Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Solar Atmospheres, Inc., 1969 Clearview Road, SOUDERTON, PENNSYLVANIA 18964
on — Heat (thermal) burns, unspecified, affecting the hand(s), unspecified.
Final narrative
On June 8, 2022, an employee was packing titanium powder into a 55-gallon drum contained in an aluminum dumper. The employee used their hands to grasp the trays and dump them into the drum. The powder dumping process creates a dust plume. The dust plume ignited, possibly due to static charge. A flash fire occurred and the employee suffered burns on the top of both hands.
An employee was moving a metal door, creating a spark. The employee's boots caught on fire due to residual flammable chemicals that were on his boots. The employee sustained burns to the ankle/metatarsals of both feet.
An employee was lubricating a forming machine when hot bottles fell off the machine. A bottle contacted the employee's left leg and ignited their flame retardant pants. The employee's left leg was burned from the thigh to just below the knee.
An employee was returning from their break when the rags in his back pocket contacted a nearby stove heater. The rags caught on fire and spread to the employee's clothing. He sustained third-degree burns to the left and right buttocks.
On October 7, 2025, an employee was pulling a customer load out of post-wash equipment when his left index finger was pinched between the sled and the roller on the charge cart conveyor, resulting in a fingertip amputation between the nail and first joint.
An employee was welding a bearing on a piece of equipment. He was lying on the belt while performing this task. The welding rod contacted the employee or the belt and the employee was shocked by electricity. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was lighting a pilot light that burns off residual oxygen in the purge chamber of a heat-treating furnace. Residual gas and built-up oxygen in the purge chamber caused an explosion, which blew the front of the furnace's door off its track and the hood/exhaust system off its rivets. The employee was knocked down and suffered burns and lacerations to the left side of his face.
A temporary employee was moving a load using a walk-behind powered industrial vehicle (PIV). He backed into a safety bollard and his leg was pinned between the PIV and the bollard, resulting in a crush injury and laceration to the lower leg. The employee was hospitalized for surgery.
An employee was setting up a work piece on the honing machine when his left hand fingers were crushed in a pinch point. The employee sustained an amputation of the distal joint of his ring finger.
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.