Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Comcast Cable, 20 East Tolna Road, SHREWSBURY, PENNSYLVANIA 17361
on — Fractures, affecting the lumbar region.
Final narrative
An aerial drop cable had been attached to a pole and run across a residential street; an employee was across the road climbing a ladder to attach the cable at a house. A truck drove by and hit the cable, ripping it out of the employee's hand. The cable was still attached to the spool near the foot of the employee's ladder, and the spool pulled the ladder down. The employee fell 12-15 feet to the ground and suffered a broken lower-back vertebra.
HospitalizedLumbar regionTruck-motorized freight hauling and utility, unspecified
An employee was on a ladder while feeding cable at a multi-unit home when the ladder slipped from beneath him and he fell. The employee was hospitalized with a leg injury.
An employee was installing a cable while on an A-frame ladder when they lost their balance and fell to the ground. The employee sustained a left-side skull fracture and rib fractures.
An employee was using an aerial lift to repair overhead cable lines. A tractor trailer drove by on the road below and made contact with the power lines creating an electrical arc that struck the employee. The employee sustained electrical shock and burns to the right arm and lower right region of their back. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was walking in a customer's basement, tracing an old cable line, when he lost his balance and fell into an open pit that housed an old water tank. He struck the water tank, suffering intestinal bruising and a small liver laceration.
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 515210)
An employee was approximately 5 feet up on a ladder while drilling a hole for cable installation. A wasp attacked him. As he was coming down the ladder, he landed flat on his feet on the ground, and his right leg was twisted. The employee sustained a fractured tibia.
An employee had been installing an outside cable line at a residence. The employee became nauseous from working in the heat. The employee was hospitalized with heat exhaustion and dehydration.
An employee tripped at an elevation change while approaching a home. He fell to the ground and hit his head on a rock, suffering a contusion to the left eyebrow and a possible concussion.
An employee climbed to the top of a ladder at a customer's house. The ladder shifted and the employee fell 28 feet to the ground. The employee was hospitalized for a lung contusion and a right foot contusion.
An employee was knocking on a customer's door when two dogs from a neighboring house attacked them, resulting in bite wounds that required hospitalization.
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.