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Occupational Medicine Advance Access originally published online on April 2, 2007
Occupational Medicine 2007 57(5):383-385; doi:10.1093/occmed/kqm019
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Case Report

Band saw injury in a butcher

Lee Eric Rubin1, Roberto Augusto Miki1, Sudeep Taksali1 and Richard Alan Bernstein1,2

1 Yale University Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA
2 The Orthopaedic Group, 199 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

Background While treating an unusual amputation caused by a meat band saw in a 35-year-old butcher, we sought information from the medical literature that would be useful to other physicians who might encounter similar occupational injuries.

Methods Using the Medline database and relevant search terms, we reviewed the literature concerning occupational saw blade injuries and porcine microbiology as they related to this injury.

Results Among meat workers using powered cutting equipment, hand injuries and distal fingertip amputations appear to be common. The greatest risk for a wound infection after open exposure to raw pork meat appears primarily related to environmental flora rather than enteric-borne porcine pathogens.

Conclusions Decision-making strategy when formulating a treatment plan for debridement or reconstruction of saw blade amputations should rely on a detailed understanding of the injury and occupational environment to achieve an optimal patient outcome. When considering operative and antibiotic treatment for porcine meat-related amputation injury, surgeons should adhere to open fracture-related guidelines, since porcine-borne illnesses are most often caused by ingestion rather than transcutaneous inoculation.

Keywords      Band saw; butcher; meatpacking; occupational accident; pork

Correspondence to: Lee Eric Rubin, Yale University Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, 800 Howard Avenue, First Floor Yale Physicians Building, PO Box 208071, New Haven, CT 06520-8071, USA. Tel: +1-203-785-2579; fax: +1-203-785-2135; e-mail: lee.rubin{at}yale.edu


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