Radiant Services Corp.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Aug 13, 2003: Lift gate nip point amputates employee's finger

At approximately 4:45 a.m. on August 13, 2003, Employee #1, a delivery truck dri ver, was testing the lift gate on his vehicle. The lift gate was rising and lowe ring without any problems, but it would not unfold. Employee #1 and a coworker w ere attempting to find out why the lift gate would not unfold. Employee #1 notic ed the safety chain was hooked onto the lift gate and preventing it from unfoldi ng. Employee #1 raised the lift gate using the toggle switch to relieve tension on the safety chain so it could be unhooked. After Employee #1 unhooked the safe ty chain he stood to the rear and side of the lift gate while his coworker manip ulated the goggle switch to lower and unfold the lift gate. Flipping the toggle switch in the direction away from the driver lowers the lift gate to approximate ly 2 ft from the ground then automatically unfolds it and then it continues to l ower to the ground. While the coworker was operating the toggle switch, and the lift gate was lowering, Employee #1 stood next to it facing away from the cowork er. When the lift gate unfolded quickly, as it normally does, Employee #1's fing er was caught and amputated in one of the lift gate's several pinch points. Empl oyee #1 was hospitalized.