Contact with hot objects or substances · Second degree heat (thermal) burns
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at PALRAM PANEL, INC., 9735 COMMERCE CIRCLE ARCADIA WEST INDUSTRIAL PK., KUTZTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 19530
on — Second degree heat (thermal) burns, affecting the head and neck.
Final narrative
Four employees were burned by hot plastic while working in the vicinity of a plastic extruding machine. One employee required hospitalization. The employees were purging an extruder machine and cleaning the die when they were sprayed with hot, melted PVC material. The hospitalized employee suffered first and second degree burns to the face and neck.
An employee connected a steam line to a hose to clean equipment when the fitting broke loose. They were struck by steam in the left inner thigh, resulting in burns that required hospitalization.
An employee was making tea when she noticed tea grinds were collecting on the side and water was no longer dripping through the funnel. The employee was checking the funnel when boiling water and tea grinds spilled onto the left side of her body. The employee sustained burns to her neck, back, and arm.
An employee had turned off the ball valve on a waterpipe system and was removing the plug when the coupling system attached to the strainer came apart. Hot water sprayed on his arm and back, resulting in first- and second-degree burns that required surgery.
An employee was using a shovel to remove waste vermiculite from molten zinc. The metal had been placed in a bin and partially hardened. The employee broke through the partially hardened metal; still-molten metal flowed to the employee's steel-toed right boot and entered through the cloth boot tongue. The employee suffered a third-degree burn to the right foot and was hospitalized.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 424610)
An employee was installing a core on a spindle that was on an extruder. The employee's left little fingertip became caught between the core and an air chuck, resulting in a fingertip amputation.
An employee was setting up a forming machine when they fell approximately 3-4 feet from an elevated work platform onto a fixed railing. The employee sustained a back injury.
An employee was performing a production process that includes rough cutting a part using a band saw. When the employee went to push the part into the saw blade, the blade cut the tip of his left thumb, resulting in an amputation.
An employee was opening an interlocked door to troubleshoot a servomotor. Once the motor was placed properly, the stored pneumatic energy moved the carriage and caused the employee to sustain an amputation to their thumb.
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.