Caught in running equipment or machinery during maintenance, cleaning · Amputations
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Knife River Corporation, 5450 West Gowen Road, BOISE, IDAHO 83709
on — Amputations, affecting the finger(s), fingernail(s), n.e.c..
Final narrative
An employee was cleaning a discharge auger at the bag house when his right middle and ring fingers were caught and amputated in the rotating auger.
An employee was loading a motor onto a trailer when he struck his left elbow against the radiator. His elbow was lacerated and became infected, resulting in hospitalization.
An employee was on the spray-down rack in the truck yard unraveling a hose to spray the truck. The employee was walking backward to descend the stairs, walked off the stairs, and fell approximately 7 feet to the ground below. The employee sustained seven broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a broken hip.
An employee was using a gas trimmer to cut brush when he was stung by a wasp on the left arm. The employee swatted with his right hand across his body and made contact with the blades of the trimmer, amputating the tip of his right ring finger.
On 5/08/2020, at 09:30 AM, an employee was delivering concrete to a construction site and installing the metal chutes on his ready mix truck when his right two middle fingers were pinched between chutes. As a result, he sustained a partial traumatic transphalangeal amputation of his right middle finger.
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 237110)
An employee was moving a tensile strength test device with a dolly. The device fell from the dolly onto the employee's right leg, causing a compound fracture.
On October 7, 2025, employees were conducting trenching operations for the installation of a new sewer line system. The excavator's bucket was detached and put inside the trench as it was being exchanged for a different-sized bucket. An employee entered the trench with a shovel to move some dirt located at the front end of the pipe. The excavator bucket shifted and slid, striking the employee s right foot and trapping it against the ground. The employee sustained a fractured right tibia.
Employees were working to dislodge a large truck that was stuck in a rut using tow straps and a front-end loader with the bucket removed. An employee connected the straps to the loader and truck and another employee slowly engaged the loader to close the coupler. The injured employee's arm became caught in a pinch point. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured arm.
An employee was lifting a piece of 30-inch line stopping equipment using a jack screw. A lifting eye weld snapped and the load dropped. The end of the jack screw then landed on the employee's heel and crushed it. The employee was hospitalized.
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.