June 13--A man sustained multiple broken bones after he reached for a string or baler's twine in a machine Tuesday morning.
The Norwalk Fire Department was dispatched to an "industrial accident" at American Excelsior, 180 Cleveland Road, at 9:47 a.m., according to the report. Firefighters first verified via police dispatchers there was no entrapment.
"Upon arrival, (we) found (an) employee laying in a machine," Capt. Dan Hunt said.
"He was operating a piece of machinery," Hunt said, and the employee's arm got caught in the machine.
The man reached for a string or baler's twine that he saw in a machine with rubber-coated rollers, Hunt said. The firefighter estimated the rollers were 6 or 8 feet long and 1 foot in diameter.
The employee made two attempts to reach a shut-off cable.
"He had made one attempt to grab it and missed it," Hunt said, but was successful the second time.
By the time firefighters arrived, the maintenance crew had the machine locked down. Hunt said that meant nobody could restart it.
"They did a phenomenal job," he added.
About the employee's injuries, Hunt called them "significant" and said it appeared the man suffered compound fractures and multiple breaks.
A manager couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.
Firefighters verified the lock-out, tag-out procedure, provided basic life support and assisted North Central EMS with patient packaging. The crew was on-scene about 40 minutes.
North Central transported the patient to Fisher-Titus Medical Center.
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