Pactiv LLC: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Sep 5, 2017: Employee's finger is caught between elevator part and struct

At 8:00 a.m. on September 5, 2017, Employee #1 was holding an elevator assembly part while a coworker was handling the counterbalance weight. The coworker released the counterbalance and the employee's pinky finger was pinched and crushed between the part and the fixed structure. Employee #1 was hospitalized for his injury.

Incident on May 4, 2010: Employee cuts tip of thumb off in machine

At approximately 12:30 PM, on May 2, 2010, Employee #1 of Pactiv Corp., suffered an injury when his left thumb got caught between the belt and the pulley of the thermo former-trim press. The thermo former-trim press suddenly cycled when Emp loyee #1 touched the belt. The edge of the pulley severed the top pad of Employe e #1's left thumb. Employee #1 was troubleshooting a problem at the machine and touching the belt to access the tension of the belt.

Incident on Nov 29, 2007: Employee struck by pipe and sustains concussion

At approximately 10:30 p.m. on November 29, 2007, Employee #1 was inside "Grinde r 2 Pit", a sub-floor room that houses the electrical motor and the grinder for the extrusion process. Employee #1 was inside "Grinder 2 Pit" to replace an 8-in . pipe connected to the grinder. Employee #1 was working by himself, elevated ap proximately 6 ft by an A-frame step ladder to replace an 8-in. elbow pipe. After performing the cut, the elbow pipe swung and hit Employee #1 in the head causin g him to fall to the ground and become unconscious. Employee #1 does not remembe r falling down; he only remembers being hit by the elbow pipe. Employee #1 suffe red an "Acute Epidural Hematoma" and was hospitalized six days for treatment.

Incident on Jun 24, 2006: Employee's fingers are amputated by machine

On June 24, 2006, Employee #1 was operating a cardboard box-forming machine. The three middle fingers of her right hand were amputated in the unguarded end spro cket and chain of a conveyor. Employee #1 was hospitalized.

Incident on Dec 21, 2005: Employee's arm is crushed by rolls of extrusion machine

At approximately 4:30 a.m. on December 21, 2005, Employee #1 was performing his duties of employment as a sheet operator. Employee #1 was removing some plastic mass/build-up of that formed on the rolls of an E4 extrusion machine. Employee # 1 asked his coworker to slowly move the rolls forward so that he could clean the plastic build up from the rear of the roll. Employee #1 was inside of the machi ne next to the rolls, and could not see his coworker. As the coworker slowly mov ed the rolls, a sharp piece of plastic caught Employee #1's sleeve, puncturing a nd pulling his arm into the roll. Employee #1's supervisor was in his office at the time of the accident. Employee #1 was hospitalized and treated for crushing injuries to his left arm. Employee #1 worked for a company that engaged in manuf acturing plastic containers for the food industry. The operations on site includ ed an oriented polystyrene extrusion line, thermal forming operation packaging, labeling/padding of containers, recycling, and reclaiming processes. Employee #1 worked for the employer for approximately 18 years. The cause of the accident w as improper use of Lock/out-tagout.

Incident on Nov 2, 2004: Partial amputation caused by trim press machine

At approximately 10:10 p.m., on November 2, 2004, Employee #1, working for PACTI V, which made plastic food containers, was unjamming a plastic piece from inside the Trimpress #10 machine. He had locked out the electrical and air power suppl y to machine, opened the access door on the north side of the machine, and posit ioned and climbed an eight-step A-frame ladder to access the jammed plastic piec es. He put his right hand inside to grab the jammed pieces and the top platen sl id down about 9 inches and crushed his right hand and fingers, causing a partial amputation to the little, middle, and ring fingers. He did not use any blocking to stop the top platen from inadvertent movement prior to the unjamming task, a s required by company safety policy. Employee #1 was transported to USC Medical Center by paramedics and hospitalized there for a few days for medical treatment .

Incident on Jun 9, 2004: Employee amputates finger while reloading machine

At approximately 4:00 p.m. on June 9, 2004, Employee #1 and a coworker, thermofo rming operators, were positioning a new plastic roll on an unwinding stand. Empl oyee #1 was standing to the right of the unwinding stand, while her coworker man ually pulled the plastic from the roll to feed into the rolls of the thermoformi ng machine. Employee #1 began to lose her balance and placed her right hand on o ne of the horizontal rails that help guide the plastic rolls into the roll holde r of the unwinding stand. The plastic rolled over her right index finger, severi ng it. Employee #1 transported to a medical facility, where she was treated for her injury.

