Fall to lower level from collapsing structure or equipment 6 to 30 feet · Fractures
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Bafesa Zinc US Inc., 900 Delaware Avenue, PALMERTON, PENNSYLVANIA 18071
on — Fractures , affecting the Thigh(s).
Final narrative
An employee was inspecting a gangway at a rail scale house. He was on the gangway when the catch that kept the platform from dropping was overcome by the weight and allowed the rounded handrail to slip past the catch. This caused the gangway to drop straight down, and the employee fell 15 feet to the ground. As he fell, his left leg struck the front of the engine, which broke his femur. He was hospitalized, requiring surgery.
An employee was delivering materials. He was doing his pre-delivery inspection on the roof of the jobsite (a warehouse) when he fell through a plexiglass skylight. He landed on his feet on the concrete floor 14 feet below. The employee sustained fractures to his spine, left ulnar/radius, and right heel. The employee required surgery.
An employee was climbing a ladder to inspect a vent in a restaurant dining area. The ladder slid out on the floor and the employee fell approximately 12 feet onto the ladder and the floor. He was hospitalized with a dislocated shoulder and a back injury.
An employee was standing on a multi-purpose ladder installing head flashing over a window. Their feet were approximately 6 feet off the ground and three rungs from the top. The employee lost their grip on the drill they were using and the ladder tipped over. The employee fell from the ladder to the ground, resulting in a fractured left wrist, bruised chest, and lacerations to their face and lip.
An employee was assembling a baker type scaffold. He was beginning to transverse down the scaffold, approximately six feet off the ground, when the scaffold tipped over and he fell. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured femur.
An employee was working from an extension ladder, installing a security camera. The ladder fell out from under the employee, who fell to the ground 12 feet below and broke his right femur.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 331492)
An employee was monitoring a conveyor at the operator station. A piece of metal was fed to a conveyor system and it struck another piece of metal, causing a piece of titanium (1-inch-long and 1/2-inch-wide) to break off and strike the employee in their upper chest below the clavicle. The employee was hospitalized and the embedded piece of metal was surgically removed.
An employee was working by the slag side of a reverb in the furnace department. They returned home after the end of their shift and began feeling muscle cramps, resulting in hospitalization due to dehydration.
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On May 14, 2025, an employee was sitting cross-legged and removing a pneumatic rail car vibrator from its bracket to empty the next pocket in the rail car. When the employee went to set the vibrator down, he placed it on a hammer that was sitting in front of him and the vibrator teetered to the side, catching his little finger. The employee sustained an amputated fingertip at the first knuckle.
An employee was opening a railcar compartment using a wrench when the tool broke and the employee slipped and fell to the same level. The employee sustained a fractured lower right leg.
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An employee was changing the spacing on a telehandler's forks. A fork slipped, and the employee's left index finger was caught between it and the mast. The fingertip was medically amputated at the first knuckle.
An employee was pulling down a broken skid with a forklift. When the employee backed up the forklift to get the forks out of the skid he pulled down, he contacted the forks of another parked forklift, fracturing both of his legs. He was hospitalized.
An employee was carrying cups back to the kitchen when her foot got caught on a cart and she fell face-first. During the fall, a piece of glass from a cup cut the inside of her mouth, severing an artery. She also sustained a laceration on her lower lip. The employee was hospitalized.