Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Dakota Plains Dairy, 29023 467th Avenue, CENTERVILLE, SOUTH DAKOTA 57014
on — Fractures, affecting the lower leg(s).
Final narrative
An employee was sorting cattle and was moving cows from one pen to another when a cow kicked his lower leg. He suffered a broken tibia and fibula in his left leg.
An employee was helping to position a horse for cervical X-rays. The employee was kicked in the face by the horse and was hospitalized with facial injuries and head trauma.
An employee was bringing in a horse from the pasture when they were kicked by the horse. The employee was hospitalized with a broken nose and a sprained wrist.
Employees were stripping parts off an old pivot. An employee was standing on the ground, helping others make sure that the parts all came off the pivot. The pivot span was elevated when the base beam broke free on one side. This shifted the weight of the span, causing it to roll off the loader on its side. When the span came down, the support rod caught the employee's back as he went to turn and run away from it. It pushed him to the ground. He suffered a back fracture, along with a broken bone in his foot, and was hospitalized.
An employee was working in a holding pen, using a crowd gate to herd cows into milking stalls. She was moving to beat the crowd gate to a manhole, but the gate moved and struck the employee. The employee was hospitalized with two fractured processes in her lower vertebrae.
Three maintenance employees were working on chemical lines feeding into a large above ground wastewater treatment tank. Sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid reacted in a floor drain and the chemicals sprayed onto the three employees. One employee was taken to the hospital for burns to his eyes.
An employee was removing a pin from a metal gate to let cows out of a parlor. The gate moved and his left middle finger was caught in the pin hole. The employee's finger was partially amputated.
An employee was moving a tensile strength test device with a dolly. The device fell from the dolly onto the employee's right leg, causing a compound fracture.
An employee was walking past a crossover conveyor when a ramp came down and hit them in the back. The employee sustained a broken back vertebra, as well as a concussion, and was hospitalized.
An employee was using a hook tool to pull a pallet onto the lift gate of a tractor trailer. The hook detached from the underside of the pallet, causing the employee to fall backward off the lift gate. The employee landed on the concrete parking lot about 5 feet below, suffering fractures to the skull and two thoracic vertebrae.
An employee was walking on a truss table when he lost his balance and fell approximately 3 feet to the floor. The employee sustained a dislocated and fractured left ankle.