Fall to lower level from collapsing structure or equipment 6 to 30 feet · Fractures
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at TDS TELECOM, Unknown, GREAT FALLS, MONTANA 59401
on — Fractures , affecting the Hip joint(s).
Final narrative
An employee was descending a ladder when it shifted, slid, and twisted. The employee fell about 12 feet to the ground and broke his left hip. He was hospitalized and required surgery.
Hospitalized Hip joint(s) Portable ladders and stairs unspecified
An employee was testing a customer's telephone line and walking back to his work truck, which was parked on the road about 50 feet away. As he walked down the steep gravel driveway, he slipped on snow and landed on his left foot, rolling his ankle and breaking his left fibula and tibia.
An employee was delivering materials. He was doing his pre-delivery inspection on the roof of the jobsite (a warehouse) when he fell through a plexiglass skylight. He landed on his feet on the concrete floor 14 feet below. The employee sustained fractures to his spine, left ulnar/radius, and right heel. The employee required surgery.
An employee was climbing a ladder to inspect a vent in a restaurant dining area. The ladder slid out on the floor and the employee fell approximately 12 feet onto the ladder and the floor. He was hospitalized with a dislocated shoulder and a back injury.
An employee was standing on a multi-purpose ladder installing head flashing over a window. Their feet were approximately 6 feet off the ground and three rungs from the top. The employee lost their grip on the drill they were using and the ladder tipped over. The employee fell from the ladder to the ground, resulting in a fractured left wrist, bruised chest, and lacerations to their face and lip.
An employee was assembling a baker type scaffold. He was beginning to transverse down the scaffold, approximately six feet off the ground, when the scaffold tipped over and he fell. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured femur.
An employee was working from an extension ladder, installing a security camera. The ladder fell out from under the employee, who fell to the ground 12 feet below and broke his right femur.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 517911)
On June 16, 2025, at 4:30 p.m., an employee was ascending an 8-foot A-frame ladder to look inside an attic opening of a customer's garage. The employee was three rungs from the top when he fell 5 feet to the ground, resulting in a displaced fracture of his femur in the back of his knee. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery.
An employee was about to install a cable at a residential site. While setting up a ladder, he stepped back on an uneven street surface and hyperextended his knee. He dislocated his knee and tore his patellar tendon.
An employee lost his balance when the extension ladder he was on shifted and he fell approximately 15 feet to the ground, resulting in fractures to his elbow and hip.
An employee was fixing an issue with seed cleaning equipment when he slipped on the ladder he was on. He went to catch himself and his hand went into a moving belt and pulley on the cleaner. The employee sustained the amputation of his right middle and index fingertips just below the fingernails.
An employee was riding an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) to move a bison herd. He was riding up the side of a steep hill when the ATV struck a rock and rolled, ejecting the employee before rolling over him. The employee suffered broken vertebrae in his back that required hospitalization.
An employee was climbing in the spreader area to remove a pasta jam when his right little finger was cut by the rotary cut-off knife. The employee sustained a laceration and fracture, resulting in an amputation.
A smoke jumper parachuted out of a helicopter during a forest fire response, landed on steep rugged terrain, and suffered femur and rib fractures and a liver laceration. The employee was hospitalized.