Incident on Jun 7, 2004: Employee's finger amputated in machine

At approximately 4:30 p.m. on June 7, 2004, Employee #1 and a fellow employee of PACTIV Corporation were inspecting, servicing and repairing a Lyle Model Number 150 Thermoforming Unit. The employees had shut the power off and applied their lockout devices. They also blocked the upper and lower platens before they began to inspect and repair a leaking O-ring seal. A third employee asked the repair team to also check the O-ring seals on the stripper plate; however, the team did not block the stripper plate. The third employee engaged the solenoid air valve to open the stripper plate away from the upper platen, and used the thumb screw to operate the "hold open" function to keep the stripper plate from closing ins tead of properly locking it out and relieving the pressure. The employee could t ell that the thumb screw was not going to hold open the stripper plate, so he re activated the valve and turned the thumb screw. This time the "hold open" functi on worked. In between the two times that the third employee activated the valve, Employee #1 reached into the area to check the seal. The stripper plate closed, crushing and amputating part of Employee #1's right middle finger. He was trans ported to Western Hand Clinic for treatment.

Incident on Dec 14, 2003: Employee's finger is amputated by forklift

On December 14, 2003, Employee #1, a machine operator, was assisting a forklift operator to pick up a scale by holding the lifting handle on the scale as the fo rks were inserted into the handle. Employee #1's hand and finger became pinched between the fork and the handle. He was hospitalized at Kaweah Delta Hospital fo r a finger tip amputation.

Incident on Jan 21, 2004: Employee is injured while removing drive shaft of press

At approximately 2:45 p.m. on January 21, 2004, Employee #1 and a coworker were removing the upper drive shaft of an Irwin M-111 former and trim press. They cou ld not use the manufacture's procedures for removing the shaft because the emplo yer had modified it. The upper drive shaft was 4 inches in diameter, 74 inches l ong, and weighed 225 pounds. It was located about 8 feet above the floor. After removing all of the fastening devices, Employee #1 told the coworker to position a forklift on the west side of the press so that one of the blades would push a gainst the shaft. The plan was for the coworker to bump the shaft using the fork lift while Employee #1 observed the shaft movement by standing on the south side of the press. He stood on the piping manifold and braced himself by placing his right hand against the outlet side of the press's housing and his left hand on components in front of him. Employee #1 observed the shaft movement during sever al taps on the shaft by the forklift. As the coworker tapped the shaft again, it fell about 2 inches, pinching the fingers of Employee #1 between the bottom of the upper drive shaft and the bearing housing of the press. Employee #1 suffered an amputation of his right ring and middle fingers and was transported to Queen of the Valley hospital for treatment.

Incident on Oct 29, 2003: Extruder operator is burned when sprayed by molten plastic

At approximately 10:30 p.m. on October 29, 2003, an extruder department supervis or was changing a filter on a plastic extruding machine that manufactured items such as disposable plastic food containers. On the day of the accident, one of t he thermostats in extruding machine Number 5 was accidentally dislodged from the machine. Consequently, the heater in the machine was melting the plastic at a h igher temperature than normal. The filter needed to be changed so that the machi ne could properly remove any lumps or bubbles in the plastic. As the supervisor was changing one of the filters in the dual-filter system, liquefied plastic spr ayed on him. The filter changer was designed to replace a filter without turning off the machine. Welex manufactured the extruder and Parker Directional Control Valve manufactured the filter changer with the model number of D3W1DNYC14x4629. The employee suffered second- and third-degree burns to his head, neck, arms, a nd torso and was hospitalized.

Incident on Apr 6, 2003: Employee suffers amputation of fingers

At approximately 3:15 p.m. on April 6, 2003, Employee #1 was verifying the repai rs he made on the chain driven rotary air lock which is driven by a 208-V, 3-pha se, and 0.5-HP motor. Employee #1 located the problem with the chain and sprocke t of the rotary air lock. Employee #1 locked out the main disconnect, replaced t he chain and sprocket, removed the lockout device and tested the system. Employe e #1 left the chain and sprocket guard off to verify it was working correctly. T he chain and sprocket was operating correctly but when Employee #1 looked throug h the plastic window he could not see any plastic debris coming out of the disch arge vent of the rotary air lock. Employee #1 opened the enclosure door that hou ses a large cardboard box. The plastic debris goes through the air rotary into t he cardboard box which is called a "Gaylord." When employee #1 was about to step into the enclosure his foot slipped, he lost his balance and somehow his right hand got caught in the vanes of the air rotary blower. Employee #1 wrapped his h and with a rag, picked up his amputated fingers and went to the office. Employee #1 suffered the partial amputation of the index and middle fingers of his right hand. The amputation included bone loss. Employee #1 was treated for his injuri es but was not hospitalized.

