No Aircraft
Other / Unknown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Equipment / Tooling; Company Policy
I was loading the rear pit of a flight and the belt loader I was using for this task was a fixed-rail belt loader. With the belt loader positioned correctly; I went to grab a bag off of the belt. Some free-floating portion of the bag became caught in the wheels of the belt right as I grabbed it; pulling the bag and my hand into the wheels that rotate the belt. I went to disrupt the laser sensor underneath the belt with my free hand; only to find out that the fixed-rail belt loaders; with the yellow bumpers remove this vital safety feature. Right as my hand was on the threshold of being crushed inside the belt; the piece of the bag that was originally caught broke free; freeing my hand as well. This was entirely too close of a call for me to ever feel comfortable using a piece of equipment that purposely removes a vital safety feature.
Baggage handler reports nearly being injured when a bag strap gets caught in the drive wheels of a belt loader and the laser beam that is commonly used to stop the belt loader is not installed on this fixed rail loader.