Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Perdue Farms, Inc., 255 N. Rehoboth Blvd., MILFORD, DELAWARE 19963
on — Puncture wounds, except gunshot wounds, affecting the nonclassifiable.
Final narrative
An employee was in her car during her break when an unknown assailant approached the car and stabbed the employee with an unknown weapon.
An employee was rinsing out a batter machine. He went to clear a piece of meat on the inlet of the pump when his fingertip was amputated. The employee was hospitalized and underwent surgery.
An employee was hanging chickens on shackles in the evisceration department. While removing a chicken from a hook, the employee's finger was lacerated by a double leg shackle resulting in a partial amputation.
A maintenance employee was repairing a conveyor belt sheave on an offal pump. His right hand middle finger was caught when removing the belt resulting in amputation. The machine was locked out/tagged out at the time.
While spraying a runaround conveyor machine with a pressure washer, an employee noticed something on the conveyor belt. The employee was attempting to remove the object when the employee's hand was caught between the belt and a moving sprocket. The employee suffered a right arm fracture and tissue damage.
On 11/03/2016, at approximately 5:15 PM, an employee was troubleshooting a gizzard machine that was not running properly. He was attempting to identify the problem and got assistance from a coworker. He closed the cover and shut down the machine. The machine was turned back on while the employee's right hand was in the moving/rotating parts of the chain drive and sprocket, amputating 3/4 of his index finger and 1/2 of his middle finger.
Two employees were involved in an altercation in a parking lot. One of them was stabbed with a knife on the right side of his abdomen. He was hospitalized.
A security guard was working in a parking garage when an unauthorized person entered the garage. The security guard requested that the individual leave and they were stabbed with a knife. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee stabbed the injured employee with a knife in the breakroom during an altercation. The injured employee sustained stab wounds to their chest and abdomen.
An employee was walking from the receiving area to the grocery section. A customer was waiting for the employee around a corner and stabbed the employee multiple times with a sharp object. The employee was stabbed in the back, abdomen, and left side.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 311615)
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.
An employee was troubleshooting a thigh deboner on a poultry processing line. As he worked to dislodge a thigh bone caught in the blade mechanism, the machine amputated the first and second digits on his left hand. He was hospitalized.
On September 25, 2025, an employee was exiting a yard truck. They slipped and fell approximately 3 feet from the top tread of the steps to the concrete below. The employee sustained a fractured left hip.
An employee was operating a stand-up forklift, picking product for an order. The forklift struck a metal rack and the employee's left arm was caught between the forklift and the rack. He was hospitalized with a fracture to the neck of his radius and an open fracture to the olecranon (elbow).
A flagger was directing traffic flow in a highway work zone. They were standing approximately 1.5 feet behind the shoulder's demarcating line, next to and slightly behind a traffic drum. As they were directing traffic into and out of the driveway of a parking lot, a car attempted to get around a truck and struck the traffic drum, which subsequently struck the employee, who was thrown 15 feet and landed on top of concrete aggregate. The employee suffered pelvic and rib fractures, T10 and L3 vertebra fractures, and internal bleeding.
An employee was troubleshooting a power washer in the field. Because there might have been water in its fuel, he brought it back to the shop and drained about a gallon of fuel from the tank into a plastic container. Some of the fuel spilled onto the floor and ignited. The employee was stomping out the fire when he lost his balance and tripped into a stool, which caused the plastic container to spill more fuel onto the fire. The employee's pants and shirt caught on fire, and he fell, abrading his knee while trying to get through the flames. As well as the knee abrasion, he suffered burns to the left leg and left lower quadrant of the torso. He was hospitalized.
An employee was backing up a tram (towing powered industrial equipment) to connect it to a trash bin. The employee's left forearm/wrist was caught and crushed between the tram and the bin. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee went to lift a carton and tripped on a different carton that was on the floor. She fell on the floor in the backroom and sustained a fractured right hip, and abrasions to her arm and knee. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery.