injury ends up being. I would take a good look around your entire store and make sure everything is up too par and just be honest with them and they usually do treat you fairly. Accidents do happen and most of the times it is the employee’s own doing that caused the injury. I am not trying to sound harsh…it’s just the truth of the matter. Good luck once again.
 
qcfmike:
…most of the times it is the employee’s own doing that caused the injury…
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Pretty quick to blame the employee! (and people wonder where the source of my ire comes from :roll: )

Really? My experience after many years as a QA and Safety inspector in the Navy and having read thousands of mishap reports tells me that most machinery accidents are caused by lack of required training, supervisors non enforcement of safety regulations, missing required warnings and instructions, and missing/inoperative safety equipment/sensors/guards.

I’ll jump on the blame bandwagon too… My guess is that if all of the manufacturer’s instructions were known to the employee, and enforced by the supervisor, this would not be being discussed now. I’ll wager a slice of pizza right now that the injured employee never laid eyes on the safety instructions in the owner’s manual for that machine and that supervisors never enforced all of those safety instructions.

In the Navy, we called resolved mishap information “Lessons Learned”. Problem is that we always learn them over and over again. I suggest that all of you have a “safety stand down” of your own and pull out all of the manuals for the equipment in your store (you do still have them, don’t you?) and read them again yourself, especially the safety cautions and warnings. Are you actually following the instructions? Do your employees know the safety instructions? Do your supervisors know to enforce them?

Are minors who work for you prevented from operating dangerous machinery? Minors may no load or unload our conveyor ovens at PJ’s due to the danger. That may apply to all mechanized equipment at work. Anybody know a reference for that? If not I can look it up later if needed.

I just hope the guy or gal is OK and someone if not everyone learns a valuable lesson from this.
 
Gregster…I was not pretty quick to blame anyone…but with over 20 years of dealing with these issues…if you read my entire post… I also noted about training…ie: handbook…etc… and still most cases are the employee’s fault. Even with the best training and supervision it is still the person that is running the piece of equipment that usually causes the injury. I hope the injury is not major and the person is ok. Now, as a business owner it is also my responsibility to look after not only the employee that got injured but also the rest of my employees and the entire operation. That is the reason you need to investigate immediately what transpired and try to get to the bottom of the situation ASAP. Be it a faulty piece of equipment…poor judgement on the employee’s behalf…a simple accident… or maybe in the worse case…and I have seen this one too… the intentional injury. My field of vision has to be a lot wider than placing blame on someone or something. I need to understand the big picture and try to make the environment as safe and efficient as possible for everyone involved.
 
For once I would agree with gregster (no he11 hasn’t frozen over) in regard to training and reading the manuals. I admit to these shortfalls from time to time, but in the same token I an always overseeing what my staff are doing and how they are doing it, advising / retraining when needed. We constantly have to reinforce safety issues to ensure workplace safety compliance.

But saying that, there are two certainies in any workplace and they are inattention and over confidence. People become blase at something they do day in day out. A simple distraction or taking the mind momentarily of what you are doing more often than not is the cause of the problem, not the training or manuals.

Myself, I have squashed a finger between the middle support pole and the hook in our mixer due to short cutting, and have nearly had my hand slip bewteen the rollers of our sheeter while cleaning the rollers while they were rolling and I had a manager poke her hand down the food processor taking the tip of a finger. All were carelesss accidents by those who shuld know better. With me, luckily no staff were around to witness :oops:

In the end of the day no-one, even the injured party, will really know what happened, but it is a timely reminder that staff need to be reminded over and over about OHS issues and that the majority of injuries in the workforce are fro a momentary lack of attention, not lack of training.

Dave
 
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Talking about safety issues and lo and behold I just ran outside to cover up my dughters custom paint job Nissan Skyline GTR during a massive hailstorm that just hit. Hit is the operative word … huge hailstones (golf ball size) bouncing off my tender bald head :cry:
Did I think OHS … NO
Did I read the manual … NO
Did the training about not going out in a hailstorm click in … NO
Did it hurt … YES

dave
 
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Wow, this is a horrible story. I hope your employee’s injuries aren’t severe.

