Contact with hot objects or substances · Thermal burns degree unspecified
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at U.S. Polyco, Texas Terminal, JOSHUA, TEXAS 76058
on — Thermal burns degree unspecified, affecting the Head and neck.
Final narrative
An employee was changing a strainer basket in equipment carrying hot asphalt. The employee locked out the equipment, relieved pressure, and removed the housing cover to access the strainer basket. Hot asphalt splashed onto their face, resulting in burns to their face and neck.
An employee was lighting a cutting torch to remove an out-of-service tank when a second tank ignited. The employee suffered a broken leg and second degree burns to the face.
An employee pulled out a bucket of hot oil from under the fryer. The employee then stood on the table to clean the back wall. He stepped down into the bucket of hot oil, resulting in third-degree burns to his left leg.
An employee was performing maintenance under a kettle. When he removed a tri-clamp on a transfer line, the hot fat and broth material in the kettle poured out onto his arm. The employee was hospitalized with burns.
After completing a run with an oil distributor truck, an employee was working to return (suction) the hot oil to the tank of the truck. When the employee opened one of the valves, hot oil (approximately 385 degrees) sprayed their face, resulting in first-, second-, and third-degree burns.
An employee was filtering a fryer with a fryer filter machine. After going around the corner and then returning to the fryers, the employee stepped into the filter machine. The hot oil burned the employee's right ankle, and the employee was hospitalized.
An employee was using a water hose to clean debris out of the outfeed of a log conditioning vat. Water began entering the vat from the adjoining vat through a void in the separation wall at the infeed of the vats. As the employee was exiting the vat he had been working in using the access opening at the outfeed, hot water exiting the access opening entered the top of his protective hip wader. It pooled at the bottom of the wader and burned his left foot and ankle.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 324121)
An employee was stopping traffic at a job site so a piece of equipment could be moved to another location when he was struck by a car. It sent him in the air and he landed on his back, resulting in hospitalization with five fractured ribs, a fractured forearm, and a liver injury.
A truck of asphalt binder was being unloaded. An employee was checking the transfer hose connection on the truck. The gasket on the hose blew out, causing the asphalt binder to shoot out and burn the employee's face, neck, and arms.
A truck driver was on a platform, pulling a tarp on an asphalt load in a six-wheel dump truck. He fell from the platform to the ground and suffered broken ribs.
An employee was using a cutting torch to heat up bolts that had seized up. The bolts caught on fire in a flash burn, and the employee suffered burns to the arms and elbows.
On May 15, 2025, an employee was cutting down steel mesh and debris that was protruding from a milled roadway. As the employee began to cut a piece of steel with an angle grinder, he steadied himself with his left hand and the tool contacted the top of his left wrist, resulting in a laceration that required hospitalization.
After cutting a slab of beef short ribs, an employee turned to grab the pieces he had cut and his right hand contacted the saw blade. The employee sustained an amputation to his right index finger.
An employee was unloading a carpet pad from a truck when they fell from the truck dock to the concrete below, resulting in five fractured ribs and an injury to their left lung.
An employee was walking up a walkway to enter a building through the back entrance when she tripped over the lip of the cement ramp. The employee fell and sustained a fractured right hip.