Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Veterans' Administration, 1111 East End Blvd, WILKES BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA 18711
on — Fractures, affecting the hip(s).
Final narrative
An employee fell to a laboratory floor while trying to sit down on a wheeled chair. The employee suffered a broken left hip.
An employee was talking to another employee when his legs started to give and he fell backwards and struck his head on the floor. He sustained a skull fracture and head trauma.
An employee was completing a sensor replacement on an air-cooled chiller unit and went to sit on a 5-gallon bucket during a rest break. He experienced sudden stiffness in his left knee, causing him to fall backward and strike his back on a pipe hanger. The employee sustained three broken vertebrae in their lower back.
An employee was sitting on a tall teller chair in a bank drive-through. She leaned forward in the chair when it rolled out from under her. As she fell, a metal footstool that was positioned under the teller station was knocked over. The employee fell on top of the footstool and suffered a puncture wound on the right side of her abdomen from one of the metal legs on the footstool.
A switchboard operator leaned back in her chair and the chair tipped over. She fell backward and struck her head on the floor, sustaining a subarachnoid bleed.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 923140)
An employee was walking down a hallway when they stepped on a small puddle of liquid and fell backward onto their left leg, resulting in a broken left femur.
An employee was on a 10-foot ladder replacing a fan motor on an HVAC system. While removing the guard to facilitate maintenance, the guard slipped. As the employee tired to grab it, their left hand fingers were caught between the belt and pulley resulting in a partial amputation of the little finger and fractures and lacerations to the middle and ring fingers.
An employee was using a fire escape when he slipped on the stairs that were wet due to rain. The employee fell down several stairs, hit his head, and injured his right hand.
Three employees were working on a steam pipe. They had depressurized the line and cut it. As they were preparing to replace the broken pipe section, one of them was struck by pressurized hot water and/or steam, which burned his right arm, chest, and back. He was hospitalized.
An employee was pushing a cart when they stopped to assist someone. As they turned around, they fell backward down the stairs with a box and hand truck landing on top of him. The employee was hospitalized and sustained rib fractures, a hematoma, and a compression fracture/spinal injury.
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.