Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at GEO HEAT EXCHANGERS, L.L.C., 3650 CYPRESS AVE., SAINT GABRIEL, LOUISIANA 70776
on — Soreness, pain, hurt-nonspecified injury, affecting the neck, except internal location of diseases or disorders.
Final narrative
An employee was at the shop warehouse using a come-a-long to pull a tube bundle inside a condenser shell. The come-a-long hook was attached to a metal lifting lug welded onto a shell. As the employee was pulling the tube bundle back into the condenser shell, the weld holding the lug onto the shell broke. The lug struck the employee in the throat.
HospitalizedNeck, except internal location of diseases or disordersMachine and appliance parts, n.e.c.
An employee was tossing a damaged toilet into a compactor. The toilet bounced off the compactor and lacerated the employee's right wrist, cutting an artery and tendon.
An employee was operating a hydraulic jack to bend a frame when the jack came loose and struck the employee. They were hospitalized for a spleen injury.
A truck had been towed into the shop with a flat tire and a blown airbag. An employee checked the tire for damage and was airing the tire. The employee was installing the valve core when the bead slipped off the rim. Air escaped, and the aluminum wheel struck the employee's head and face. The employee became unresponsive and was bleeding.
On December 14, 2023, at 8:40 p.m., three employees were inspecting milling machines for startup. A few of the sleeves on the mill drum needed to be changed out. The injured employee was trying to input a sleeve on the mill drum using a hammer. The hammer hit the edge of the drum, which caused a metal piece to splinter off and strike the employee's cheek just below the left eye. The metal splinter embedded in the back of their eye socket, resulting in pain, swelling, and bleeding that required hospitalization.
An employee was pushing a line of carts into a vestibule when the door cable snapped and struck his right ankle. The employee suffered a fracture that required surgery and hospitalization.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 333415)
An employee was helping to move a 1,300-pound coil on a cart. The steel caster hit a crack in the concrete, the weld holding the caster onto the cart broke, and the coil and cart tipped over onto the employee. He was hospitalized with a laceration on his forehead and a pelvic fracture on his right side.
An employee was observing expansion rods on a coil expander going into a coil to ensure copper stubs weren't being bent. His left hand was caught between the locking block and locking block clamp on the power press machine, resulting in partial amputation of his left little finger from the distal interphalangeal joint.
An employee was setting up a press brake and rolling over a die when the tip of their left little finger was caught between the horizontal working surface of the press brake and die. The employee sustained partial amputation of their fingertip.
An employee was working to remove an access panel to begin performing maintenance on a machine. The set pins on the bottom of the panel were broken. The bottom kicked out and fell, striking the employee's left foot and resulting in a fracture to the big toe.
A driver was exiting his vehicle outside the plant gate when his foot slipped on the top step of the truck. He fell to the ground, landed on his left hip and elbow. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured hip/femur.
A security employee was responding to an urgent call from staff regarding a violent patient. The employee tripped and fell on the floor outside of the stairwell. The employee sustained a closed head injury, contusion of the cerebrum without loss of consciousness, and a closed fracture of the distal end of the right radius.
A temporary employee was testing an electrical starter motor. He was placing tape on the starter while the breaker was not engaged, but the starter sent an arc flash that burned his hands and stomach.
An employee was walking on a sidewalk and stubbed his toe on an elevated portion of concrete, causing him to trip and fall. The employee's right knee was dislocated.