Fall on same level due to slip or trip · Fractures
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Benchmark Foam, Inc., 401 Pheasant Ridge Drive, WATERTOWN, SOUTH DAKOTA 57201
on — Fractures , affecting the Hip joint(s).
Final narrative
An employee was stacking used cardboard onto a pallet in the shipping and receiving area when he tripped over the scale by the loading dock door. The employee fell to the concrete floor and was hospitalized with a fractured left hip that required surgery.
Hospitalized Hip joint(s) Other constructed surface
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 was performing a maintenance task on a shape mold machine. The equipment had a clog preventing it from pumping material into the next stage. The employee's left hand was inside the hopper's butterfly valve when it unexpectedly turned. The employee's index and middle fingertips were partially amputated.
On May 14, 2025, an employee was manually adjusting a plastic sheet entering the thermoforming oven when their right hand was pulled into the pin chain and idler wheel. The employee sustained the amputation of their middle finger.
At 6:30 p.m. on April 23, 2025, an employee was using a CNC panel saw when his fingers were pinned in by the pressure beam used to hold the board he was cutting. The sawblade, coming from beneath, amputated about 1/4 inch of his right little fingertip.
An employee was diagnosing an issue with a bagger that had jammed. The employee was cleaning out a piece of supporting equipment (a scrap barrel) when the blower motor contacted his right middle fingertip and fingernail, resulting in an amputation. The blower motor was not guarded at the time.
An employee was loading 1/16-inch polyethylene foam into an auger feed for recycling when a fire ignited at the feed from residual isobutane gas. The employee was hospitalized with first-, second-, and third-degree burns to their hands, head, and face. Flame-retardant personal protective equipment was not used.
An employee was moving a tensile strength test device with a dolly. The device fell from the dolly onto the employee's right leg, causing a compound fracture.
An employee was walking past a crossover conveyor when a ramp came down and hit them in the back. The employee sustained a broken back vertebra, as well as a concussion, and was hospitalized.
An employee was using a hook tool to pull a pallet onto the lift gate of a tractor trailer. The hook detached from the underside of the pallet, causing the employee to fall backward off the lift gate. The employee landed on the concrete parking lot about 5 feet below, suffering fractures to the skull and two thoracic vertebrae.
An employee was walking on a truss table when he lost his balance and fell approximately 3 feet to the floor. The employee sustained a dislocated and fractured left ankle.