Woman’s arm pulled into moving gears, permanently disfigured
November 11, 2008 by Fred HosierPosted in: Bizarre Accident of the Week, In this week's e-newsletter, Injuries, Investigations, Latest News & Views, OSHA news
Dressing properly for workplace safety includes more than wearing the right protective gear. Employees also have to know what they shouldn’t wear, such as loose-fitting clothing.
Derri Carrier’s arm was permanently disfigured when she was just 18 years old.
She was cleaning a bacon production line inside an Iowa food processing plant. Moving parts grabbed the loose sleeve of her smock and pulled her arm in.
Carrier’s humerus bone snapped instantly. Her arm was stuck in the machinery, and she couldn’t reach the emergency stop button.
By the time someone heard her screams and stopped the machine, most of her arm’s skin and muscle had been stripped away.
Her employer, National Service Company of Iowa (NSC), conducted its own investigation and concluded the responsibility rested with Carrier. It found she should not have been wearing the loose-fitting smock.
Now, NSC strictly forbids its workers from wearing such loose-fitting clothes.
In an interview with KETV, Carrier wonders why Iowa’s OSHA didn’t investigate.
Iowa only requires workplaces report accidents that involve loss of limb.
The state’s Labor Commissioner, Dave Neil, said more investigations aren’t done because of a lack of federal funds coming to states.
Federal OSHA investigates workplace accidents when there is a fatality or three employees are hospitalized. A bill in Congress would require investigations when two workers have to go to a hospital.
Are efforts to reduce workplace injured harmed by a lack of government investigations? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.
For more on this story, click here.
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Tags: loose-fitting clothes, permanently disfigured, protective gear
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November 18th, 2008 at 8:18 am
If the company now has a rule about loose fitting clothing it evidently didn’t have one before. How do you blame the employee if you are not on top of the situations in your company. Isn’t there supervision in the areas. Loose fitting clothing and moving equipment parts does not take a leap of ingenuity to figure something might happen.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I would have to ask. Why was the gears exposed to be able to grab the smock? Why was the machine not locked and tagged out before cleaning? What has been done since to prevent another instance of this disfiguring event? I would say it is the companies fault for not having proper procedures and guards in place.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I am suprised as I have worked in the food industry in the past . Most plants require lockout tag during cleaning and protective cuffs are worn to prevent burns from the chemicals used to clean with and they have elastic on the cuff to contain personal clothing.
November 19th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Their findings on the employee being found at fault makes you wonder what kind of investigation they conducted. There is not enough info in the article but that blame thing makes you wonder what are the attitidudes and views the managment. I would bet that they company is not the the smoothest ran company.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Her company did its own investigation? And found against the employee. Right or wrong, the employee deserves an independent investigation. That’s like the fox in the henhouse blaming the hens for his appetite.
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I find it interesting that the statement from the state’s Labor Commissioner, Dave Neil, said “more investigations aren’t done because of a lack of federal funds coming to states.”
I think that’s the problem with these situations…the state, the counties, the cities, etc is waiting for someone to tell them what to do and give them money. I think we need more information on guards, procedures, etc before we can make a judgment one way or the other, but our government has lost the ability to “do the right thing.”
It’s such a shame that an 18 year old girl receives such an injury and we don’t seem to get into the root cause to prevent another occurrence because Dave is waiting on funds.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:08 pm
All I can say is MACHINE GUARDING…also if this was always exposed, there should have been a safety familiarization training for all employees and personnel that worked with or around the machine. I don’t know there view but if most of your skin and muscle strips away, to me that is equivalent to loss of limb. No muscle or movement of your arm is lost of limb even if it is still attached.