Keystone Powdered Metal Company

Incident Narrative

Two employees were repairing a press. During the process, the two employees were repositioning the core rod assembly onto a pallet near the back of the press. The core rod assembly was in a vertical position, with the core rod component sitting on a pallet. One employee was operating a forklift to reposition the core rod assembly. The forklift operator communicated to the other employee that he was going to lay the core rod assembly down. At that point, the other employee had his right hand holding the core rod stop mechanism to help guide it down. At approximately three quarters of the way down, the core rod assembly slipped off of the pallet causing the core rod stop mechanism to move up, pinching the other employee's right index and middle fingers between the core stop mechanism and the core rod assembly and amputating the fingers at the first knuckle.