Sonic Industries, Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Jul 9, 2019: Employee's hand is crushed by tail shaft of lathe

At 5:45 p.m. on July 9, 2019, an employee, a full time machinist, was positioning a stock piece of metal into an Okuma 345 CNC metal lathe to produce metal cylinders that were 6.5 inches tall and weighed 5 pounds for aircraft parts. The employee was holding a piece of stock metal in his right hand to position it in the lathe for machining when he activated the tail shaft to clamp the stock into the jaws of the lathe with the foot controls. The employee had placed his hand on the end of the stock in the path of travel of the tail shaft when his hand was caught between the stock and the tail shaft. The tail shaft penetrated the employee's right hand crushing it and causing severe trauma. The was hospitalized to treat a crushing injury to his right hand.

Incident on Apr 16, 2019: Employee amputates thumb when caught in cnc lathe tailstock

At 10:30 a.m. on April 16, 2019, an employee had been working on an order of approximately 35 cylinders when he noted that one of the 12 inch 25 pound cylinders had a mark on it and decided to place the piece back into the Okuma 345 Metal Lathe CNC machine. The employee positioned the cylinder by hand between the CNC machine spindle and the lathe tailstock. Holding the cylinder in place with the thumb of his right hand inside the hollow cylinder, he activated the tailstock by foot pedal. As the tail stock moved into the cylinder the employee was unable to remove his thumb fast enough and the tailstock struck his thumb. The employee amputated his thumb below the knuckle and required medical treatment to reattached the thumb part. The employee was not hospitalized.