Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1520729.015 - Gold Bond Building Products, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation Division Of Labor And Industry Maryland Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

At 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 18, 2021, an employee was working for a firm that manufactured gypsum products. He was on the second floor of the firm's building. A scheduled shutdown had ended, and he was resuming work. He worked with gypsum pieces that were moved on a GRT Rubber Technologies Accuform forming board conveyor belt, with serial number 200000488. It was powered by a 480-volt motor. There was a gap of 3 in. (76 mm) between the rollers where one section of belt ended, and another section began. The end of each belt was about 36 in. (0.9 m) above the floor. The belts traveled at 135 feet (41 m) per minute. The diameter of the rollers was 3 in. (76 mm). The belts let gypsum boards lie flat as they cured along the length of the belts. There was an unguarded nip point in the gap between the rollers at the ends of the two belts. In this incident, the employee put his hand in the nip point. His arm became lodged up to a point above the elbow. He suffered severe skin abrasion causing first- and second-degree burns. Some skin was removed. He was hospitalized. The apparatus had been in the same approximate location and employees had been working on it for at least a year. The hazard of unguarded rotating parts on the conveyor belt had existed for approximately one year, exposing employees to injury. Employees' hands, clothes, or tools could inadvertently reach the belts. Fixed guarding would have inhibited employees from being injured. Each conveyor belt was wide open and could easily be accessed from any location along the belt. The employees operating the conveyor belts were required to work near the conveyor belts, 1 foot (0.3 m) from the belts, for some one to four hours daily, placing employees at the point of danger. At the time the investigator was conducting the inspection, the employer was constructing guarding on conveyors to protect employees from rotating parts in between conveyor belts. The employer had welded guards to the belts' frames.

Keywords: Abrasion, Arm, Avulsion, Belt, Belt Conveyor, Burn, Caught Between, Caught In, Contusion, Conveyor Belt, Degloving, Elbow, Lack of Work Procedures, Machine Guarding, Material Handling, Mech Mat Handling, Nip Point, Skin, Unguarded, Unsafe Position