Western Sugar Cooperative

An employee was helping change out socks on hard thin juice filters, part of a beet sugar manufacturing operation. While the filter lid was being removed, juice started leaking down the side of the filter. This suggested that the juice was bypassing the seat on the main shutoff valve. While the main shutoff was being checked, the valve was opened and sprayed hot juice on the employee. The employee suffered burns to the left arm, the left ribcage area, the left side of the back, and the left side of the face. The employee was hospitalized.

An employee was taking a sugar sample to the lab. As he was walking down the stairs, he slipped on the second to last stair and fell backward. The employee's ankle was wedged into the stairs, resulting in a fracture of the left distal fibula at the lateral malleolus.

An employee was changing safety filters when a filter that was under pressure sprayed hot juice onto the employee, resulting in burns to the neck and back.

Two maintenance employees were inspecting the Omega coupling on the high melter pump. During inspection, the employees realized the shaft on the pump was broken rather than the coupling. The maintenance supervisor was going to locate a rebuilt seal assembly for the pump. The employees started removing the seal assembly from the pump. As one of the employees removed the base plate bolts from the pump, the head pressure from the high melter tank pushed the seal assembly out of the pump casing and hot sugar juice sprayed onto the employees causing first and second degree burns to the upper and lower arm, hand and chest areas.

An employee was performing a parts replacement on equipment when a stainless steel mesh part struck his hand, causing a laceration through his leather work glove. He was hospitalized, requiring stitches and surgery.

An employee was driving an excavator that went off the road and tipped over. The employee was hospitalized with fractures and internal injuries. Their left arm was partially amputated.

An employee was backing a concrete delivery truck down a temporary road when a portion of the road collapsed. This caused the truck to roll into a drainage ditch; the employee sustained three left rib fractures and soft tissue damage.

An employee was operating a clamp lift truck to transport freight when it overturned, resulting in a severe leg injury.

An employee was driving a skid steer down an unimproved road when the vehicle hit an ice patch, left the roadway, and rolled downhill several times. The employee jumped from the skid sheer and was crushed by the vehicle at the bottom of the hill, resulting in multiple rib fractures as well as injuries to the legs, neck, and lungs.

An employee was making a grocery delivery on a scooter when the scooter hit a bump on the road. The employee fell off the scooter and suffered a fractured collar bone.

An employee was operating an agricultural tractor during sugarcane harvesting. The employee sustained a lumbar sprain due to vibration or motion from the tractor.

An employee was using a motorized chain hoist to lift a pump weighing 600 to 700 pounds onto a working table. The hoist, which weighed approximately 100 pounds, fell from an overhead crane onto the employee s fingers, resulting in a finger amputation.

A warehouse employee was moving equipment using a dolly and was loading a filler machine when it fell off the dolly onto his left leg. The employee sustained a fractured left leg.

An employee was changing a strainer when 180- to 190-degree sugar solution splashed from an open valve onto the employee, who suffered burns.

While explaining to a co-worker how to install a new gate on the palletizer machine, an employee's left thumb tip was amputated by the machine's piston.

An employee was delivering materials. He was doing his pre-delivery inspection on the roof of the jobsite (a warehouse) when he fell through a plexiglass skylight. He landed on his feet on the concrete floor 14 feet below. The employee sustained fractures to his spine, left ulnar/radius, and right heel. The employee required surgery.

An employee was cutting cabinet trim using a table saw when four fingers on his left hand were severed, resulting in hospitalization and amputation.

An employee was removing packaging from a roll of printing substrate. The blade of their utility knife got stuck. The employee used both hands to free the knife and the blade partially amputated their left little fingertip.

A concrete batch plant operator was assisting with clearing spoil piles using a skid steer. The skid steer backed into a stationary screen plant. The employee's left little finger was crushed between the controls of the skid steer and the screen plant, resulting in a fracture and laceration. The employee's finger was surgically amputated.

An employee was standing on an extension ladder, using a torquing tool to remove bolts that secured blades to a rotor. When the torquing tool activated, its reaction arm came around and pinched the employee's right middle finger against a lifting eye. His fingertip was amputated.