1. Fingers caught in doors
Safety Alert
05/98
Committed to Safety
Fingers caught in doors
Background
An incident happened recently at a mess entrance at a PDO base location. The mess door was opened by an employee who went in, followed by a colleague. At that moment, a wind gust suddenly closed the door trapping the colleague’s right hand between the door frame and the door.
A hairline fracture on the right index finger was detected by an X-ray survey.
Cause of the incident
The main cause of this incident was a high and unpredictable wind gust which forcefully
closed the mess door on his hand.
The underlying cause of this incident is the inappropriate or poorly adjusted door closing
damper.
Learning Points and Action to Prevent Recurrence
Always maintain due care and attention while opening any exterior door, car door, etc.
particularly during windy conditions to prevent a similar incident.
Gently open the door, always looking forward in the direction you are walking.
Identify exterior doors which still require a closing damper but are not yet fitted with one.
Ensure that all existing closing dampers are inspected and properly adjusted as part of their
routine maintenance.