Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Lowes, UNK, XENIA, OHIO 45385
on — Fractures, affecting the ankle(s).
Final narrative
An employee was delivering a refrigerator at a customer's residence when he slipped on the floor. The refrigerator and dolly then fell on and broke his ankle.
On May 19, 2022, an employee was moving a portable rack full of plants. The rack's wheels hit a watering hose causing the rack to fall and strike the employee. The employee was hospitalized with injured vertebrae in their back.
At approximately 5:00 p.m., on 11/13/2018, an employee attempted to cut a plastic piece hanging from his ink pen using a utility knife. The knife missed the plastic piece and instead amputated his left middle fingertip.
While unloading items from a pallet, an employee tripped over the pallet and fell to the floor, breaking the right hip. The employee was hospitalized and had surgery.
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 444130)
An employee was backing up an electric pallet jack when it struck a yellow guardrail, pinning his ankle between the pallet jack and the guardrail. The employee suffered a crush injury to his left ankle and shin.
The injured employee was going to use an elevator to go upstairs. The elevator does not have a call button and is operated manually. The employee approached the elevator and used the elevator drop key located in the elevator key box to manually open the door. He then stepped forward into the elevator shaft. The elevator car was on another floor, resulting in the employee falling down the shaft from the first floor to the basement level. The employee was hospitalized with a sprained left hand and bilateral calcaneal fractures.
An employee was aligning a shipping offload conveyor. A component of the machine caught the employee's left middle finger, amputating it above the second knuckle.
An employee was using a torch to burn off liquid petroleum gas from old 100-pound cylinders so they could be recycled. When he went to move a tank, some gas spilled onto the ground, then ignited in a flash that engulfed him. He was burned on the face, hands, and back and was hospitalized.
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.