Worker chops 7 1/2 fingers off, blames himself

June 30, 2010 by Jim Burger

Posted in: Bizarre Accident of the Week, Employee responsibility, In this week's e-newsletter, Injuries, Latest News & Views, Workers' attitudes about safety

Those who think workers are too quick to blame everyone else for accidents that happen in the workplace will be heartened by this employee’s attitude.

After losing seven-and-a-half fingers in an industrial accident, 53-year-old Manuel Rosario said he, not his employer, was to blame.

It happened last week at the Long Island (NY) aerospace company, Hughes-Treitler. Rosario said the machine he was working on slammed shut before he could pull his hands away.

He lost all his digits except two thumbs and part of his right pinkie.

But he said in an interview, “You have to be strong and take care of what happened to you.”

Of course, OSHA is now investigating the accident. And it seems doubtful that its attitude toward the company will be as forgiving.

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Tags: Injuries, OSHA

J D

Sounds like this man is not aware of his rights under OSHA. This is why they require the Intro to OSHA training. I agree with everyone else- there must have been some engineering controls that could’ve prevented his injury. Sad!
http://www.safetynewsalert.com/worker-chops-seven-fingers-off-blames-himself/#more-7333 David

Manuel says he was working on the machine. There really isn’t enough information to base a decision on. I would guess that Manuel is a maintenance person and did not follow lockout tag out protocol. If this is the case it is his responsibility as long as the company trained him in this practice.
unknown

he never said he blamed himself you should read the article on newsday.com befor posting such a thing yes it did slam shut the machine was not working properly and the company was aware of this and did not do anything to avoid this from happening…
Carol

Totally agree with you Rob.
D F

Slammed shut?????? That implies the controls to protect workers are not adequate.

This injured worker feels guilty? OMG!!!! And all the cuties we see that fake stuff!!!!

Geeezzz I feel bad for this man…….And this sounds preventable………..
DMac

Agree with Rob. Definately a machine gaurding issue which should have been identified and corrected by the employer. Entirely preventable…
http://www.google.com/profiles/stewartrob.stewart Rob Stewart

My experience has been the opposite workers tend to blame themselves inappropriately e.g. if I didn’t stop for coffee Dan would have been with me when the facility blew up… It is a natural tendency to do this sort of thing immediately following an accident. A good question in the Rosario case would be where are the engineering controls. This fellow should never have lost his fingers!