Helena Agri-Enterprises, LLC

An employee had delivered product to a customer and was driving a forklift to the rear of the delivery truck. The forklift jumped/bounced, sending the employee up into the air and back down onto the seat. The employee sustained a back fracture.

A tool fell into a fertilizer conditioner. As an employee was retrieving the tool, the conditioner was activated; its paddle caught his hand and broke bones in it.

An employee was descending the ladder on a tanker truck after opening the vent on the truck and missed the bottom step. The employee fell to ground and landed on his feet. The employee suffered a fractured tibia and a dislocated ankle.

An employee was lowering a hydraulic trailer to the ground when a weld broke on the trailer frame causing the frame to fall to the ground. The tire on the driver's side pivoted, causing the frame to strike the employee's right forearm and fracture both bones of the forearm.

An employee was transferring a bag of fertilizer that was held up by a forklift into a front-end loader. As the employee was standing in-between the forklift and the front-end loader, one of the machines rolled forward and the employee was pinned between the forklift mast and the bucket of the front-end loader. The employee was admitted to the hospital with six broken ribs.

An employee tripped over a stool and fell on the floor, resulting in a left displaced mid-cervical femoral neck fracture.

An employee was installing fence posts when they stepped into a recently dug hole that was not visible due to rainfall. The employee's leg was fractured.

The injured employee was standing behind a table. She jumped out to scare another employee, but tripped and fell on the tile floor, injuring her right ankle/foot. She was hospitalized with a dislocated ankle that required surgery.

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.

An employee tripped over a concrete curb stop in a parking lot. The employee fell to the ground, landing on their left hip and breaking it.

A shipping/receiving operator was working on a loading rack, loading a railcar. A 2-inch discharge cap failed and released pressure along with sulfuric acid from the railcar. The acid sprayed onto the employee, who suffered burns to the chest and the lower facial area. The employee was hospitalized.

An employee was performing maintenance on a pump. They replaced the pump and activated the pump motor for testing. The 7.5 HP mix tank pump impeller caught the employee's shoelace, causing their leg to get pulled against the pump housing. The employee sustained a compound fracture of the lower left leg.

On August 12, 2024, at approximately 3:20 AM, employee 1 opened the dome lid of a sulfur railcar that released hydrogen sulfide gas pressure that had built up inside the car during transportation. Employee 1 became overwhelmed by the gas and fell to the ground. Employee 2 went over to check on employee 1, when they were also overcome by the gas. Employee 2 was hospitalized for observation and employee 1 was hospitalized for inhalation injuries from the hydrogen sulfide gas.

An employee was shocked while working on a breaker at the motor control center, suffering an electrical burn to the left hand, left wrist, left side of the neck, and face.

An employee was working on a hydraulic motor on a fertilizer truck. Their leather glove got caught in the rotating shaft on the motor. The employee's right hand was pulled into the shaft and a fingertip was amputated.

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 clearing out dirt from an underground pipe when he was bitten by a rattlesnake on his hand.

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.