I’m also really interested to hear what brand of sheeter this is. We us an Acme MRS-11 and I don’t think there’s a way to get a hand in there without tripping the safety switch. It might be possible to get the tips of your fingers bitten, but there’s no way to get an entire hand in there. Not that I know of, anyway, which is why I’m interested to hear the details.
gregster:
Are minors who work for you prevented from operating dangerous machinery? Minors may no load or unload our conveyor ovens at PJ’s due to the danger. That may apply to all mechanized equipment at work. Anybody know a reference for that? If not I can look it up later if needed.
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He never said it was a minor so we shouldn’t jump to that conclusion. That said, I know OSHA disallows minors from operating or cleaning a planetary mixer or slicer. My state specifically disallows anybody under 16 from using a “pizza oven”, though it doesn’t specify the type (deck, conveyor, or both.)
 
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Piper:
He never said it was a minor so we shouldn’t jump to that conclusion. That said, I know OSHA disallows minors from operating or cleaning a planetary mixer or slicer. My state specifically disallows anybody under 16 from using a “pizza oven”, though it doesn’t specify the type (deck, conveyor, or both.)
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Yes, it is against the law for a minor to operate a sheeter. (not that this happened in this case - just clarifying your point).
 
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Update
He saw a hand specialist last night and luckily he didn’t break any bones or tear the tendons. There is a sheath around the tendon that was damaged. They were able to bandage him up and he should make a good recovery. The skin on three fingers was tore open, but they were able to stitch it back in place.

The sheeter is a old Acme not sure of the model number. Because he had his hands flat and fingers pointing out, his hand went right under the safety shut off. He was talking to another worker at the time. Everyone is trained to keep their fingers back (fist) that way if they get close to the rollers their knuckles will hit the safety switch.

I am retraining everyone on the sheeter starting tonight. So far the insurance company has been good to work with. I do expect a visit from the DOL or OSHA.
Registered Guest:
(BTW, you should probably change your forum name - “Crusher” doesn’t seem appropriate anymore… 😉 )
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LOL, your right maybe I should change my forum name.
 
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Glad to see that your employee didn’t suffer TOO great an injury; like you indicated, it’s probably a good chance to make certain everybody is up to speed on ALL your safety-type stuff
 
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Crusher:
Update
He saw a hand specialist last night and luckily he didn’t break any bones or tear the tendons. There is a sheath around the tendon that was damaged. They were able to bandage him up and he should make a good recovery. The skin on three fingers was tore open, but they were able to stitch it back in place.

The sheeter is a old Acme not sure of the model number. Because he had his hands flat and fingers pointing out, his hand went right under the safety shut off. He was talking to another worker at the time. Everyone is trained to keep their fingers back (f**t) that way if they get close to the rollers their knuckles will hit the safety switch.

I am retraining everyone on the sheeter starting tonight. So far the insurance company has been good to work with. I do expect a visit from the DOL or OSHA.
Registered Guest:
(BTW, you should probably change your forum name - “Crusher” doesn’t seem appropriate anymore… 😉 )
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LOL, your right maybe I should change my forum name.
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That’s great! I’m glad there was no permanent damage.

I think many of us are interested in learning something from this - if you care to share. I’d be interested in whats happens if you do get contacted by the DOL or OSHA, etc - and how this goes as far as anyone attempting to assign blame.

But you might not want to post any further information until it is all over - who knows what might be used against you.
 
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Crusher:
The sheeter is a old Acme not sure of the model number. Because he had his hands flat and fingers pointing out, his hand went right under the safety shut off. He was talking to another worker at the time. Everyone is trained to keep their fingers back (f**t) that way if they get close to the rollers their knuckles will hit the safety switch.
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I’m relieved to hear he will be OK.

Is the safety shut off adjustable? Is it set as low as possible to allow proper operation yet prevent hands from entering?
 
That’s the exact sheeter I have, which makes me concerned.

I just went and took a look at it - I can definitely see how you can get a good portion of finger in there with out tripping the safety switch. It isn’t adjustable, but maybe could be modified by attaching another bar to the bottom of it (decreasing the space).
 
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