scope:

Description of Driving Event:

On Thursday, January 30, 1992, a NASA contractor employee was tasked by his supervisor with putting casters on a number of office chairs for the Flight Systems and Simulation Research Division Office. The contractor employee had already cut approximately three inches off each chair leg. Since it was not possible to mount the casters directly to the legs of the chair, he was cutting small blocks of oak wood to attach the casters. The blocks then could be attached to the legs of the chair. At approximately 15:15 hours, the contractor employee was cutting the small wooden blocks (approximately three-fourths by three and one-half by four inches) using a Government-owned Rockwell Delta ten-inch Unisaw (table saw), Model and Serial No.'s 34-450 and GE 7834 respectively, located in the shop area of N243. The employee was cutting approximately onesixteenth of an inch off each block to custom fit to each leg. He had set the blade height to approximately three inches. As he was pushing the fourth, and final, block through the blade path with his right hand, the wood block was rejected by the saw blade. This reaction pushed his hand into the blade. The employee severed two fingers (ring finger and middle finger) and fractured the bone and severed the tendon of the index finger of his right hand. The two fingers were severed between the first and second knuckles.

Three of the employee's co-workers responded; 911 was called at 15:20 hours and first aid was administered. One of the co-workers is a member of DART and he immediately took command of the situation. He administered first aid, stabilized the injured employee and gave directions to properly secure and package the severed fingers. The Moffett Field Fire Department was called at 151:21 hours; they responded within three to four minutes of the emergency call from the Ames Duty Office; the time was approximately 15:25 hours. First aid continued and oxygen was administered until an ambulance responded at 15:32 hours (approximately 12 minutes from the time 911 was called) to take the injured employee to the hospital for further treatment. The Emergency Room Physician was able to save the index finger, but advised him that due to the excessive skin and bone damage, his ring and middle fingers could not be reattached. The Emergency Room Physician commended the efforts made in preserving the severed fingers. The injured employee was released from the hospital that evening at approximately 19:30 hours.

A review of the contract under which this person was working was conducted with the Contracting Officer and an inspection of the accident site and the table saw was performed. Three experts on use of wood saws were consulted and one equipment maintenance individual was utilized to evaluate the condition of the table saw. A review of the Center's accident response system was conducted, consisting of the Duty Office, the 911 system, the ARC Health Unit, the Moffett Field Fire Department and the Bay Area ambulance service.