Struck by running powered equipment during maintenance, cleaning, testing · Avulsions, enucleations without bone loss
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Hydro Extrusion USA LLC, 53 Pottsville Street, CRESSONA, PENNSYLVANIA 17929
on — Avulsions, enucleations without bone loss, affecting the Thumb(s).
Final narrative
An employee was conducting preventative maintenance on an extrusion press and using an impact wrench to remove rivets on the shear cylinder. When the last rivet was removed, the stored energy in the cylinder released and dropped it onto the employee's hand. Their right thumb was caught between the cylinder and the casing of the rivet gun, resulting in crushing injuries. The employee sustained an amputation of the thumb without bone loss. The machine was locked out/tagged out at the time.
An employee was adjusting rolls of vinyl that were on a pole set horizontally on a rack. As the employee was pushing the vinyl with his right hand, the right side of the pole dropped about 3 feet, pulling the left side of the pole downward at an angle. The employee's left ring finger became trapped/pinched between the pole holding the vinyl and the rack that was holding the pole. The employee's fingertip was amputated.
An employee was performing maintenance on a press puller and aligning the puller when it fell. The puller electrical panel struck their left upper back, resulting in fractures to their T12 and L1 vertebrae. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was broaching a keyway in a bore sprocket with a manually operated powered cylinder hydraulic press. On pressing the broach through the initial phase of cutting, he used an extension rod to finish broaching and clear the broach from the part. While setting up the extension rod, he placed his left index finger on top of the extension rod. The press extended and crushed his finger, resulting in an amputation.
While doing general labor, an employee developed signs of heat stress. After going home, later, he was hospitalized for dehydration and heat-related symptoms.
An employee was standing in front of a forklift carrying several 2,000-pound "logs" of aluminum. The logs were banded together; when the employee cut the banding so they could be unloaded, one of them rolled onto the employee's foot. The employee's steel safety toe collapsed, and the employee's toes and metatarsals were crushed. Part of the foot was medically amputated.
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 331313)
An employee was operating a gasoline-powered pump to remove water from the ground floor sump of a storage building. The pump became blocked and overheated. The employee was removing the blockage when he was sprayed with hot mud and steam, resulting in first- and second-degree burns to his right hand and left wrist, as well as a third-degree burn to the underside of the left wrist.
An employee stepped on the lip of a deck plate and his foot slipped into a pot of ore, resulting in burns to the lower left ankle and foot. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was cutting small aluminum parts on a vertical bandsaw when their finger contacted the saw blade, resulting in a partial amputation of the little finger on their left hand.
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.