There was no death associated with the event.The customer gloved left thumb was punctured by the auto sampler probe on (b)(6) 2019 at 13:00 while trying to push the auto sampler wash block back down into position.Prior to incident, the customer reported they had difficulty removing the sample wheel.Once the sample wheel was removed, the customer had difficulty placing a the sample wheel on after changing the tubes on the wheel with new samples.The difficulty in replacing the sample wheel was attributed to the wash block being in a raised position (the probe was not exposed).At that time, the customer pushed down on the auto sampler wash block and got pierced by the probe.The area of the sampling needle has a yellow triangle warning label " indicates operation procedures that could result in personal injury if not correctly followed" to alert the user.The purpose of this labeling is to indicate there is an aspiration probe in this area.The area is not accessible under normal operation with the sample wheel in place.When the wheel is removed, the aspiration probe is not accessible as it is in the home position below the wash block.There are no customer instructions to clean or push down on the auto sampler wash block.After the incident, the customer squeezed the wound to push blood out and cleaned wound with alcohol.In addition, blood was drawn to establish baseline test results for post exposure testing.The customer discontinued operation of the autosampler after the incident and only used the open tube mode for patient samples.Service was dispatched to inspect the instrument with an on-site visit scheduled for (b)(6) 2019.The services performed by (b)(6) service on (b)(6) 2019 included a verification of instrument performance and replacement of the following parts for further investigation: needle drive assembly, aspiration line and the sampler cover.The identified malfunction of the (b)(6) by itself would not cause death or serious injury if the instructions, labeling, and instrument safeguards were followed.The injury occurred due to use error of not following the instructions, labeling, and misuse of pushing the wash block down.
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