An employee was setting up a rolling mill. Once he properly sized the wire, he went to cut the nonconforming wire off. At this point, the machine was stopped and he released the tension. He held the loose material in his left hand and went to reach for his snips. As he was holding the material, tension was engaged, he felt a pinch of his left ring finger and instinctively pulled his hand away. As he did so he sustained a partial amputation to his left ring finger.