Amputations

An employee was operating the manual side of a press stretcher (the tail side). He placed a block inside the channel of the aluminum extrusion and clamped it in the jaw end of the stretcher. When the employee noticed the block was out of alignment, he opened the jaw with his right hand and used his left hand to re-align the block. While he was re-aligning the block, the jaw handle slipped from his hand and closed on his finger. This occurred at the same time the head stretcher began pulling on the extrusion. The employee's left index finger was caught between the jaw and the extrusion. He pulled his hand back and lost his fingertip.