Charter Steel Company

On June 30, 2025, at about 8:45 p.m., an employee started a new coil on a draw machine. While operating the machine, a steel ring fell from the top of the coil and became tangled on the base of the payoff s coil upender. To untangle the ring, the employee grabbed the ring with both hands and their right hand was pinched between the ring and the base of the coil upender, resulting in a partial amputation of the right little fingertip and lacerations to the right middle finger.

On June 27, 2025, around 2:00 a.m., a Charter Steel mechanical maintenance technician was changing the northeast wheel on the east outside billet yard crane. While the crane was locked out and lifted with a portable hydraulic device, the tech rotated the drive wheel by hand. The lifting device failed, causing the crane to fall and crush the employee s left-hand fingers against the crane wheel. This resulted in partial amputation of the middle and ring fingertips (through the nail with no bone loss) and a laceration with tendon involvement to the index finger.

While moving around a coil, an employee was struck by a forklift in the left foot and lower leg. The employee suffered multiple fractures to the foot and the lower leg.

An employee was placing elbow spacers between 4-inch by 4-inch, 40-foot-long billets. The tips of the employee's left pinky and ring fingers were crushed between an elbow and a billet, causing fingertip amputations.

An employee was hoisting a load of steel billets with a crane when the employee's right index and middle fingertips were pinched between the steel billets and the chain sling.

The injured employee was standing at the base of a ladder assisting another employee install a TV on a wall. The TV was dropped, striking the employee. They sustained a head injury.

An employee and a colleague were moving two pieces of rebar when a tie was cut. The employee holding the rebar dropped it while it was above the injured employee's hands, resulting in partial amputation to their left middle finger.

An employee was bracing an extension ladder while his coworker installed a 10-foot, 40-45-pound pipe. The pipe fell onto the injured employee's head and he sustained a hematoma, C3 and C4 vertebral fractures and a forehead laceration.

An employee was helping to lift a press roll in to fix an issue that was occurring. A co-worker lost their grip and the press roll fell onto the injured employee's left index finger, resulting in a crush injury and amputation.

Three employees were removing equipment from an old fermentation room at a bakery. They were using two bakery dollies to remove metal plates from the floor of the room. One of them was holding one of the metal dollies with his right hand on the side of the dolly, as a plate was being centered on the two dollies. The plate slipped and struck his right thumb, which was amputated near the last joint.

An employee used a crane to set down a bar. The bar measured 9 inches by 16 feet. The strap got stuck under the bar, and the employee asked another employee to jog the roll. The bar rolled and pinched the injured employee's left hand, resulting in a fingertip amputation.

An employee was loading a steel forming machine with steel to be processed. He went to move a cooling hose out of the way and his left thumb was crushed by the forming roller, resulting in injuries that required surgical amputation.

An employee was advancing a rail to line up for welding with a secondary rail on the weld line when his right middle and ring fingers were caught between the rails. The employee sustained an amputation to the top knuckle of the middle finger and a fracture to the ring finger. The machine was guarded at the time.

An employee was working near molten metal and experienced heat illness symptoms including cramps. The employee was hospitalized.

An employee was preparing bundles of 24-foot square metal tubing to be loaded onto a truck and cut the safety band for a bundle. While the employee was removing a piece of dunnage from a bundle, they bumped the bundle with their leg. The metal tubing then fell forward and struck the employee, causing a fractured left ankle.

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 fell from a step ladder while reaching for a tie-off point. He impacted the ground, and landed on his bolt bag which contained tools. The employee was hospitalized with fractured ribs, and a lacerated spleen and kidney.

On October 30, 2025, an employee was working to adjust a stackable metal shipping container. As the container dropped into place, it caught the employee's hands in an area between the upper and lower cross-members. The employee suffered a laceration to the left ring finger that required stitches, bruising to the right ring finger, and fractures to the right middle finger that necessitated medical amputation of the fingertip.

An employee was moving a scissor lift through a doorway. The employee was pinned between the scissor lift and the doorframe, sustained a back injury, and was hospitalized.

An employee was setting up communication equipment for a meeting. They were walking and tripped over a speaker on the ground. The employee sustained a leg injury.