Compressed or pinched by shifting objects or equipment · Amputations
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Ellwood Quality Steels Company, 700 Moravia Street, NEW CASTLE, PENNSYLVANIA 16101
on — Amputations, affecting the fingertip(s).
Final narrative
An employee had finished cutting a round metal ingot with a saw. The employee went to move the scrap piece and it fell/sank down into a bed of mechanical rollers. The mechanical rollers are normally used to remove the scrap piece out of the way so the piece can be lifted by a crane. The employee then attempted to manually move the scrap piece by pulling it off of the mechanical rolls. The piece was too heavy and rolled backwards towards the ingot. The employee's left middle finger became trapped/pinched between the ingot and scrap piece, resulting in a fingertip amputation.
AmputationFingertip(s)Scrap metal
More severe injuries at Ellwood Quality Steels Company
An employee was on the ground in a stripping/bricking area, working with a cab crane operator to set rods. As the crane lifted a rod out of a center tile setter and hoisted it up, the sheave cover on the 20-ton hoist lifted a trumpet by the trumpet ear. Once the trumpet came off the ground, the base kicked out. The trumpet pinned the employee's right leg against the tile setter.
An employee was preparing to pick up two steel, round bars to be loaded into a truck. In order to have space for the lifting tongs to grab the bars, the employee needed to move the wedges to space the round bars out. The tongs were resting on the round bars and as the employee reached between the tongs and the round bar to move the wedge, the tongs fell on the employee's hand, pinching it between the tongs and the round bar. The employee sustained crush injuries that required surgery.
An employee was finishing a vertical mold set-up when the lid fell. The employee entered the mold to try to retrieve the lid. The mold next to the one he was in was filled with molten steel. He could not get out of the mold and was burned by the radiant heat from the adjacent mold. He suffered burns to 6% of his body (hands, back, buttocks).
An employee was operating a forklift and unloading a truck. After the truck was unloaded, the employee got off the forklift and proceeded to adjust the dock plate with a hook tool. The dock plate slipped and the employee went to adjust the plate with their hand when their left middle finger got caught. Their finger was amputated above the first joint.
An employee was rotating a carbide granulator blade when his finger was caught between the blade and a stationary part of the machine. The employee's right middle finger was partially amputated and they suffered an avulsion to the right ring fingertip.
An employee was using a CNC metal lathe machine in manual mode to check that the thread blocking tool made contact with the jaws. As the employee was manually spinning the spindle, his index fingertip was crushed between the spindle's jaws and the grooving insert, resulting in a fingertip amputation.
During a material handling operation, an employee's fingertip was caught under an air conditioning unit as the unit was lowered onto a cart. The employee's fingertip was amputated.
An employee was removing a bolt from a tractor hub when their right index finger was caught between the hub and the frame. The employee's fingertip was crushed and the employee was hospitalized.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 331110)
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 working to close a furnace door. The hydraulic mechanism that opens and closes the furnace door was non-operational and had been disconnected to allow the furnace door to be opened manually. As the employee was releasing the pins that held the door open, the door and the hydraulic cylinder fell, pinching their left hand between the hydraulic cylinder's base plate and the furnace. The employee suffered amputation of the little fingertip.
A rolling mill was shut down due to a cobble between two mill stands. The injured employee was cleaning the cobble from the delivery side of stand A, while another employee went to the control panel to move stand B and stand A moved instead. The injured employee's right thumb got caught between the delivery guide of stand A and the looper trough. The tip of his thumb required surgical amputation to the bone to allow for stitches.
An employee was helping another employee load stock material onto a press brake when the stock slipped. The injured employee's right index finger was caught between the press brake die and the stock, resulting in amputation at the first knuckle.
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.