Caught in running equipment or machinery during maintenance, cleaning · Avulsions, enucleations
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Vorteq Coil Finishers LLC, 2233 26th Street SW, ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 18103
on — Avulsions, enucleations, affecting the finger(s), fingernail(s), n.e.c..
Final narrative
An employee was wiping off a machine's safety guard while the bottom side rolls were forward coating. Part of his rag dropped into the nip and sucked his hand into the rolls, de-gloving his left index finger.
HospitalizedFinger(s), fingernail(s), n.e.c.Painting, priming, metal coating machinery
An employee was using a hand file to sand a part attached to the chuck on a powered lathe. Their right glove became caught and the employee's hand was pulled into the chuck, resulting in three finger amputations and an injury to the right ear. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was walking back to the office when they tripped on a Christmas tree storage bag and fell to the floor. The employee sustained fractures to their clavicle and humerus.
On November 8, 2024, an employee was inspecting the aluminum material on the line for a defect. The employee stumbled and his face made contact with the moving material, resulting in a severe laceration to the right side of his face. The employee was hospitalized for surgery.
An employee was manually cleaning coater rolls when his right hand was pulled into the nip point. The employee sustained a degloving injury that resulted in surgical amputation of two fingertips.
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.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 332812)
An employee was cutting steel channels from a hanging rack that was being supported by a forklift. When they were finished, the forklift started moving the rack out of the area and a piece of material snagged one of the rack legs, causing the rack to tilt backward. The rack slipped off the forklift and struck the employee on his right side/lower back. He sustained a fractured pelvis and was hospitalized.
An employee was working to remove waste wire between two boat rack/spreader bars (10 feet in length, 8 inches wide, and 16 inches tall, with a center lifting point for a crane hook) in the hanging department. One boat rack was leaning on another boat rack. The employee reached between the boat racks to move the leaning boat rack and remove the waste wire. The leaning boat rack shifted and the employee's left index finger was pinched between the two racks (weighing approximately 600 pounds each). The employee sustained an abrasive amputation of the left index fingertip from the nailbed up.
An employee was performing maintenance on a coating machine and the belt cover guard was removed to repair the belt. The moving belt caught the employee's fingers and pulled them between the belts, injuring three fingers on the employee's left hand. The fingernails were removed from their little and middle fingers. The ring finger was amputated at the first knuckle.
An employee was stacking steel grating. The grating moved and their right ring finger got caught between grating. The last digit of the ring finger was amputated.
An employee was walking into the motor control center (MCC) room when his right ring finger was caught in the hinge of a doorway. He sustained an open phalanx fracture, which resulted in a partial amputation above the first knuckle.
An employee was changing the spacing on a telehandler's forks. A fork slipped, and the employee's left index finger was caught between it and the mast. The fingertip was medically amputated at the first knuckle.
An employee was pulling down a broken skid with a forklift. When the employee backed up the forklift to get the forks out of the skid he pulled down, he contacted the forks of another parked forklift, fracturing both of his legs. He was hospitalized.
An employee was carrying cups back to the kitchen when her foot got caught on a cart and she fell face-first. During the fall, a piece of glass from a cup cut the inside of her mouth, severing an artery. She also sustained a laceration on her lower lip. The employee was hospitalized.