Other fall to lower level less than 6 feet · Concussions
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Pratt & Whitney, 1 Aircraft Road, MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT 06457
on — Concussions, affecting the brain.
Final narrative
An employee was installing test equipment on an engine and climbed a 6-step ladder to remove the electrical connectors. As the employee was reaching to disconnect the electrical connector, the ladder pushed outward from underneath the employee. The employee then fell 5 feet from the top step and suffered a contusion, concussion, and chest abrasion.
An employee was reassembling a tool that consisted of a tube, an inner cylinder, and a cap that is used for engine assembly. The inner cylinder became wedged on the outer cylinder and while pushing down on the inner cylinder with the cap, it descended and caught the employee's right middle finger between the cap and the outer cylinder. This resulted in a partial amputation and fracture to the finger.
Two maintenance employees were disconnecting utility lines to remove a large oven. The injured employee was lying on his right side applying a valve lock device beneath the oven when his coworker cut the compressed air line, releasing the residual air pressure and allowing the door to glide down and pin the employee to the floor. The employee was hospitalized with rib compression fractures.
The employee was replacing an O-ring that sits on top of a hydraulic oil accumulator tank. The O-ring seals the accumulator tank and the oil manifold to the central cylinder, which had been removed for repair. The employee used a hydraulic jack to raise the oil manifold approximately 1 inch to allow for installation of the O-rings and the central cylinder. The jack slid from its position and the manifold dropped back to its normal resting position, striking and pinching the employee's right thumb. The employee sustained a fracture and open laceration to the thumb, near the knuckle joint.
An employee was removing debris from a machine while waiting on the machine's cooling process to be completed. Due to a software error, the interlock system failed, allowing the machine's die to move and contact the employee's right thumb, which suffered an open fracture. The thump tip had to be medically amputated.
An employee was climbing a step ladder while carrying a 3-foot piece of conduit. As he went to reposition his feet on the ladder by pivoting, he slipped and fell from the third rung of a 6-foot ladder. The employee sustained fractures to the left femur, right elbow, and right ring finger.
An employee was descending a 4-step maintenance stand when she missed the bottom step and fell to the hangar floor. The employee suffered a left hip fracture.
An employee stopped a belt and was going to check it for missing packages. She fell backward 3-4 feet from an elevated platform and sustained a broken right arm.
An employee had just finished a routine concrete pour and was ascending the ladder to clean the concrete mixer truck. The employee lost their grip and fell approximately 2-3 feet, contacting the truck's bumper. The employee suffered rib fractures and a punctured lung.
An employee was performing duties as an expeditor. After opening the dock door, the employee scanned the barcode on the door of the truck and placed one foot on the truck and one foot on the dock. The truck drove out of the stall, causing the employee to fall 4 feet off the dock onto the concrete. The employee sustained fractures to the right side of the pelvis, elbow, and a left ring fingertip as well as injuries to the right wrist and bruising to the back and stomach.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 336413)
An employee was walking from one building to another when he slipped on wet concrete and fell. The employee was hospitalized with a fracture and dislocation of the right patella.
An employee was working inside the access panel of a sliding door when the door began to shut. The employee's left middle finger was pulled into the chain and sprocket, resulting in amputation to the middle knuckle.
An employee was installing a rail on a machine. The roller pack was locked up, causing the chuck to not move. While manually removing the chuck, the rails were damaged. As a result, both the roller pack and the rail needed to be replaced. A fixed magnet from above the rail pulled the rail up and rolled it, pinching the employee's thumb between the rail and the magnet when he tried to install the new rail back to the position. The right thumb tip was amputated.
An employee was checking on a machine outside of the building and removed a cover to clean out a blocked area. His hand was caught by a rotary valve in a dust collection machine. The employee's fingertip was amputated.
An employee was working to clean a glue roller with a scraper tool. The tool and the employee's left thumb were pinched between two rollers, resulting in a partial amputation.
An employee was re-arranging boxes of pipe insulation on a pallet. One of the boxes fell from the pallet and knocked over an upright empty cylinder. The cylinder fell and crushed the tip of the employee's right toe. The employee's toe required surgical amputation.
An employee was securing the claw of a grapple truck to the truck bed. His left little finger was caught between the tie down strap and the rub rail of the truck, resulting in partial amputation of the finger.
An employee was cutting extruded aluminum framing material using a horizontal band saw. She went to grab a rag in the machine when the rag contacted the blade and pulled her hand in toward the blade, resulting in a partial amputation of the right index finger.