Struck by swinging or slipping object, other than handheld, n.e.c. · Amputations
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Valmont Industries, 11308 Highway 36, BELLVILLE, TEXAS 77418
on — Amputations, affecting the fingertip(s).
Final narrative
An employee was assisting a bridge crane to lower a section of a 10-foot mold onto another section of mold. When lowered, the molds did not align. Upon checking for an obstruction that was causing the misalignment, the mold slid onto the employee's fingers. The employee sustained a crush injury and amputation of the middle, ring, and little fingertips.
A crane operator was moving a high-tension power pole. The top/spreader bar on a foundry hook made contact with the pole, causing slack in the crane cable. It disconnected, fell about 3 feet, and struck the employee's shoulder.
An employee was going to perform routine maintenance (cleaning) on the plasma cutter table. The employee lifted the top part off the plasma cutter table with an overhead crane. The interior slag tray slipped out of the rigging and fell onto the employee, who suffered a broken hip and was hospitalized.
A crew was pulling a 4-inch plastic gas pipe off a reel and straightening it for installation. The injured employee stepped up on the trailer to cut the last band holding the pipe in the coil on the reel. As he turned to step off the trailer, the end of the pipe rotated and sprung out of the cage surrounding the coil, striking the employee on the side of the head and knocking him off of the trailer into the roadway. The employee suffered head trauma that required hospitalization.
An employee and a co-worker were performing a pick inside a clear well. They rigged the skid pan that was full of broken concrete. When lifting, the load began to swing toward a wall. The employee tried to stop the skid pan from swinging and was struck by the pan, resulting in fractures to their left hip and wrist.
The employee had just completed refueling a lattice crane that was breaking up material and was winding the fuel hose back into the fuel truck when he was struck by the catwalk/stairs of the crane. The employee was hospitalized with a laceration to his backside, possible internal bleeding, and a broken hip.
An employee was fusing 10-inch black rubber utility pipes together using a pipe fusion machine and could not get the pipes to set correctly. The employee used a nylon strap attached to an excavator to lift one side of a pipe off a steel plate. As his hand was between two pipes, the pipes came back together, partially amputating two of his fingers.
An employee was lifting four bags of a lime blend weighing approximately 10,000 pounds using a crane. The load swung and pinned the employee against a structural I-beam, resulting in fractures to the hip and pelvis.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 327390)
An employee was stacking concrete blocks for a concrete bunker. As a block was swinging into place, the employee's left leg was pinched between two blocks, resulting in injuries to his left heel and lower leg.
An employee was patching precast concrete. He fell from a concrete wall support to the ground due to wind. He was hospitalized with fractures to his left ankle and right knee.
An employee was cutting wood on a table saw when the wood got jammed. While clearing the jam, the wood moved forward and his left index and middle fingertips were amputated.
After cutting a slab of beef short ribs, an employee turned to grab the pieces he had cut and his right hand contacted the saw blade. The employee sustained an amputation to his right index finger.
An employee was unloading a carpet pad from a truck when they fell from the truck dock to the concrete below, resulting in five fractured ribs and an injury to their left lung.
An employee was walking up a walkway to enter a building through the back entrance when she tripped over the lip of the cement ramp. The employee fell and sustained a fractured right hip.