Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at USGS, 700 Cajundome Blvd., LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA 70506
on — Puncture wounds, except gunshot wounds, affecting the trunk, unspecified.
Final narrative
An employee was cleaning the boat and turtle traps while other crew members were pulling items such as ice chests, paddles/push poles, and the electrical conduit from the boat. The electrical conduit was then leaned against the front of the boat to be washed. The injured employee then got into the boat to help lift a box of nets. To pull the box from the gunwale, the employee exited the boat, and as they did, the electrical conduit suddenly shifted. One fell toward the employee and as it fell, the employee landed on the end of the pole and was impaled. The employee was hospitalized for internal bleeding and required surgery.
On September 25, 2023, an employee was working in the body department installing doors, hoods, and tailgates. The employee finished their shift and was hospitalized later that evening for a back injury.
An employee was performing surveying work and was actively engaged in laying out geophysical nodes as part of a seismic exploration project. This task required the employee to carry and place geophysical equipment at specific intervals along the survey path, under outdoor environmental conditions. The employee sustained heat stroke.
At about 9:15 a.m. on March 10, 2025, an employee was riding along a hardpack snow-covered roadway on a snowmobile. The snowmobile went over a berm and tipped/rolled, causing the employee to fall to the ground. He suffered a collapsed left lung and was hospitalized.
A survey instrument operator was watching the survey crew chief perform a topographic survey on an existing bridge abutment wingwall. The employee moved down the side slope behind the wingwall to take survey shots of the top of the wingwall. He slipped and fell over a 15-foot abutment wall, onto wood brush and the ground below, landing on his back. The employee sustained a fractured vertebra in his back.
An employee was working on the outside of the facility when they were struck by a forklift, resulting in fractures to their nose, three ribs, and left leg.
A driver was exiting his vehicle outside the plant gate when his foot slipped on the top step of the truck. He fell to the ground, landed on his left hip and elbow. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured hip/femur.
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.
A temporary employee was testing an electrical starter motor. He was placing tape on the starter while the breaker was not engaged, but the starter sent an arc flash that burned his hands and stomach.
An employee was walking on a sidewalk and stubbed his toe on an elevated portion of concrete, causing him to trip and fall. The employee's right knee was dislocated.