Fall through surface or existing opening 16 to 20 feet · Cuts, lacerations
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Pilgrims Corp, 1800 W. Frank Street , LUFKIN, TEXAS 75904
on — Cuts, lacerations, affecting the scalp.
Final narrative
An employee was moving a load of chicken on a rolling rack into a freight elevator. When he began to push the product into the elevator, he did not notice that the carriage was not there. The product/rack and the employee fell into the elevator. He fell 16 feet, 10 inches, hitting the product before rolling onto the concrete below. He was hospitalized with possible broken ribs, as well as lacerations on the back and left side of his head above the ear. The elevator's limit switch was not working correctly at the time of the incident.
On November 16, 2023, at around 3:30 p.m., a subcontracted employee was painting a door jam on a three-story house when he fell 20 feet through an opened elevator shaft to the floor below. The employee sustained fractured vertebrae that required hospitalization.
Employees were removing and replacing skylights on a metal roof. The injured employee's lanyard became tangled and they fell through the skylight to the ground 16-18 feet below. The employee suffered fractures to the wrist, ribs, and hip.
An employee was requested by a client to string wire on top of an auditorium. He used a boom lift to access a beam and then exited the boom lift to walk on the beam. He then stepped down on a drop ceiling, lost balance, and fell. The drop ceiling caved in and the employee fell 20 feet onto bleachers sustaining injury to his abdominal area and lower left leg. The employee was wearing a harness, but it was not connected to an anchoring point at the time of the fall.
An employee was installing decking (steel grates) in a new construction steel framed building. The employees were working approximately 22' above the next lower level, which was a concrete ground floor. The decking was pre-cut with the floor opening prior to installation. Shortly after installing the floor opening, the employee fell through the floor opening, approximately 18' onto a section of metal ductwork, resulting in fractures to the skull, ribs, thorax, and lumbar vertebra, as well as an ear laceration.
An employee was taking measurements of an area for drywall when they stepped backward into a partially covered hole in the floor. The employee fell approximately 17 feet to the level below, sustaining a forehead fracture and avulsion, a right shoulder dislocation, a left forearm fracture, left knee tendon and meniscus tears, as well as multiple contusions and abrasions.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 424440)
An employee was moving a cardboard tote of product using an electric pallet jack. After he turned a corner, he came in contact with a round metal bracket that holds a trash bag mounted to a pole. The pallet jack continued forward and his right hand got caught between the pole and the handle of the jack, resulting in an open fracture and crush injury to his thumb that required hospitalization and surgery.
An employee was cleaning the packer line with a steel wool pad when the pad got caught in the chain and gear sprocket and their hand was pulled in. They sustained a laceration to the right hand.
An employee was adjusting a guard on a box sealing machine when they slipped on tea oil, causing their right thumb to get stuck in the chain/sprocket. The distal portion of the employee's right thumb was amputated.
An employee was removing an egg transport unit (cart) from the back of a box truck. The cart rolled off the lift gate and struck the employee, fracturing their tibia.
After cutting a slab of beef short ribs, an employee turned to grab the pieces he had cut and his right hand contacted the saw blade. The employee sustained an amputation to his right index finger.
An employee was unloading a carpet pad from a truck when they fell from the truck dock to the concrete below, resulting in five fractured ribs and an injury to their left lung.
An employee was walking up a walkway to enter a building through the back entrance when she tripped over the lip of the cement ramp. The employee fell and sustained a fractured right hip.