Caught in running equipment or machinery during maintenance, cleaning · Amputations
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Nelson Wire & Steel, 1015 New Salem Road, NEW SALEM, PENNSYLVANIA 15468
on — Amputations, affecting the fingertip(s).
Final narrative
Two employees were performing work on an automated welder. One employee was operating the main control panel and the injured employee was working at the rear of the machine. When the machine was restarted, it pinched the injured employee's pinky finger causing an amputation of the fingertip.
An employee was using an acetylene/oxygen torch to cut bad wire off a spool when sparks from the process ignited the employee's shirt, resulting in burns to the employee's skin that required hospitalization.
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 332618)
An employee was driving a powered industrial truck (PIT) carrying a nesting sheave on the back counterweight of the PIT. He was holding the sheave when the PIT struck a pothole in the floor, causing the sheave to roll forward and crush his right index fingertip against the back of the PIT seat frame. The employee's fingertip was amputated, requiring hospitalization and surgery.
An employee was building slings. They were placing wire rope in a pneumatic vise when their right index finger was caught between the vise and the wire rope, resulting in a fracture that required hospitalization and surgery.
At about 7:15 a.m. on August 28, 2025, an employee was using a construction compactor to stabilize the dirt of a dam that had just been built. The dirt gave way underneath the compactor, which tipped on its left side. The employee fell out and was crushed and pinned between the compactor and the dirt. He was hospitalized, having suffered a broken sternum and broken ribs on both sides, as well as a laceration to the left leg by the ankle joint.
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.