Whittaker Farms, LLC

Employee 1 was investigating a gas odor. While employee 1 was checking the equipment, a gas explosion occurred, resulting in a fire that burned the employee's face. Employee 2 entered the area and a second explosion occurred, causing burns to their face and arms. Employee 2 was hospitalized.

During fiberglass work, an employee mixed a methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) catalyst with a cobalt chemical that they thought was a dye. A chemical reaction occurred, resulting in an explosion. The employee sustained second-degree burns on his back and a blister on his right arm.

At about 7:30 p.m. on August 12, 2025, an employee was using a backhoe to excavate accumulated slag and debris from a furnace tap area and ladle pit. Residual water in the material had not fully evaporated; upon disturbance, it reacted violently, resulting in an explosion. The employee suffered first, second, and some third-degree steam burns, mainly to the arms and knees with additional burns to the hands and the back of the neck. The employee was hospitalized.

An employee was cutting glass for a custom windshield and was using denatured alcohol during the cutting process. The denatured alcohol caught fire and the flame traveled to a gallon-sized container of the liquid. The can exploded and the employee sustained second- and third-degree burns from the waist up.

On April 18, 2025, an employee was cutting the lid off an empty 55-gallon drum using a plasma cutter. The drum originally contained a flammable liquid and residual liquid inside the drum ignited and exploded. The employee was hospitalized with burns to the face, chest, and arms.

Employees were stripping parts off an old pivot. An employee was standing on the ground, helping others make sure that the parts all came off the pivot. The pivot span was elevated when the base beam broke free on one side. This shifted the weight of the span, causing it to roll off the loader on its side. When the span came down, the support rod caught the employee's back as he went to turn and run away from it. It pushed him to the ground. He suffered a back fracture, along with a broken bone in his foot, and was hospitalized.

An employee was walking through the hospital pen and a cow struck him with her head. The employee sustained an orbital fracture.

An employee was working in a holding pen, using a crowd gate to herd cows into milking stalls. She was moving to beat the crowd gate to a manhole, but the gate moved and struck the employee. The employee was hospitalized with two fractured processes in her lower vertebrae.

Three maintenance employees were working on chemical lines feeding into a large above ground wastewater treatment tank. Sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid reacted in a floor drain and the chemicals sprayed onto the three employees. One employee was taken to the hospital for burns to his eyes.

An employee was removing a pin from a metal gate to let cows out of a parlor. The gate moved and his left middle finger was caught in the pin hole. The employee's finger was partially amputated.

An employee was cleaning leaves with a backpack blower when he fell from a ladder, resulting in injuries to his head, neck, and back.

An employee was operating a battery-powered broom to clean demolition debris off the top of the outermost bridge girder. The girder was approximately 11 feet above the demolition scaffold below. The employee fell approximately 8 feet to wind bracing below. The employee was hospitalized with a pelvis/tailbone fracture. Fall protection was in place at the time.

An employee slipped while descending in a stairwell, fell, and suffered multiple contusions/bruises to the head, neck, shoulders, knees, and back. She was hospitalized.

An employee's right middle finger was caught in a nip point. The employee suffered an amputation to the middle finger at the first knuckle.

An employee was directing trucks as they entered and left a highway work zone. A vehicle struck them, resulting in multiple fractures and other injuries. The employee was hospitalized.