Other fall to lower level 26 to 30 feet · Fractures
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Gudenkauf Corporation, Pine Bluff Road, ENTERPRISE, WEST VIRGINIA 26568
on — Fractures, affecting the back, including spine, spinal cord, unspecified.
Final narrative
After installing a new utility pole, an employee fell approximately 30 feet to the ground while climbing to the top. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured vertebra.
HospitalizedBack, including spine, spinal cord, unspecifiedUtility and telephone poles
An employee was working in bucket truck performing telecommunication maintenance. While the employee was tightening a lashing wire span, the strand slipped from the support clamp. The falling strand caused the lashing wire to sever the end of employee's left index fingertip, resulting in a partial amputation.
An employee was pulling a line with a take-up reel leaning against mule tape. The mule tape had a small tracer wire in it. The employee came in close proximity to the electrical line and an arc occurred, shocking the employee's left hand.
An employee was cutting a tree off of a communication line when the tree snapped and the tension on the line flipped the tree/limb back onto the employee, striking his forearm and fracturing a bone.
An employee was using a rodder to clear underground communication lines and was placing it into a cradle when it slipped, striking the employee in the face. The employee was hospitalized with facial fractures.
An employee was laying down bridging (angle iron that is welded onto open web joists). He was moving backward toward the edge of a joist when his foot slipped. He lost balance and fell backward away from the structure and landed on the ground about 30 feet below. The employee sustained a broken right leg. The employee was wearing a harness but it was not connected at the time of the fall.
On June 16, 2023, an employee was checking the I-beams on a bridge. He unhooked his harness to move across the section of the second beam. While hooking his harness on the third beam, his foot hit the cable that was connected to the beam and fell approximately 25 to 30 feet to the muddy clay floor below. The employee sustained a left hip and femur fracture.
An employee was using a 60-foot ladder to access the fourth floor of a building in order to paint the balcony. The employee was holding onto the handrail while painting it when the handrail brackets broke, causing him to fall approximately 30 feet to the ground and land on top of air conditioning units. The employee suffered severe lacerations on the face and fractures to the cheekbones and eye bones. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee entered a portable structure that was being rigged up to a crane. The crane began lifting the portable structure with the employee inside when the structure fell 15-30 feet to the ground. The employee sustained a left leg fracture, a dislocated right ankle, and back injury.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 237130)
An employee was terminating cables in a junction box. A loose ground wire came into contact with the bushing, causing a flash that burned the right side of the employee's face and his right hand.
An employee was using a bucket truck hoist to raise secondary aerial wiring. The wire made contact with the primary wire, causing an arc flash. The employee suffered burns to both hands and was hospitalized.
An employee was terminating conductors to buss bars inside the secondary compartment of a single-phase transformer. An arc flash occurred, causing burns to the soft tissue of the employee's face.
An employee was securing the claw of a grapple truck to the truck bed. His left little finger was caught between the tie down strap and the rub rail of the truck, resulting in partial amputation of the finger.
An employee was conducting routine maintenance on a mixer. New lid pins had been installed, and the employee was rotating by hand to ensure they had been installed correctly. The employee's left middle finger was caught between the lid and top of a pin. The momentum from the mixer continued, causing a crushing injury to the finger. The employee underwent a medical amputation from the top knuckle to the tip of the finger.
An employee was climbing down a 15-foot multipurpose ladder. The employee fell about 8 feet, landing on the concrete floor and the ladder itself. The employee suffered several injuries, all on the right side: broken ribs, a broken sternum, a broken temporal bone, broken shoulder, multiple fractures to the cheekbone, and a brain bleed.
An employee was rolling up the landing gear on his trailer when the handle began to unwind and struck his face, fracturing his jaw. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery.