Refrigeration Design& Service, Inc.

On November 27, 2023, an employee was emptying a 2-inch product line that transports sodium hydroxide liquid from a rail car to a 275-gallon tote tank. The nozzle came out of the tote and sprayed sodium hydroxide onto the employee's face. The employee was hospitalized with chemical burns to their face, mouth, and neck.

An employee was working with sulfuric acid as part of the production process. While transferring the chemical from a large container to a smaller container, it splashed on his body and hand, resulting in a chemical burn.

An employee knelt in wet concrete while performing work as a concrete finisher and sustained a chemical burn to the right shin. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery.

An employee was using a 5-gallon bucket to unload acid product from a tank. Residual product leaked into the containment area, causing the employee to sustain first- and second-degree burns to the chest, as well as third-degree burns to the arms.

An employee was transferring an alkaline cleaning chemical from a bulk container into 1-gallon containers. The employee lifted a gallon container by its label tag. The tag broke causing the container to fall approximately 14-18 inches. The container struck the ground and the contents splashed onto the employee causing chemical burns to their eyes.

An employee was working next to a 12-inch, 21-foot-long pipe that was being lowered using a 1-ton chain fall. The chain fall slipped, causing the steel pipe to drop. It struck his left hand, causing the partial amputation of the ring fingertip and the loss of the fingernail.

Three employees were reorganizing a work area by staging material-handling tables. Two employees were pushing a table while the third employee guided it. The table became stuck on the wheel of another nearby table and while the two employees tried to push it free, the third employee moved the other table. The newly freed table moved forward into the other table, and the third employee's right middle finger was caught between the two. A third of the fingertip was amputated.

An employee was fabricating an evaporator fixture. The fixture was sitting on a table and the employee was utilizing a hoist and chain sling hooks to elevate one side of the fixture into position to weld a piece on it. The hoist moved slightly on the bridge trolley, creating slack in the chain that caused one of the legs of the sling to come out of the square tubing. The evaporator fixture came down onto the employee's right ring finger, pinning it against the table. The employee's finger was partially amputated and was later surgically amputated above the knuckle.

An employee was operating a shear when its blade came down and amputated his left middle and ring fingertips. The machine was guarded at the time.

An employee was removing material from a pallet rack using a standup forklift when an upper shelf was knocked out of place causing a pallet of industrial fans to fall 12-15 feet. The employee was struck by the falling pallet. The employee sustained a laceration to the front-right of their head and fractures to three vertebrae.

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.