USA Metals

A crew was pulling a 4-inch plastic gas pipe off a reel and straightening it for installation. The injured employee stepped up on the trailer to cut the last band holding the pipe in the coil on the reel. As he turned to step off the trailer, the end of the pipe rotated and sprung out of the cage surrounding the coil, striking the employee on the side of the head and knocking him off of the trailer into the roadway. The employee suffered head trauma that required hospitalization.

An employee and a co-worker were performing a pick inside a clear well. They rigged the skid pan that was full of broken concrete. When lifting, the load began to swing toward a wall. The employee tried to stop the skid pan from swinging and was struck by the pan, resulting in fractures to their left hip and wrist.

The employee had just completed refueling a lattice crane that was breaking up material and was winding the fuel hose back into the fuel truck when he was struck by the catwalk/stairs of the crane. The employee was hospitalized with a laceration to his backside, possible internal bleeding, and a broken hip.

An employee was fusing 10-inch black rubber utility pipes together using a pipe fusion machine and could not get the pipes to set correctly. The employee used a nylon strap attached to an excavator to lift one side of a pipe off a steel plate. As his hand was between two pipes, the pipes came back together, partially amputating two of his fingers.

An employee was lifting four bags of a lime blend weighing approximately 10,000 pounds using a crane. The load swung and pinned the employee against a structural I-beam, resulting in fractures to the hip and pelvis.

Three employees were engaged in horseplay when one employee suffered a laceration to the abdomen, caused by a pocket knife. The employee was hospitalized.

An employee was standing on a step ladder and operating a hydraulic jack. The jack began shifting, causing the ladder to tip to the left. The employee caught himself as he was stepping down from the third rung of the ladder. When he stepped to the floor, his left foot rolled and twisted under his body weight, resulting in fractures to his tibia and fibula above the ankle.

On August 1, 2024, an employee was working on a press and dumping scrap material from the center piece to a scrap barrel when their finger became caught in the hole of the center piece and was crushed between the center and the edge of the roller on the conveyor. The employee sustained an amputation of three-quarters of their finger.

An employee was removing grating to change metal chip hoppers located in a pit. The employee lost his balance and fell approximately 12 feet from the grate, landing in the metal chip hopper. The employee sustained a sprained right foot, a left foot fracture, and a fractured L5 vertebra.

An employee was using a hammer to hit a steel bearing and dislodge it from a shaft. A small piece of the bearing broke off and embedded in his stomach.

An employee was closing a door when the door closed on their right index finger, resulting in a fingertip amputation.

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.