Columbia Recycling Corp.

On April 16, 2023, a maintenance employee was clearing a jammed classifier machine and went to remove the air lock when it amputated three middle fingers on his left hand at the first joint.

A super sack full of pellets fell onto an employee's right leg, breaking it about 3 inches below the knee. The employee was hospitalized.

An employee was on a forklift moving bales of carpet. As the employee was moving the bales, the carpet in the back row shifted, causing the bales in the front to fall. The employee jumped off the forklift and as he was running a bale hit him from behind. The employee sustained a fractured right leg, a fractured left fibula, a fractured L3 vertebra, and foreign bodies in left ankle.

An employee was changing a saw blade when the saw machine activated. The employee's left ring and little fingers were amputated.

An employee was clearing a jam from the label cutting machine when their left middle finger was partially amputated.

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.

At approximately 10:00 AM, employees were conducting asphalt loading operations. While securing a hose atop a truck, an employee encountered a malfunction involving a plugged hose. Pressure built up within the hose and suddenly released, causing the hose to fly off the truck. The hose contacted two employees and both employees fell approximately 7 feet. Employee 1 was on top of the truck and sustained three fractured ribs and a head contusion. Employee 1 was hospitalized. Employee 2 was climbing a ladder on the truck and sustained a fractured right leg. Employee 2 was not hospitalized.

An employee was winding a bobbin on a bobbin-winding machine when the string became entangled. While the employee was untangling it with scissors, the string caught her finger, wrapped around it tightly, and amputated it at the first joint. The machine was guarded at the time.

An employee was operating an electric pallet jack in a warehouse. As he turned out of one aisle into another, he had to reverse to get a better angle. While reversing, the pallet jack struck a metal guardrail and trapped the employee's right ankle against it. The employee's foot was broken.

An employee was checking for material flow in a screw conveyor within a material sampling port when the conveyor flight came into contact with their right hand, resulting in lacerations to their index, middle, and ring fingers.

An employee was helping to transport plastic material when their left foot was caught in the fabric cutter machine and sustained amputations to their big toe, 2nd toe, and 3rd toe. The employee was hospitalized.

An employee was helping to lift the grating from a floor draining system when the grating slipped and landed on his hand, resulting in the amputation of his right middle finger at the first joint.

A casting machine jammed. An employee's hand was caught in the machine, where a belt line caught and amputated the tip of his finger.

During a workshop meeting in a hotel, an employee heard a drilling noise, so he walked outside to see what it was. An explosion occurred (possible gas line) and his face, ear, and hair were burned. He also fell and sustained a pelvic fracture.

An employee slipped on condensation on a walkway in a parking garage. She fell and suffered a closed fracture to the neck of the left femur.

An employee was using a tool to remove a rag from a roll on the tube mill. The roll pulled the tool and the employee's right hand into the roll, resulting in a partial amputation of the little finger and a fracture to the index finger.