Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at U.S. Postal Service , 1639 River Road, DES PLAINES, ILLINOIS 60018
on — Fractures, affecting the ankle(s).
Final narrative
On December 31, 2015, an employee slipped and fell on ice after making a delivery at a business and shattered his right ankle in three places.
An employee was walking back to a carrier case with mail in her hand when she tripped over a tub. Her back overarched as she fell, resulting in a fractured back that required hospitalization.
An employee delivered a package. On her way back to her vehicle she was attacked by two dogs that came from around a corner. She was hospitalized with dog bites.
On September 29, 2025, a rural mail carrier was delivering parcels to a business when she tripped on a parking stop block in front of the business. She fell to the ground and sustained fractures to her left hip and pelvis. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery.
An employee was working to remove a stuck strap from a tray line while on an A-frame ladder. They fell 6 to 8 feet to the concrete floor, resulting in a head contusion and fractured ribs that required hospitalization.
An employee was working in the forest flagging an area to be harvested. He took a step and his foot slipped on a stick hidden under the leaves, causing him to fall to the ground. He landed on his right foot/lower leg resulting in a fractured tibia.
An employee was inspecting an apartment to ensure it was ready for a new resident to move in. The carpet in the apartment had been recently cleaned and was still wet. As the employee went from the carpet to the tiled floor of the bathroom, they slipped and fell, resulting in a torn left hamstring.
An employee was delivering a letter along a rural carrier route when she stepped on an ice-covered snow drift, slipped, and fell to the ground. The employee sustained a right hip fracture that required surgery.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 491110)
An employee was working to deliver mail to an apartment building. She was waiting for a customer to move, to obtain clearance to the mailboxes. The door swung inward and closed on her right little finger. The top half of her finger was surgically amputated.
An employee was waiting for an operator to bring mail over to a mail sorting machine when she became pinned between the machine and a stack of pallets being pushed by a powered industrial truck (PIT). The employee suffered bruising and swelling on her hips, lower back, knees, and left side; a puncture wound to her left thigh from a machine screw; a crushed right hand with numbness and tingling; numbness to the left big toe; and a right wrist sprain.
An employee was walking back to a carrier case with mail in her hand when she tripped over a tub. Her back overarched as she fell, resulting in a fractured back that required hospitalization.
An employee delivered a package. On her way back to her vehicle she was attacked by two dogs that came from around a corner. She was hospitalized with dog bites.
An employee was changing a die in a press when the die slipped and crushed the employee's left index finger. The employee sustained an open facture of the tuft of the left distal phalanx and a partial amputation.
An employee was driving a boom lift (in the lowered position) in an exterior dock area. The lift s left wheels rolled onto base plates that covered a 3-foot-deep sump pit. The base plates failed, and one side of the lift dropped. The employee's left leg was caught under the lift basket, and he suffered a fracture to the lower leg including the ankle.