Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at SCHWERTNER FARMS, INC., 4651 FM487, SCHWERTNER, TEXAS 76573
on — Cuts, lacerations, affecting the head, unspecified.
Final narrative
The injured employee was holding an adjacent pen gate open when a forklift struck an overhead pipe and the pipe struck the employee in the back of the head. The employee sustained a head laceration/hematoma.
HospitalizedHead, unspecifiedForklift, order picker, platform truck-powered
An employee was dropping cubes from the flatbed truck to feed cattle. As the employee was clearing out a cake, the hopper door came down and amputated the employee's left index fingertip.
An employee was riding a horse to check the health condition of cattle in a pasture. The employee went to rope a calf when the horse slipped and fell. The employee's leg was caught in the stirrup as the horse was regaining its footing. The employee's leg twisted, fracturing the tibia and fibula and requiring surgery.
Two employees were walking through the warehouse behind a forklift that was moving pallets of 30-foot metal bottom bars. When the forklift reversed, the top of the forklift struck a box of metal bottom bars on top of racking, causing the box to fall and strike the two employees. They were both taken to the hospital; one employee was treated and released without being admitted. The other employee was hospitalized with a fractured left orbital bone and an injured right knee.
The injured employee was spray painting lay flat shipping reels while another employee was picking up the reels with a telehandler after they were painted. The telehandler bumped a reel, causing other reels to fall. The injured employee was caught between the reels, resulting in broken left femur.
An employee was installing an aerial drop cable across a roadway. The employee was on a ladder positioned against a telephone pole. Cable had been installed on one side of the roadway. The employee was making the connection to the pole on the opposite side of the roadway when a box truck contacted the cable, causing the employee to fall onto the grass of the customer's yard. The employee sustained broken ribs and was hospitalized.
An employee was performing routine housekeeping duties when a bale of plastic bottles slid off the forks of a forklift that was backing out of a trailer. The bale struck the employee, pushing her into another machine. The employee suffered a fractured rib and punctured lung.
An employee was using a 4-by-4 to straighten a pack of wood. A forklift nudged the 4-by-4, which caused the employee's right hand to be caught between it and the pack of wood. The employee suffered a partial amputation to the right ring finger.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 112990)
An employee was riding an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) to move a bison herd. He was riding up the side of a steep hill when the ATV struck a rock and rolled, ejecting the employee before rolling over him. The employee suffered broken vertebrae in his back that required hospitalization.
An employee was washing and sanitizing an animal food mixer when the paddles pinned the employee's arm against the side wall, resulting in a right hand amputation.
After cutting a slab of beef short ribs, an employee turned to grab the pieces he had cut and his right hand contacted the saw blade. The employee sustained an amputation to his right index finger.
An employee was unloading a carpet pad from a truck when they fell from the truck dock to the concrete below, resulting in five fractured ribs and an injury to their left lung.
An employee was walking up a walkway to enter a building through the back entrance when she tripped over the lip of the cement ramp. The employee fell and sustained a fractured right hip.