A worker at a Long Island food-packaging plant cut three of his fingertips off in a freak accident with an industrial dicer, cops said.
Elmer Rios, 45, was using the food-dicing machine at L&S Packaging Company in East Farmingdale Wednesday when he stuck his hand in to clean it out the machine — and had the ends of his fingers sheared off by the blades, Suffolk County police said.
The worker was rushed to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip with serious injuries, police said in a news release.
Detectives are now investigating how the gruesome mishap unfolded.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, was also notified of the incident by police — a standard step when severe workplace-injuries take place, especially those involving heavy machinery like an industrial dicer.
The agency is expected to review the case and determine whether proper safety procedures were being followed at the time.
Representatives of the company and OSHA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
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