Other fall to lower level 26 to 30 feet · Internal injuries to organs and blood vessels of the trunk
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at O & J Coatings, Inc., 300 14th Street SE, WATERTOWN, SOUTH DAKOTA 57201
on — Internal injuries to organs and blood vessels of the trunk, affecting the chest, except internal location of diseases or disorders.
Final narrative
While climbing down a secondary ladder in a water tower, an employee fell approximately 30 feet to a platform, breaking two vertebrae, puncturing a lung, and breaking a foot. The employee was hospitalized.
HospitalizedChest, except internal location of diseases or disordersLadders, unspecified
An employee was laying down bridging (angle iron that is welded onto open web joists). He was moving backward toward the edge of a joist when his foot slipped. He lost balance and fell backward away from the structure and landed on the ground about 30 feet below. The employee sustained a broken right leg. The employee was wearing a harness but it was not connected at the time of the fall.
On June 16, 2023, an employee was checking the I-beams on a bridge. He unhooked his harness to move across the section of the second beam. While hooking his harness on the third beam, his foot hit the cable that was connected to the beam and fell approximately 25 to 30 feet to the muddy clay floor below. The employee sustained a left hip and femur fracture.
An employee was using a 60-foot ladder to access the fourth floor of a building in order to paint the balcony. The employee was holding onto the handrail while painting it when the handrail brackets broke, causing him to fall approximately 30 feet to the ground and land on top of air conditioning units. The employee suffered severe lacerations on the face and fractures to the cheekbones and eye bones. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee entered a portable structure that was being rigged up to a crane. The crane began lifting the portable structure with the employee inside when the structure fell 15-30 feet to the ground. The employee sustained a left leg fracture, a dislocated right ankle, and back injury.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 238320)
An employee was on a 12-foot extension ladder while painting the wall and soffit area of a pavilion less than 6 feet off the ground. The employee was using a sprayer when he fell off ladder and landed on his arm on the dirt clay ground. The employee sustained a dislocated elbow and fractures to his right arm and wrist that included an open fracture. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery.
An employee was blasting a water tower. They fell approximately 60 feet off a suspended scaffold and sustained broken vertebrae, a compound fracture of the tibia, a fractured heel, and a rupture to their liver. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was sandblasting paint from a water tower when the blasting media sprayed across their forearm, resulting in an elbow injury that required hospitalization.
An employee was working from a boom lift, painting wood trim at a second-story roof level. The lift drove over an unmarked dry well, tipped, and catapulted the employee to the ground. The employee sustained fractures to their heels and vertebrae. Fall protection was not being worn at the time of the incident.
On October 2, 2025, an employee was ascending a ladder attached to a scaffold structure approximately 10 feet high. While climbing up, he lost his grip on a rung and fell to the ground, landing on his shoulder. He was hospitalized with fractures to his collarbone and shoulder.
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.