Ozark Empire Distributors

An employee was standing on top of a 7-foot-tall machine, cleaning it. He fell off the edge and landed on the ground, suffering two fractured vertebrae in his neck, a fractured left radius and left wrist, and head lacerations.

An employee and his colleagues were relocating a dough extruder with a forklift. While they were placing the extruder on a rolling platform, the extruder tipped and fell on the employee, who suffered a lower back contusion.

Employee's right ring finger was amputated after it came in contact with the blade on a bread divider. During a jam, a photo electric eye is supposed to shut the machine down. The photo electric eye malfunctioned as the employee reached into the machine resulting in the ring finger amputation.

An employee was changing a saw blade when the saw machine activated. The employee's left ring and little fingers were amputated.

An employee was clearing a jam from the label cutting machine when their left middle finger was partially amputated.

Two employees were repairing the hydraulic engagement pins on a rented front-end wheel loader. The machine controls were activated to move the attachment pins and an employee's finger was caught between the pins and the bushings. Their right index finger was partially amputated.

An employee was cleaning the conveyor on a piece of equipment when they slipped and their right hand was pulled into the chain sprocket. The employee's fifth fingertip was amputated.

An employee was throwing blankets onto a blanket folding and stacking machine. A blanket got stuck in the machine and she attempted to remove it when the machine contacted her right little finger, resulting in a fingertip amputation.

An employee (who had recently walked through water accumulated on the floor) slipped and fell to the floor. The employee suffered a broken right wrist and right elbow and was hospitalized, requiring surgery.

An employee was performing maintenance on a production line, requiring a testing and positioning phase for the whipped cream dispensers. The employee was positioning the dispensers using wrenches when one of the sensors was triggered by the pie pans coming down the line. The depositor heads lowered and pinched the employee's left ring finger, resulting in an amputated fingertip. The whipped cream dispensers were not guarded at the time and the line was not locked out/tagged out.

During a line changeover, an employee was rinsing a depositor with water. The employee was working to remove a piece of chocolate, stuck in the machine's roller, when the roller's moving parts caught his middle finger. He suffered an amputation to the fingertip with bone loss.

An employee was emptying a trash can into a dumpster. He tripped while turning around, fell over a rail onto the concrete floor, and broke bones in his back and wrist.

During a changeover, an employee was wiping down the dough chunker machine and the chunker closed on his left hand. The employee sustained crushing/laceration injuries, requiring hospitalization and surgery.

An employee was operating an ironworker (steel punching/shearing) machine. A piece of the tooling broke off and struck the employee's neck; a fragment was lodged in his neck. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery.

On October 25, 2025, an employee was stringing up a new reel of tire tread on a machine. The employee pulled a 6-inch tail and proceeded to spool up the liner. As the machine was jogged to begin the liner wrapping process, the liner caught the employee's glove and pulled their right arm into the liner, causing a fracture to the arm.

An employee was doing a cable change on top of an electric overhead traveling (EOT) crane. They were positioned between the cable drum and the drive shaft. While rotating the cable drum, the employee reached for the new cable that was to be installed. The grease fitting on the drive shaft caught their fall harness and pulled them underneath the drive shaft. The employee was pinned between the drive shaft and two pieces of angle steel, resulting in a fracture to their left hip.

An employee was helping two other employees to push a pallet of tile on a loading dock. He suffered a broken fibula and was hospitalized.

On October 5, 2025, an employee was pulling a pressure washer hose when it it disconnected from the cooker. The employee was struck by jets of high-pressure water, resulting in lacerations to their left thigh requiring surgery. The employee was hospitalized.