Priority Pallet Inc: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Aug 21, 2013: Worker amputates two fingers in pallet making machine

At approximately 9:30 a.m. on August 21, 2013, Employee #1, a 21-year-old male l aborer with Priority Pallet Inc., had been feeding stingers (wooden boards) into the feeder unit of a Pallet making machine, a Viking Nailing Machine (Model Tur bo 505, Number T5-0305) that was located in the nailing department. At around 9: 30 a.m., a stinger got stuck in the feeder unit (slot/channel). As Employee #1 t ried to lift the bottom stinger from the channel, the machine started, and the r ed metal bar hit his left middle and index fingers, which caused a partial amput ation of his left digitus medius. Employee #1 worked as a full-time laborer/help er and had been with the employer for about five months. The employer was in the business of manufacturing pallets. A causal factor, for the incident, was that a lock out/tag out procedure was not followed.

Incident on Oct 15, 2001: Employee fractures leg when struck by a fork lift

On October 15, 2001, Employee #1 had finished giving a truck driver his paperwor k and was walking across the shipping and receiving dock. A coworker was backing his forklift from inside a trailer with pallets on his forks. As soon as his co worker came out of the trailer, he turned left looking over his right shoulder. Employee #1 was walking on the left side of the forklift and did not see or hear the forklift. His coworker heard a noise. He looked over his left shoulder and saw Employee #1 lying on the floor holding his leg. His coworker stopped the for klift and got off to assist Employee #1. Employee #1 was transported to Riversid e County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley, California, where he was hosp italized for one week with a fractured left leg.