Repair Technician Loses Fingers in Unsafe Equipment

In my 20+ years as a forensic engineer, I have investigated a number of cases such as this, involving pinch points, guarding, failure to warn and failure to train. I recently had a similar case involving pinch points and maintenance in a plastics plant. While my job as a forensic engineer does not routinely involve training, I have done a great deal of operator training as well as critique of training in regard to various ANSI standards involving construction and factory equipment. I sit on committees establishing the standards for the training I have done and critiqued, and my recommendations have affected industry safety training and best practices for years. Fortunately, I have never experienced an accident of this nature, but I have had ‘close calls’ where I have stopped operators from making mistakes that could have potentially resulted in accidents. I have worked as a designer of automation machinery at several companies. In all cases, safety of operation and safety while doing maintenance were of a major concern. I have assisted in the actual installation of automation equipment and earlier in my career, and trained people in its use. I have assisted in the writing of training manuals for construction equipment. It appears that there was a dual issue here – on the one hand, the missing safety features are a definitive flaw in the way this factory had configured/was using this particular piece of equipment. On the other hand, the fact that this Plaintiff was using his bare fingers to perform these repairs, allegedly in accordance with the training he received, is highly inadvisable.