Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at United States Postal Service, 3450 South Street, LA FAYETTE, INDIANA 47905
on — Frostbite, affecting the hand(s), unspecified.
Final narrative
An employee was delivering mail when they developed frostbite on both hands; they were hospitalized.
An employee was working to deliver mail to an apartment building. She was waiting for a customer to move, to obtain clearance to the mailboxes. The door swung inward and closed on her right little finger. The top half of her finger was surgically amputated.
On September 22, 2025, an employee was making a delivery to a home. When walking up the sidewalk to the home, the employee tripped, fell to the ground, and hit her head and face against the concrete. The employee was hospitalized due to a laceration to the face and a fractured orbital socket.
An employee was talking with a customer in their yard while delivering mail when a vehicle on the street lost control and struck the employee, resulting in ligament damage in their right knee and injuries to their neck, back, left thumb, and collarbone.
On September 13, 2025, an employee was delivering mail when they became overheated and had muscle cramps in their legs. The employee was hospitalized for heat-related illness.
An employee was picking orders in a freezer warehouse. He developed frostbite in both middle fingers; the right middle finger was partially medically amputated. The incident occurred during a training activity.
An employee had been putting product away in a freezer kept at negative 10-degrees Fahrenheit. At the end of their shift the employee had pain and discoloration in their feet and toes. The employee was hospitalized with frostbite in both of their big toes.
An employee was working during a cold weather event to break ice from water troughs for calves. The employee suffered frostbite in his fingers, resulting in surgical amputations to six fingers.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 491110)
An employee was working to deliver mail to an apartment building. She was waiting for a customer to move, to obtain clearance to the mailboxes. The door swung inward and closed on her right little finger. The top half of her finger was surgically amputated.
An employee was waiting for an operator to bring mail over to a mail sorting machine when she became pinned between the machine and a stack of pallets being pushed by a powered industrial truck (PIT). The employee suffered bruising and swelling on her hips, lower back, knees, and left side; a puncture wound to her left thigh from a machine screw; a crushed right hand with numbness and tingling; numbness to the left big toe; and a right wrist sprain.
An employee was walking back to a carrier case with mail in her hand when she tripped over a tub. Her back overarched as she fell, resulting in a fractured back that required hospitalization.
An employee delivered a package. On her way back to her vehicle she was attacked by two dogs that came from around a corner. She was hospitalized with dog bites.
An employee was walking down a staircase when their heel caught on a stair and they fell, resulting in hospitalization for a punctured lung and broken ribs.
An employee was standing on the outside edge of a hopper barge while watching a skid steer push ore for an excavator (with a clamshell bucket) to unload. The excavator was on a work barge. The bucket of the excavator struck the employee and caused a near-amputation of their right arm and fractures of the ulna and radius of the left arm. The right arm required surgery.
The injured employee was performing roofing work with a crew. A mop was being used to apply tar to the roof. Hot tar splashed onto the injured employee's left hand. The back of their hand was burned.