Aramark Uniform Services: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Feb 10, 2007: Employee is injured when hand is caught in machine

At approximately 7:00 a.m. on February 10, 2007, an employee, an Assistant Chief Engineer, was performing a sporadically assigned task of replacing the fabric m aterial on the lower guide roller of the flat ironer machine. The employee was t he supervisor in charge to replace the fabric pad material on the lower in-feed guide roller on the American Super-Sylon Flatwork Ironer, no further description available, with a coworker. They locked out the energy to the ironer, and remov ed the apron to gain access to the guide rollers. The employee and a coworker re moved the old fabric pad from the lower guide roller, and cleaned the roll with wire brushes to remove the old adhesive. They applied fresh adhesive to the lowe r guide roller, cut the fabric pad to the desired size, and applied the pad to t he guide roller. Upon completing the replacement of the pad, the lock-out device s were removed from the ironer, the ironer was reenergized, and started to check the installation. The employee noticed that the pad had developed wrinkles. Thi s condition had never occurred in past replacements, and the wrinkles must be re moved. The employee instructed the coworker to "jog" the ironer so the employee would have access to the wrinkles. When the ironer would stop the employee would smooth the lower guide roller fabric with his hands to remove the wrinkles. Thi s process was to continue until the guide roller fabric was free of wrinkles. Du ring this process, the employee inadvertently placed his left hand on the lower guide roller fabric before the roll had stopped catching his hand in the gap bet ween the in-feeding upper and lower guide rollers to his mid- palm. This action crushed his hand causing the skin to rupture but not fracturing any bones. The e mployee assisted by other coworkers, were not able to free his hand from the rol lers. The employee instructed his coworker to remove the lower guide roll flange bearing. After the bearing was removed the employee was able to remove his hand from the ironer. The employee was working with/in close proximity to his assist ant (coworker). The injured employee was the supervisor of the maintenance depar tment. The employee was transported to USC Medical Center, transferred to, treat ed at, and admitted to, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center for in excess of 14 d ays.

Incident on Dec 1, 2006: Employee fractures arm in conveyor belt

Employee #1 was observing the movement of a conveyor belt when he noticed that t he belt was jumping. He determined that one or more of the gears were not aligne d in the groove. When he reached up with a closed fist and struck the conveyor b elt, his left hand was drawn into the belt. He suffered a compound fracture and was hospitalized.

Incident on Apr 15, 2004: A 200 lb bag lands on worker's hand, fracturing it

On April 15, 2004, Employee #1, a garment folder pulled on an overhead blue cord that allowed laundry bags full of clean uniforms to enter the overhead area in her work station. Employee #1 then pulled on a second overhead cord, but release d it too soon, and one of the two trolleys (wheels that glide the overhead bags) came off the track. Several coworkers attempted to pull a jammed bag to free it and move it closer to Employee #1, when a second set of trolleys came off its t rack. Employee #1 was hospitalized with a fractured hand, when a bag weighing ap proximately 200 pounds fell from the overhead track and landed on the back of he r hand.

Incident on Jul 6, 2001: Employee amputates tip of right thumb in conveyor accident

Employee #1 worked at Aramark Uniform Services, where he was testing a newly ins talled soft-sort auto-sort system that sorts clean uniforms for shipment. The so ft-sort is a screw-type conveyor with metal hangers riding on it. One of the han gers jumped off the conveyor and Employee #1 reached out to grab it. In doing so , the hanger became entangled around the conveyor and his right hand. Before he could turn the machine off, the hanger pinched off the tip of his right thumb. H e was hospitalized.

Incident on Oct 31, 1997: Employee's head injured in fall

Employee #1 was correcting the misalignment of a bag of soiled linen, which had inadvertently been hooked on the wrong laundry line of an overhead carousel lead ing down into the wash department. He was pushing the bag forward toward the fro nt edge of the canopy roof when he fell 12 ft 6 in. through a section of the cor rugated metal surface, striking his head on the concrete floor as he landed. Emp loyee #1 sustained major head injuries, for which he was hospitalized.

Incident on Sep 9, 1997: Employee injured when dryer crushes arm

Employee #1, a washroom person, climbed in behind a dryer to look for coins in t he lint trap. The operator of the dryer was not aware that Employee #1 was behin d the dryer. Employee #1 was not supposed to be behind the dryer. The dryer oper ator lowered the dryer after removing the dried uniforms. Employee #1's left arm was fractured when the dryer set down on it.

Incident on Sep 30, 1996: Employee's arm lacerated in clothing conveyor

Employee #1, a route sales representative for Aramark, was using a pick conveyor system to off load clean uniforms on hangers in preparation for delivery. The p rotruding picks were about 1/8 in. thick by 1/2 in. wide by 2 in. long, and were attached to an electric-motor-driven chain that moved inside a 1 1/2 in. diamet er tube with a slit in it. The picks pushed the hangers onto the tubing, which w as 62 in. above the floor. When clothing for another account began to get mixed in, Employee #1 tried to stop the extraneous apparel by reaching into the chain conveyor framework to pluck out the extraneous apparel. He sustained lacerations to his left arm when it became caught on a pick. There was no guard or cover fo r these hazardous moving parts.