Western States Equipment Company

An employee was moving a small jack stand. The employee removed the pin to lower the jack stand with their left hand and their right middle finger went into the pin hole. The stand slipped eight inches and pinched their right middle fingertip, resulting in surgical amputation.

An employee was helping close an automatic gate. The gate pinched the employee's left index finger, causing a partial amputation.

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.

An employee was pulling a data cable through a ceiling. He fell through the ceiling, landing at ground level. He suffered a laceration to the forehead, a dislocated left little finger, a broken left ring finger, and a laceration to the liver.

On September 16, 2025, an employee was installing and adjusting spotlights on a performance stage that was under construction. While crossing the stage to speak with other contractors, the employee encountered a section of the stage where the elevation changed to a lower level. As the employee stepped down 14 inches to the lower level, his knee locked up and he fell to the stage. He subsequently rolled off the stage and fell approximately 2 to 3 feet to the floor, resulting in a fractured tibial plateau in his right leg.

An employee was delivering a 65-foot boom lift to a rental customer's construction site. The employee set up the ramp truck in the parking lot adjacent to the construction site. He elevated the boom 4-5 feet to clear a temporary fence. While driving the boom lift off the ramp, the wheels slid to the driver's side of the ramp truck, ultimately sliding off the ramp. The boom lift fell off the side of the truck and rolled onto its side. The employee sustained a fractured clavicle, a dislocated shoulder, separated/fractured ribs, a punctured lung, and a fractured left femur. The employee required surgery.

An employee was performing maintenance on a telehandler and installing a carriage lift cylinder. The employee was checking the alignment when the cylinder slipped and partially amputated his left middle finger.

An employee had just serviced a battery and was reinstalling it in a forklift using a battery extractor. The employee was trying to pull the battery out of the battery compartment when the extractor moved, causing the battery to shift on the rollers. The employee's right hand was crushed between the top of the battery and the battery compartment.

An employee tripped over a bin and fell to the floor. She landed on her hip and braced herself with her arm, resulting in a fractured hip and wrist.

An employee was diagnosing the lack of flow of product to a powder bin. The employee removed the rotary star valve below the bin. While he was reinstalling the valve, his right middle finger was crushed between its shaft and its housing. The finger was partially amputated.

An employee was standing on a multi-purpose ladder installing head flashing over a window. Their feet were approximately 6 feet off the ground and three rungs from the top. The employee lost their grip on the drill they were using and the ladder tipped over. The employee fell from the ladder to the ground, resulting in a fractured left wrist, bruised chest, and lacerations to their face and lip.

An employee was inspecting the overhead area of a single-person lift and repositioning the lift through a double doorway. As they were transitioning through the doorway, they were caught between the doorframe and the vertical mast of the lift. The employee was hospitalized with injuries to the nose, left maxillary sinus, left orbital bone, and left jaw, with fractures at the maxillary sinus area.

An employee was loading a 4-inch wooden door into a pickup truck when he felt a pop in his right side behind his shoulder blade. He was hospitalized later that day and underwent surgery, having suffered a collapsed right lung.