Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Wire Rope Works, Incorporated, 100 Maynard St, WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA 17701
on — Soreness, pain, hurt-nonspecified injury, affecting the back, including spine, spinal cord, unspecified.
Final narrative
On January 22, 2015, an employee operating a rough terrain forklift on frozen ground felt a "pop" in his back. The employee reported the incident to management the following day, went to an emergency room on two occasions, visited a doctor, and had an MRI before being diagnosed with a spinal epidural hematoma and admitted into Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania, on January 28, 2015.
HospitalizedBack, including spine, spinal cord, unspecifiedForklift, order picker, platform truck-powered
More severe injuries at Wire Rope Works, Incorporated
Two employees were untangling lines along a furnace line when one of them, suffering from heat dehydration, became dazed and fell. The employee head struck the concrete floor, causing a head wound.
An employee was driving an aerial lift over a cable ramp. The employee backed up the aerial lift to cross over the cable ramp. During this process, the lift and basket bounced, causing the employee to bounce and land on his right foot, resulting in a fracture to his right leg.
An employee was operating a tractor in a potato field to pack down the soil. As the tractor tires drove over uneven soil, the tractor suspension moved abruptly, causing the enclosed operator seat compartment to also move. The employee was ejected from the seat and struck their head, arm and ribs inside the tractor compartment. The employee sustained a head and arm laceration as well as rib fractures.
An employee was operating an aerial lift when it impacted a berm on the ground. The employee lost balance and struck his abdomen against the guardrail system on the aerial lift, then fell backward and struck his head against the guardrail. The employee sustained a punctured spleen.
An employee was operating a skid steer with dirt in the bucket. The skid steer drove over uneven ground, causing the bucket to tilt forward and hit the ground. As a result, the employee's head struck the bar on the front top part of the cab. The employee sustained a compression injury to the neck and upper back that included two injured vertebral discs that required surgery.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 332618)
An employee was driving a powered industrial truck (PIT) carrying a nesting sheave on the back counterweight of the PIT. He was holding the sheave when the PIT struck a pothole in the floor, causing the sheave to roll forward and crush his right index fingertip against the back of the PIT seat frame. The employee's fingertip was amputated, requiring hospitalization and surgery.
An employee was building slings. They were placing wire rope in a pneumatic vise when their right index finger was caught between the vise and the wire rope, resulting in a fracture that required hospitalization and surgery.
At about 7:15 a.m. on August 28, 2025, an employee was using a construction compactor to stabilize the dirt of a dam that had just been built. The dirt gave way underneath the compactor, which tipped on its left side. The employee fell out and was crushed and pinned between the compactor and the dirt. He was hospitalized, having suffered a broken sternum and broken ribs on both sides, as well as a laceration to the left leg by the ankle joint.
An employee was walking into the motor control center (MCC) room when his right ring finger was caught in the hinge of a doorway. He sustained an open phalanx fracture, which resulted in a partial amputation above the first knuckle.
An employee was changing the spacing on a telehandler's forks. A fork slipped, and the employee's left index finger was caught between it and the mast. The fingertip was medically amputated at the first knuckle.
An employee was pulling down a broken skid with a forklift. When the employee backed up the forklift to get the forks out of the skid he pulled down, he contacted the forks of another parked forklift, fracturing both of his legs. He was hospitalized.
An employee was carrying cups back to the kitchen when her foot got caught on a cart and she fell face-first. During the fall, a piece of glass from a cup cut the inside of her mouth, severing an artery. She also sustained a laceration on her lower lip. The employee was hospitalized.