Struck by running powered equipment during maintenance, cleaning, testing · Amputations involving bone loss
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Techo-Bloc Incorporated, 852 Pennsylvania Ave, PEN ARGYL, PENNSYLVANIA 18072
on — Amputations involving bone loss, affecting the Thumb(s).
Final narrative
An employee was making an adjustment under an elevated 5000-pound mold on a press when the mold was lowered onto their right hand, crushing their thumb. The thumb was medically amputated at the hospital.
An employee was troubleshooting a block making machine. The machine cycled and amputated their right thumb. The machine was not locked out at the time.
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 327390)
An employee was stacking concrete blocks for a concrete bunker. As a block was swinging into place, the employee's left leg was pinched between two blocks, resulting in injuries to his left heel and lower leg.
An employee was patching precast concrete. He fell from a concrete wall support to the ground due to wind. He was hospitalized with fractures to his left ankle and right knee.
An employee was cutting wood on a table saw when the wood got jammed. While clearing the jam, the wood moved forward and his left index and middle fingertips were amputated.
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.