Struck by running powered equipment during maintenance, cleaning, testing · Nonfatal 'crushing' injuries
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Big Lots Distribution Center, 2855 Selma Highway, MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36108
on — Nonfatal 'crushing' injuries, affecting the Hand(s) and finger(s).
Final narrative
An employee was performing maintenance on a conveyor belt. The employee's hand was caught in the rotating chain and sprocket. Their right hand and index finger were crushed. The employee was hospitalized. The machine was not locked out or guarded at the time of the incident.
Hospitalized Hand(s) and finger(s) Conveyors belt, slot, chain
More severe injuries at Big Lots Distribution Center
An employee was operating a stand-up forklift. Its cage crushed his left hand against a nearby storage rack, degloving the thumb and crushing the fingers.
The injured employee was going to enter a room at the same moment another employee was exiting the room. The door swung open and struck the injured employee. The injured employee fell to the concrete floor and broke her hip. The employee was hospitalized.
At about 1:15 p.m. on July 13, 2018, an employee was driving a forklift. His lift struck a rack and ran over his left foot, lacerating the top and bottom of the foot and breaking several bones. He was hospitalized, and his left little toe was medically amputated.
While performing warehouse stocking operations, an employee stacked merchandise on a heavy load pallet onto a light load pallet with a forklift when the stack tipped over. When he got off the forklift to try and stabilize the heavy pallet, the stacked pallets fell on him and fractured his left ankle.
While getting out of a tugger, a maintenance employee tripped over something, fell, and could not stand up. He broke his right femur just below the hip on his right side and was hospitalized.
A temporary employee turned off a planer machine, opened the housing, and began clearing a jam. The machine's spinning blade caught his right hand and degloved the index finger.
An employee was using a tool to remove a rag from a roll on the tube mill. The roll pulled the tool and the employee's right hand into the roll, resulting in a partial amputation of the little finger and a fracture to the index finger.
A production sanitation employee was pre-rinsing an incline conveyor and noticed cheese stuck between the belt idler. The employee went to remove the cheese and their glove got caught and pulled their left forearm into the conveyor. The employee's arm was fractured. The machine was not locked out/tagged out at the time.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 493110)
On October 30, 2025, an employee was working to adjust a stackable metal shipping container. As the container dropped into place, it caught the employee's hands in an area between the upper and lower cross-members. The employee suffered a laceration to the left ring finger that required stitches, bruising to the right ring finger, and fractures to the right middle finger that necessitated medical amputation of the fingertip.
An employee was operating an extruder and performing a spool swap over from the right spindle to the left spindle. After rewiring the new spool, the employee's clothing got caught in the turning shaft when the left spindle started back up. The employee's left arm was pulled into the machine, resulting in a fractured humerus and lacerations to her triceps. She was hospitalized and required surgery.
An employee was resetting a warehouse racking system utilizing an order picker. They fell approximately 5 feet from the order picker to the concrete floor and sustained fractured ribs.
An employee was traveling down the maintenance aisle of a warehouse on a single-pallet front rider jack. The jack malfunctioned, causing the brakes to apply; the employee fell forward onto the concrete warehouse floor. The employee suffered an injury to the left leg and was hospitalized, requiring surgery.
An employee was operating a metal roller machine to roll a small piece of metal. The employee's right index finger became caught between the metal and the machine, and the fingertip was amputated.
An employee was directing a truck driver to a dump site when the truck's peanut trailer slipped off the kingpin. As the trailer fell, a ladder attached to it lacerated the employee's ear. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was unloading a forklift from a trailer to the ground. The employee was climbing down the ladder of the trailer when their foot slipped through one of the rungs, causing them to fall backward onto the forklift forks. The employee was hospitalized for fractured ribs.