Struck by running powered equipment during maintenance, cleaning, testing · Amputations involving bone loss
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at HEB Distribution Center, 4625 Windfern Rd, HOUSTON, TEXAS 77041
on — Amputations involving bone loss, affecting the Thumb(s).
Final narrative
An employee was clearing a bottle jam in the trimmer section of a blow mold machine when the machine restarted. The employee sustained amputation of their right thumb and lacerations to their right third and fifth fingers. The machine was energized and a guard was in place at the time.
An employee was backing up a pallet jack to unload a trailer. His head struck the bottom edge of the trailer door, and suffered a scalp laceration and the amputation of his right ear.
An employee was repairing a tank diverter valve after removal and applying compressed air to an open valve when they sustained a partial amputation to their left index finger.
An employee was cleaning a conveyor with an air hose and water when the end of the air hose got caught in the belt, pinning his right thumb between the hose and drying window and resulting in amputation.
An employee was operating a stand-up forklift carrying a raised load. The forklift struck a structure above it in a warehouse. It fell over and landed on the employee, who suffered a laceration to an artery in the inner thigh.
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 445110)
Employee 1 was investigating a gas odor. While employee 1 was checking the equipment, a gas explosion occurred, resulting in a fire that burned the employee's face. Employee 2 entered the area and a second explosion occurred, causing burns to their face and arms. Employee 2 was hospitalized.
An employee tripped while walking from one store register station to another. Her forehead struck a register, and she suffered fractures to two vertebrae in her neck. She was hospitalized.
An employee was stocking and ordering the meat case on the sales floor when he slipped and fell due to water on the floor. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured ankle and required surgery.
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.