Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at TDS TELECOM, 140 North Monroe, LANCASTER, WISCONSIN 53813
on — Fractures, affecting the lower leg(s).
Final narrative
An employee was testing a customer's telephone line and walking back to his work truck, which was parked on the road about 50 feet away. As he walked down the steep gravel driveway, he slipped on snow and landed on his left foot, rolling his ankle and breaking his left fibula and tibia.
An employee was descending a ladder when it shifted, slid, and twisted. The employee fell about 12 feet to the ground and broke his left hip. He was hospitalized and required 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 517911)
On June 16, 2025, at 4:30 p.m., an employee was ascending an 8-foot A-frame ladder to look inside an attic opening of a customer's garage. The employee was three rungs from the top when he fell 5 feet to the ground, resulting in a displaced fracture of his femur in the back of his knee. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery.
An employee was about to install a cable at a residential site. While setting up a ladder, he stepped back on an uneven street surface and hyperextended his knee. He dislocated his knee and tore his patellar tendon.
An employee was descending a ladder when it shifted, slid, and twisted. The employee fell about 12 feet to the ground and broke his left hip. He was hospitalized and required surgery.
An employee lost his balance when the extension ladder he was on shifted and he fell approximately 15 feet to the ground, resulting in fractures to his elbow and hip.
The injured employee was assisting five other employees with bracing a wall panel that was being stood up. Another employee slipped on frost on the floor surface. The employees went to evacuate the area in anticipation of the wall panel falling over. The injured employee went to jump through a window opening within the wall panel and their lower half was crushed by the falling wall panel. The employee sustained a fractured pelvis.
An employee was using a vertical band saw to cut a thick piece of rubber material. While being cut, the material shifted, causing the employee s right hand to contact the moving blade. The employee's thumb was amputated below the knuckle. The employee was hospitalized, undergoing surgery.
A production sanitation employee was pre-rinsing an incline conveyor and noticed cheese stuck between the belt idler. The employee went to remove the cheese and their glove got caught and pulled their left forearm into the conveyor. The employee's arm was fractured. The machine was not locked out/tagged out at the time.
An employee was on a ladder, taking measurements for a new gutter installation. The ladder slipped out from under him and both he and the ladder fell to the ground. He was hospitalized with seven broken ribs and a broken clavicle.
An employee was unloading a truck for a delivery job. While moving boxes in the truck, the employee tripped over a pallet and fell out of the truck to the ground, resulting in four broken ribs.