Fall to lower level from collapsing structure or equipment 6 to 30 feet · Cerebral and other intracranial hemorrhages without skull fracture
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Space Exploration Technologies Corp., 1 Rocket Road, BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS 78521
on — Cerebral and other intracranial hemorrhages without skull fracture , affecting the Brain.
Final narrative
A Space Exploration Technologies Corp. employee was setting up equipment for a welding operation, working from a ladder leaning against a domed vehicle structure. The ladder became unstable at the base, causing the employee to fall about 6 feet and strike their head on the metal leg of a work platform. The employee suffered a concussion and a subdural hematoma and was hospitalized.
Hospitalized Brain Portable ladders and stairs unspecified
More severe injuries at Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
An employee was holding the bottom of a metal stringer (about 25 feet long and 6 inches wide, made of thin-gauge stainless steel) while others were tack welding it to a tank wall. The tack welds gave way. The stringer dropped about 4 inches and pinched the employee's right index fingertip against the support tooling. The fingertip was amputated without bone loss.
An employee was performing maintenance on a roll-up door that had four bolts removed from an L-bracket. Two still-installed bolts sheared off while under pressure, causing the employee's right hand to become caught between the bracket and a chain sprocket. The employee suffered an amputation to their middle finger.
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 336414)
An employee was exiting the maintenance building when she tripped and fell on a paved incline walkway. She caught herself with her left hand and was hospitalized with a fractured left wrist that required surgery.
An employee was troubleshooting a dust collector when they sustained partial amputations to three of their right fingertips from the spinning rotor of the motor.
An employee was deburring a metal piece using a disc sander when their right thumb contacted the sanding surface, resulting in a partial traumatic metacarpophalangeal amputation.
Two employees were removing a clamp from the top of a pipe spool. The pipe fell and then shifted sideways, trapping one employee's thumb. The sleeve around the outside of the insulated pipe caused a crush injury to the thumb, resulting in a partial degloving.
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 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.