Incident on Dec 20, 2002: Employee injures hip when bale falls on her

Employee #1 works in the duplex room of a company that processes recycle paper i nto paper products. This area is where the recycled paper is stored and fed into the system. Employee #1's job is to remove the wires from the bales of paper an d push the bales into the pulper. The bales of paper are approximately five feet long by four feet high by two and half feet wide. The bales weigh approximately one thousand four hundred pounds when dry and up to two thousand five hundred p ounds when wet. The bales have three wires holding them together. Employee #1 us es a fork lift truck with a grasping device in front to move the bales in positi on to be fed into the pulper. She has to walk up to the bales and use a wire cut ter to cut the wires from the bales. Employee #1 then pulls the wires away from the bales. When she was pulling the wires from the bale, half of the bale fell o ver and struck her and pushing her to the ground. Employee #1's sustained a frac tured pelvis from the weight of the bale. She was hospitalized for her injuries.

Incident on Oct 1, 2001: Employee suffers amputation of finger

Employee #1 works for a molded paper products manufacturing company as a lead mi llwright. Employee #1 was checking on a problem with the spray conveyor V-belt p ulley drive. Employee #1 took the guard off the drive belt with the equipment ru nning. A coworker stopped the conveyor belt. Employee #1 assumed that the convey or had been stopped for him. Employee #1 reached into the V-belt pulley drive to remove a piece of material that was caught in the pulley drive. The coworker tu rned the conveyor on as Employee #1 had his fingers in the V-belt pulley drive a nd suffered the amputation of the finger. Employee #1 was treated for his injury but not hospitalized.

Incident on May 11, 2001: Employee sustained amputation of thumb when hand was caught

At approximately 12:50 a.m. on May 11, 2001, Employee #1 was cleaning the area a round a panel line--the glue application pull rollers. Employee #1 tripped over a piece of a honey comb scrap and fell forward. He put his left hand out to stop his fall and his hand contacted the crush roller. Employee #1 was pulled into t he roller. He pulled his hand out of the rollers while they were still revolving . Another employee saw Employee #1 falling back and came to his aid. He wrapped a rag around the hand of Employee #1. Employee #1 was transported to the Health First Medical Group by two coworkers. The Medical Group diagnosis was an amputat ion of the left thumb. The left thumb was reattached. Later, it was determined t hat Employee #1 also had numbness in his left hand and fingers. The crush roller s were used to pull the honeycomb material into the glue application section of the machine. At the time of accident, the pull rollers were not effectively guar ded. The opening in the guard was 7.5 in. high. The overall length of the roller s was 65 in. The honey comb material varied in thickness up to five in., but at the time of the accident the thickness of the honeycomb material was 0.5 in.

Incident on Feb 23, 2000: Employee injured when arm caught in machine

At approximately 6:10 a.m. on February 23, 2000, Employee #1 attempted to adjust the sheet guide of the brown narrow bed Thermoformer N4, CS 2100 Serial Number 12566 while the Thermoformer was in operation. Employee #1 stated that he was tr ying to get rid of a scratch on the plastic sheeting and thought the north sheet guide was pressing against the sheet too tightly and making this scratch. Emplo yee #1 said he climbed onto the ladder on the north side of the machine and whil e leaning over the sheet guide bed, he reached under the sheet guide to readjust the sheet guide downwards to get rid of the scratch. Employee #1 said that was when the cuff of his cloth glove got caught by the chain picks of the unguarded chain and sprocket drive and pulled his arm into the sprocket teeth. After the c hain and sprocket cycled once Employee #1 was able to free his hand by pulling d ownwards. Once Employee #1 had his hand free of the chain and sprocket he notice d the laceration to his left wrist. Employee #1 said he wrapped his left wrist w ith two clean rags, shut his toolbox, took his personal backpack and headed for the office. Employee #1 did not stop, de-energize, lock out or mechanically bloc k the movable parts of the brown narrow bed Thermoformer N4, to prevent movement during this adjustment operation. Employee #1 suffered tendon damage and was ho spitalized for two days.

Incident on Jan 4, 2000: Employee burned from steam

At about 6:15 p.m. on January 4, 2000, a maintenance employee was asked to look at an L-400 laminator extruder. Employee #2, the operator, had said the machine was running hot. Employee #1 felt the inlet hose and the outlet hose and determi ned the outlet hose was hot. He then checked the pressure on the filter and dete rmined that scaling had clogged the filter. A third employee began to loosen the bolts that held the flanges in place in order to remove the filter, but Employe e #1 took over and continued to loosen the two bolts. Employee #1 slowly loosene d the bolts to release pressure, but nothing happened. As he continued to loosen the bolts, 200-degree-Fahrenheit steam sprayed from between the flanges onto Em ployee #1. He suffered second and third degree burns to his legs, hands, abdomen , and genitalia; and was hospitalized. Normal operating temperature was between 120 and 140 degrees-Fahrenheit and the machine did not have a proper valve syste m for venting steam.