Vander Horst Dairy & Farming

The injured employee was assisting in the disassembly phase after a radar array had been lowered and secured. The crew began removing load bearing pins from an overhead crane to free the radome. A load bearing pin was stuck. The injured employee went to remove the pin manually as a second team member applied pressure from the opposite side. The pin unexpectedly released and struck the injured employee s right thumb, resulting in partial amputation of the distal phalanx including an open distal phalanx fracture and nail bed laceration.

An employee was shoveling excess material (spillage) that consisted of dry mix, sand, aggregate and cement. As he was shoveling, some material blew back in his face and around his safety glasses. He got a piece of metal in his left eye that required surgery. The employee was hospitalized.

An employee was feeding boards into an edger. They fed a board in and then adjusted the blade for a second board that was wider. When they fed the second board into the edger, it hit the first board and kicked back, striking the employee in the chest. They sustained injuries including a spine fracture, an injured pancreas, as well as potential injuries to their spleen, liver, and intestine. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery.

An employee was helping an operator to pull a cable off a winch. The operator pulled in the line when it hooked some tree brush. The brush then whipped around and struck the employee's arm, resulting in a broken arm.

A co-worker was adjusting an overhead bracket with an impact wrench when the tool flew out of their hand and struck the injured employee in the face. The injured employee sustained an injury to their left eye.

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.

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 inspecting flares processes. The employee received burns to the front side of the body, face and arm from the flares.

An employee was removing plastic material from a production line when the machine cycled and amputated his left index, ring, and little fingers.

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.