UPS Ground Freight Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Feb 1, 2019: Employee suffers amputation of right ring finger while opera

Between 12:15 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. on February 2, 2019, Employee #1 was operating a dock plate at a customer location. He was delivering a pallet of freight onto a dock leveler plate. He was at the check in as he had an appointment and he delivered the paperwork to go with the freight. Employee #1 moved his truck over to door 33 at the south end of the building, opened the trailer door and pressed the button for the dock leveler plate. The dock plate did not extend properly, and Employee #1 put his hands underneath the dock plate to assist it to extend and it came down. He pulled his hands out quickly from underneath the plate and degloved his right ring finger, severely injured his right pinky finger and damaged his right ankle. Fortunately, a coworker at the facility pressed a button to raise the dock plate off Employee # 1, found his finger tip, went to management to have them contact 911 and shortly the paramedics arrived. Employee #1 was working alone when the accident happened. Employee #1 was wearing gloves at the time of the accident, although the gloves did not prevent the injuries as there were pinch and shear points underneath the dock plate. Employee #1 did not receive safety training and instruction from the employer on how to handle dock plates safely; this was a contributing factor to the accident. Employee #1 suffered a right ring finger amputation (a degloving type injury) up to the first joint, severely injured his right pinky finger and damaged his right ankle. The entry states he was not hospitalized, however, the accident description suggests that he most likely was. The accident was communicated to DOSH on February 1, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. The employer complied with the reporting requirement. DOSH arrived at the site on February 26, 2019 at 3:30 p.m.