Primus, Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Feb 1, 2019: Employee's fingers are caught and crushed in punch press

At 11:30 a.m. on February 1, 2019, an employee was working for a firm that made custom signs, such as menu boards, real estate signs, fascia, and lighting accent bands. The worksite was a one-story freestanding industrial warehouse in a light industrial zone. The building comprised administrative offices and a warehouse with a large fenced yard. The worksite had one employer. All workers were employees of the company. At the time of inspection, the company was in the process of closing the business due to a downturn in the economy. There were no employees at the worksite at the time of inspection. The last day employees worked per the employer was February 15, 2019. The manufacturing involved the use of metalworking machinery and woodworking machinery. This included but not limited to punch presses, press brakes, table saws, and chop saws. The injured worker had worked for the company for nearly ten years as a shop laborer. He had been hired in 2008. The worker had regularly operated the machinery to fabricate signs and parts. On the day of the incident, the worker was operating a 90-kilonewton (10-ton) Rousselle punch press to make holes in a bracket. The bracket was made of steel and approximately 3.175 millimeters (0.125 inches) thick. The holes were approximately 9.525 millimeters (0.375 inches) in diameter. The design called for one hole on each side of the L-bracket. The punch die was a single operation C-frame die, which was secured to the bolster plate on the bed of the punch press. The die had feed clearance for the 3.175-millimeter (0.125-inch) thick bracket. The punch tip was in an enclosed throat. In practice, the employee would place the bracket into the feed slot in the die and engage the foot pedal to operate the press. The employee would then manually turn the bracket 45 degrees, and the second side would be punched. On the day of the incident, the employee had not completed setting up of the press opening or cycle setting before he engaged the foot pedal as he adjusted the placement of the bracket in the die. The press cycled and caught the middle and first fingers on the employee's left hand under the metal bracket. Those two fingers were crushed. The incident occurred at 11:30 a.m. on February 1, 2019. The employer reported the incident to the Division at approximately 12:17 p.m. At that time, the employer was uncertain if the employee had suffered an amputation. The Huntington Beach Fire Department reported the accident to the Division at approximately 12:28 p.m. on the same day, also uncertain if the employee had suffered an amputation or not. The employee was transported to UCI medical center for treatment. He was not hospitalized. Following a later request by the Division, the hospital did not find any mediical records for the employee. The injured worker was supervised by the owner, but the owner did not witness the incident. The inspection found that the punch press did not have required guarding at the point of operation. This was cited accordingly. The violation was cited as accident related. This was cited accordingly. The violation was cited as accident related.