Cart Movers

At approximately 12:01 a.m. on April 6, 2007, Employee #1 was pushing a four wheeled cart that was loaded with two grooved bars and one slitter bar, which he had removed from a slitter machine for a paper film changeover. The cart had swivel casters for wheels and was manufactured for the employer several years earlier by a local metal fabrication shop. The cart had been used in the facility on a daily to weekly basis to carry the bars. The approximate dimensions of the cart were 37-in. by 24-in. by 60-in. The total weight of the bars in the cart was approximately 496 pounds. Employee #1 was in the process of pushing the loaded cart from the slitter to a storage rack, where he was going to unload the bars. During this process, one of the caster wheels struck a crack in the concrete floor surface, causing the cart to tip over. As a result, one or more of the bars struck Employee #1’s left foot and crushed all of his toes. Employee #1 was wearing steel toed boots at the time of the accident. EMS was immediately summoned, and he was transferred to the hospital, where he received several surgeries in an attempt to save his toes. The surgeries were unsuccessful and all of the toes had to be amputated.