Vehicle or machinery fire · Poisoning, including poisoning-related asphyxia
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Phifer, Incorporated, 4400 Kaloosa Drive, TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 35403
on — Poisoning, including poisoning-related asphyxia, affecting the bODY SYSTEMS.
Final narrative
An employee was attempting to extinguish a small fire on an exhaust dock machine when the employee experienced smoke inhalation and a sore throat.
An employee was splicing two rolls together on a grading table. She was rethreading an apron through the rollers when her right hand was pulled into the rollers. The employee's right arm was crushed.
An employee was adjusting a rewinder switch when the rewinder cycled and ejected the lowering roller. His right foot was crushed between the roll and the rewinder.
The injured employee was watching a co-worker operate a powered pallet jack when it pinned the employee's left leg against a piece of equipment. The employee's lower leg was broken.
An employee was operating a machine when his right hand contacted the belt/pulley assembly, resulting in the amputation of the distal 1/4 inch of his right ring finger.
An employee was operating a band saw with a shuttle vice and a machine vice. The machine vice closed on the employee's pinky finger, resulting in a fingertip amputation.
An employee removed the spark plugs and was rotating an engine to evacuate condensate from the cylinders. An unknown source ignited the condensate and natural gas. The employee sustained burns to the back of his hands and upper leg area.
An employee was operating a front-end loader when a hydraulic line broke, causing the front-end loader to catch on fire. The employee jumped from the cab to the ground and sustained fractures to the T-6 vertebra and a heel.
An employee was moving two totes of turpentine. Noticing that one of them was leaking, he stopped his forklift and began to look for the leak. The forklift caught fire, and the employee suffered severe burns. He was hospitalized.
An employee was performing maintenance on a machine when part of an adjacent machine caught fire. The employee extinguished the fire and suffered smoke inhalation.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 332618)
An employee was driving a powered industrial truck (PIT) carrying a nesting sheave on the back counterweight of the PIT. He was holding the sheave when the PIT struck a pothole in the floor, causing the sheave to roll forward and crush his right index fingertip against the back of the PIT seat frame. The employee's fingertip was amputated, requiring hospitalization and surgery.
An employee was building slings. They were placing wire rope in a pneumatic vise when their right index finger was caught between the vise and the wire rope, resulting in a fracture that required hospitalization and surgery.
At about 7:15 a.m. on August 28, 2025, an employee was using a construction compactor to stabilize the dirt of a dam that had just been built. The dirt gave way underneath the compactor, which tipped on its left side. The employee fell out and was crushed and pinned between the compactor and the dirt. He was hospitalized, having suffered a broken sternum and broken ribs on both sides, as well as a laceration to the left leg by the ankle joint.
An employee was traveling down the maintenance aisle of a warehouse on a single-pallet front rider jack. The jack malfunctioned, causing the brakes to apply; the employee fell forward onto the concrete warehouse floor. The employee suffered an injury to the left leg and was hospitalized, requiring surgery.
An employee was operating a metal roller machine to roll a small piece of metal. The employee's right index finger became caught between the metal and the machine, and the fingertip was amputated.
An employee was directing a truck driver to a dump site when the truck's peanut trailer slipped off the kingpin. As the trailer fell, a ladder attached to it lacerated the employee's ear. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was unloading a forklift from a trailer to the ground. The employee was climbing down the ladder of the trailer when their foot slipped through one of the rungs, causing them to fall backward onto the forklift forks. The employee was hospitalized for fractured ribs.