Contact with hot objects or substances · Heat (thermal) burns, unspecified
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Zekelman Industries, Inc., 1 Council Avenue, WHEATLAND, PENNSYLVANIA 16161
on — Heat (thermal) burns, unspecified, affecting the hand(s), unspecified.
Final narrative
An employee was guiding steel pipe into rollers using a bar. The top of his left hand contacted the hot pipe and was burned. He was hospitalized.
An employee had been feeding pipe into a straightener when a jam occurred. The employee was troubleshooting a pipe that did not feed all the way off the conveyor, when another pipe kicked in. Their right middle finger was caught between the two pipes and was partially amputated.
An employee was walking down a platform near the blow box area when they fell into the zinc snout and landed in molten zinc. The employee sustained burns.
An employee was aligning and feeding pipes into the galvanizing tank at a charging station when the pipes slid in at an angle, resulting in the molten zinc shooting up the pipe and onto the employee. The employee suffered burns to their right wrist.
An employee was pulling a metal cart with a plastic roll on it toward a flatbed truck. His left little finger was caught between the cart handle and a piece of metal pipe on the truck. The finger was lacerated and the employee was hospitalized.
An employee was using a crane to lower a coupling box. He was guiding the coupling box onto another coupling box when his right ring finger was caught and amputated between the two coupling boxes.
An employee connected a steam line to a hose to clean equipment when the fitting broke loose. They were struck by steam in the left inner thigh, resulting in burns that required hospitalization.
An employee was making tea when she noticed tea grinds were collecting on the side and water was no longer dripping through the funnel. The employee was checking the funnel when boiling water and tea grinds spilled onto the left side of her body. The employee sustained burns to her neck, back, and arm.
An employee had turned off the ball valve on a waterpipe system and was removing the plug when the coupling system attached to the strainer came apart. Hot water sprayed on his arm and back, resulting in first- and second-degree burns that required surgery.
An employee was using a shovel to remove waste vermiculite from molten zinc. The metal had been placed in a bin and partially hardened. The employee broke through the partially hardened metal; still-molten metal flowed to the employee's steel-toed right boot and entered through the cloth boot tongue. The employee suffered a third-degree burn to the right foot and was hospitalized.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 331110)
An employee was doing a cable change on top of an electric overhead traveling (EOT) crane. They were positioned between the cable drum and the drive shaft. While rotating the cable drum, the employee reached for the new cable that was to be installed. The grease fitting on the drive shaft caught their fall harness and pulled them underneath the drive shaft. The employee was pinned between the drive shaft and two pieces of angle steel, resulting in a fracture to their left hip.
An employee was working to close a furnace door. The hydraulic mechanism that opens and closes the furnace door was non-operational and had been disconnected to allow the furnace door to be opened manually. As the employee was releasing the pins that held the door open, the door and the hydraulic cylinder fell, pinching their left hand between the hydraulic cylinder's base plate and the furnace. The employee suffered amputation of the little fingertip.
A rolling mill was shut down due to a cobble between two mill stands. The injured employee was cleaning the cobble from the delivery side of stand A, while another employee went to the control panel to move stand B and stand A moved instead. The injured employee's right thumb got caught between the delivery guide of stand A and the looper trough. The tip of his thumb required surgical amputation to the bone to allow for stitches.
An employee was helping another employee load stock material onto a press brake when the stock slipped. The injured employee's right index finger was caught between the press brake die and the stock, resulting in amputation at the first knuckle.
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.