Incident date: 2020-09-29
NAICS industry code: 237310

An employee was preparing to lift the averaging arm on a milling machine and place it in the locked position so the milling machine could back up and get into position to start a new cut on asphalt. The milling machine started backing up. Another employee grabbed the averaging arm by the end to help the first employee; it raised unbalanced, the opposite end teetered, stuck into the asphalt surface, and the end the second employee was holding lifted. The employee's right index and middle fingers were caught, lacerated, and fractured between the averaging arm and the milling machine. The index finger was medically amputated below the joint and the middle finger was amputated at the tip.

Hazard classification:
code_event: title: Struck by swinging part of powered vehicle
code_source: title: Milling machines, cold planers, and road profilers
code_nature: title: Amputations
code_body: title: Finger(s), fingernail(s), n.e.c.
severity: high