Struck by running powered equipment during maintenance, cleaning, testing · Fractures
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at PECO Pallet, Incorporated, 1104 North Park Drive, HAZLETON, PENNSYLVANIA 18202
on — Fractures , affecting the Forearm(s).
Final narrative
An employee was observing the pallet painting line. The employee went to remove a piece of plastic from the rotating drive shaft of the chain conveyor when their glove/hand became entangled in the plastic which pulled the employee's arm into the rotating shaft. The employee sustained fractures to the right radius and ulna.
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 321920)
An employee was cutting wood with a miter saw when their clothing was pulled into the blade, resulting in a bicep laceration. The employee was hospitalized. The blade cover was not in place at the time of the incident.
Two employees were working to change a tire on a mobile slasher saw. The slasher weighs around 2,000 pounds and is towed. Employee 2 was lifting the saw while the injured employee was placing a block of wood under the frame for support. The slasher then lowered onto the block and the injured employee's left thumb was crushed between the slasher frame and the wood block, leading to an amputation at the first knuckle.
An employee was processing wood boards at a chop saw when the saw malfunctioned and the blade cut her left hand and fingers. She was hospitalized and her little finger was surgically amputated.
An employee was operating a bubble wrap production line. He was splicing the ends of the film rolls together with tape when a driven roll contacted his hand. His hand and arm were pulled into the machine up to his shoulder. The employee's forearm contacted the the hot surface (230-500 F) of the bubble stamping cylinder. He was hospitalized with burns to the forearm that required surgery and crushing injuries to the hand and forearm without fractures.
An employee was operating a pallet dismantling saw. A board became stuck, and the employee tried to pull the pallet. When the board broke, the employee's right hand made contact with the blade, resulting in the amputation of the right middle finger above the second knuckle.
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.