Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at KAOLIN MUSHROOM FARMS INC, 649 W. South St, KENNETT SQUARE, PENNSYLVANIA 19348
on — Fractures, affecting the lower leg(s).
Final narrative
An employee was walking from a mushroom house when he slipped on a small patch of black ice and fell on his right leg, fracturing his right tibia/fibula.
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 111411)
An employee was walking along the catwalk while filling a mushroom growing room and monitoring the operation of the net puller. The employee observed a sideboard of the mushroom growing bed moving at the front of the room and proceeded to investigate. While approaching the area, the employee slipped on compost and instinctively reached out to stabilize himself by grabbing onto the bed frame supporting the net puller. The employee's right hand and arm became entangled in moving ropes in the net puller, resulting in arm and wrist fractures and a hand laceration.
An employee was prepping a room by installing fly lights and air filters. A guard/hand rail was not in place on the walkway leading to the rear catwalk at the time. While reaching over the unprotected area, the employee lost balance and fell from the second floor. He briefly caught himself on a 2 x 6 crosspiece before falling 6 feet through to the first floor. The employee sustained a subdural hematoma, rib fractures, and a laceration to the spleen.
An employee was on the second level of a mushroom house and nailing a crosspiece of wood to support a mushroom bed when the 2x6 stringer that holds up the 3-foot wide walkway broke and the employee fell to the ground level. The employee sustained two fractured ribs.
An employee was cleaning a conveyor belt used to transport mushrooms. The employee noticed a piece of mushroom that was stuck in the conveyor. He was grabbing the piece when his right hand and arm got stuck in the conveyor, resulting in a laceration. The conveyor belt was energized at the time of the incident.
An employee was passing a box of mushrooms down from upstairs when they tripped and fell into the stairway, resulting in a right shoulder fracture and left leg injury.
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.