Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Dept. of Veterans Affairs, 3400 LEBANON PIKE, MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE 37129
on — Fractures, affecting the hip(s).
Final narrative
On October 26, 2022, an employee was leading a game of balloon volleyball in a hospital dayroom. She was sitting when she fell from a dining room chair to the floor and suffered a broken hip. She was hospitalized, requiring surgery.
Regulators were being fitted on an oxygen tank. The tank exploded, causing a flash fire. An employee suffered burns on the left side of the torso, the right hand, and the left side of the face.
An employee was recording data from a motor. He stepped into a hole, causing him to place his hand into the equipment that was still moving after the motor was shut off. The employee's hand was caught in the fan motor belt and pulley resulting in a partial amputation of his right index finger, including the loss of bone.
An employee was completing a sensor replacement on an air-cooled chiller unit and went to sit on a 5-gallon bucket during a rest break. He experienced sudden stiffness in his left knee, causing him to fall backward and strike his back on a pipe hanger. The employee sustained three broken vertebrae in their lower back.
An employee was sitting on a tall teller chair in a bank drive-through. She leaned forward in the chair when it rolled out from under her. As she fell, a metal footstool that was positioned under the teller station was knocked over. The employee fell on top of the footstool and suffered a puncture wound on the right side of her abdomen from one of the metal legs on the footstool.
A switchboard operator leaned back in her chair and the chair tipped over. She fell backward and struck her head on the floor, sustaining a subarachnoid bleed.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 622110)
An employee slipped while descending in a stairwell, fell, and suffered multiple contusions/bruises to the head, neck, shoulders, knees, and back. She was hospitalized.
A security employee was responding to an urgent call from staff regarding a violent patient. The employee tripped and fell on the floor outside of the stairwell. The employee sustained a closed head injury, contusion of the cerebrum without loss of consciousness, and a closed fracture of the distal end of the right radius.
An employee was working to remove a stuck strap from a tray line while on an A-frame ladder. They fell 6 to 8 feet to the concrete floor, resulting in a head contusion and fractured ribs that required hospitalization.
An employee sat on an unleveled bench outside the cafeteria and fell to the concrete. The employee was hospitalized with a head contusion with bleeding and injuries to the right side of her body, her right hip, and right hand, as well as a scrape to her elbow.
An employee was cutting brush and shrubs. A bee stung the employee on the base of their neck. The employee sustained an allergic reaction and was hospitalized.
An employee was walking to his car when he tripped over a board that was secured to the floor of the dock area. His left knee struck the cement dock. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery to repair a broken knee.