Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Rock Prairie Dairy, LLC, 12317 E US Highway 14, AVALON, WISCONSIN 53505
on — Fractures , affecting the Eye(s).
Final narrative
An employee was walking through the hospital pen and a cow struck him with her head. The employee sustained an orbital fracture.
An employee was in a cow pen, freeing a heifer that was stuck in the bottom cable of the pen fence. Once the heifer became untangled and returned to her feet, she charged at the employee and headbutted his lower left leg from behind. He suffered a compound fracture to the tibia and was hospitalized, requiring surgery.
An employee was unloading cattle from a pen to the main drive alley. While the employee was inside the pen, a cow rammed her and knocked her down. The employee sustained a contusion to her right upper torso and three fractured ribs.
An employee was opening a gate to pen a bull. The bull started fighting with another bull and drove the other bull into the employee, which drove her into the fence and knocked her to the ground. The employee sustained a fractured sternum, four fractured ribs, a lacerated spleen, a fractured L2 vertebra, and a tear to the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) of the right knee.
An employee was working to guide a calf through a turnstile. While they were pushing the calf, the calf lunged, and the employee's right hand was caught between the turnstile and a gate surface. The employee's right ring finger was severed and required surgery to reattach the severed portion of the finger. The employee was hospitalized.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 112120)
Employees were stripping parts off an old pivot. An employee was standing on the ground, helping others make sure that the parts all came off the pivot. The pivot span was elevated when the base beam broke free on one side. This shifted the weight of the span, causing it to roll off the loader on its side. When the span came down, the support rod caught the employee's back as he went to turn and run away from it. It pushed him to the ground. He suffered a back fracture, along with a broken bone in his foot, and was hospitalized.
An employee was working in a holding pen, using a crowd gate to herd cows into milking stalls. She was moving to beat the crowd gate to a manhole, but the gate moved and struck the employee. The employee was hospitalized with two fractured processes in her lower vertebrae.
Three maintenance employees were working on chemical lines feeding into a large above ground wastewater treatment tank. Sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid reacted in a floor drain and the chemicals sprayed onto the three employees. One employee was taken to the hospital for burns to his eyes.
An employee was removing a pin from a metal gate to let cows out of a parlor. The gate moved and his left middle finger was caught in the pin hole. The employee's finger was partially amputated.
An employee entered a stall to free a cow caught in a milking parlor entrance. The safety gate closed, allowing the parlor to rotate. The employee was pinned between the stall divider and the gate, suffering a punctured lung.
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 using a vertical band saw to cut a thick piece of rubber material. While being cut, the material shifted, causing the employee s right hand to contact the moving blade. The employee's thumb was amputated below the knuckle. The employee was hospitalized, undergoing surgery.
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.
An employee was on a ladder, taking measurements for a new gutter installation. The ladder slipped out from under him and both he and the ladder fell to the ground. He was hospitalized with seven broken ribs and a broken clavicle.
An employee was unloading a truck for a delivery job. While moving boxes in the truck, the employee tripped over a pallet and fell out of the truck to the ground, resulting in four broken ribs.