Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Southern Heat Exchanger Corp, 5050 Old Montgomery Hwy, TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 35405
on — Fractures , affecting the Lower leg(s).
Final narrative
An employee was loading a nozzle, weighing approximately 500 pounds, onto a positioner. The stainless steel nozzle slipped off the positioner and struck the employee's right leg. The employee's right tibia was fractured and their left knee was bruised.
The injured employee was assisting five other employees with bracing a wall panel that was being stood up. Another employee slipped on frost on the floor surface. The employees went to evacuate the area in anticipation of the wall panel falling over. The injured employee went to jump through a window opening within the wall panel and their lower half was crushed by the falling wall panel. The employee sustained a fractured pelvis.
An employee was helping to move a 1,300-pound coil on a cart. The steel caster hit a crack in the concrete, the weld holding the caster onto the cart broke, and the coil and cart tipped over onto the employee. He was hospitalized with a laceration on his forehead and a pelvic fracture on his right side.
An employee was attempting to lift a steel beam from a horizontal, stacked position to a vertical position using a crane. They had placed two hooks on the east side of the beam on the flange. As the employee was hoisting the crane, the beam began to shift and pulled the employee forward onto the stack. When the material shifted, the hooks released and the material fell, pinning the employee between the two beams. The employee was hospitalized with soft tissue contusions on their proximal right thigh and interior left thigh.
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 riding on the side of a forklift. He stepped off the forklift and was struck by the back end of the forklift as it turned to the right. The forklift's back tire ran over his leg, resulting in an amputation. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was preparing a hammer and dies for operation. The ram prop was inserted in the hammer to secure the ram. While the employee went to apply grease to the die shim in the hammer, the ram moved downward. The motion dislodged the prop, causing the ram to drop and crush the employee's right hand and forearm. The employee sustained amputations to their hand and arm and was hospitalized.
An employee was doing a tool changeover on a table mill and changing the mandrel. His hands were on both wrenches with his right thumb was between the two wrenches as he worked to unlock the mandrel. The wrenches came together, crushing his thumb. The employee was hospitalized with a partial amputation of the thumb.
An employee was helping to remove tooling that was stuck in a forging press (a full-revolution mechanical power press). The press cycled, resulting in partial amputations to two fingers on his left hand.
An employee was clearing a blocked scrap chute with a spud bar. The piece of stuck scrap came free and fell toward the employee and lacerating the employee's left hand between the thumb and the index finger. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was traveling down the maintenance aisle of a warehouse on a single-pallet front rider jack. The jack malfunctioned, causing the brakes to apply; the employee fell forward onto the concrete warehouse floor. The employee suffered an injury to the left leg and was hospitalized, requiring surgery.
An employee was operating a metal roller machine to roll a small piece of metal. The employee's right index finger became caught between the metal and the machine, and the fingertip was amputated.
An employee was directing a truck driver to a dump site when the truck's peanut trailer slipped off the kingpin. As the trailer fell, a ladder attached to it lacerated the employee's ear. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was unloading a forklift from a trailer to the ground. The employee was climbing down the ladder of the trailer when their foot slipped through one of the rungs, causing them to fall backward onto the forklift forks. The employee was hospitalized for fractured ribs.