Struck by running powered equipment during maintenance, cleaning, testing · Amputations, avulsions, enucleations unspecified
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Ateeco Inc., 600 East Centre St., SHENANDOAH, PENNSYLVANIA 17976
on — Amputations, avulsions, enucleations unspecified, affecting the Finger or thumb tip(s), nail(s).
Final narrative
A sanitation employee was spraying the inside of the dough chunker machine to clear the dough out. The employee was on the blade side of the chunker machine. The employee checked the chunker when the cleaning process was done and saw a piece of dough still stuck inside. He reached to remove the dough from the machine and the blade caught his glove and left middle finger, amputating the fingertip. The machine was running and was guarded at the time.
Amputation Finger or thumb tip(s), nail(s) Food and beverage processing machinery n.e.c.
An employee opened a feed valve to start production using a water pump when the return water (200 F) went back into the industrial tub and splashed over the side walls. The water contacted the right side of her body and she fell to the floor. The employee was hospitalized with burns to the right side of her body.
An employee entered a freezer with a pallet jack loaded with product and may have fallen on the same level in the walk-in freezer, striking the back of his head. As he was exiting the freezer about three minutes later, he was unstable from a head injury with intracranial hemorrhage and loss of consciousness. He was hospitalized.
On or about October 21, 2019, an employee had just removed an empty pallet off a stack and slid it onto the floor when the employee felt a sharp pain in the lower back hip area. The employee had a back spasm and was hospitalized for a back sprain.
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 311412)
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.
An employee was walking on top of boiler to close a valve. The employee fell off the boiler and landed on the floor, sustaining fractured ribs. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was inspecting a pipe in the rice cooking area near an oven. While checking for a clog, the fingers of their right hand were caught in an airlock at the base of the pipe. All the fingers were amputated except the thumb. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was walking into the motor control center (MCC) room when his right ring finger was caught in the hinge of a doorway. He sustained an open phalanx fracture, which resulted in a partial amputation above the first knuckle.
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.