Every injury and fatality MSHA has on file. Filter by state, year, sector, classification, experience, or any keyword from the investigator's narrative.
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Employee grinding iron while wearing welding hood and safety glasses. Spark struck ground, rebounded under hood and glasses, and entered left eye. Evaluated by physician: shallow metallic foreign body in left cornea. Topical anesthetic applied; foreign body removed without tissue removal. No pain or residual issues reported.
Buckets on a loadout spout were stuck. Trying to break free the material, the employee banged on the buckets from the inside with a sledgehammer. This resulted in the loadout spout becoming unstuck, and it swung forward and hit the employee in the face, knocking out the bottom half of their two front teeth. EE will have crowns put on. No restrictions and did not miss work.
Employee was conducting a routine task. Inspecting a belt. They lifted a top cover of the guard to check the tracking. When they grabbed the cover by both sides to place it back on, it slipped from their left hand, smashing a finger between the side guard & the top guard angle iron. Employee was wearing gloves, & it put a hole through the gloves.
Employee slipped on a plant road. EE did not fall but had discomfort in front & back of EE' left knee when catching balance. EE followed RICE principles. EE was still experiencing pain so EE went to Occupational Medicine on 1/17/23. EE was given no restrictions & told to continue RICE. EE was still experiencing pain and was given restrictions on 2/14/23 at a follow-up appointment.
Investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing. Minimal damage was done to the kiln girth gear due to the fire. Impairment was the downtime of the kiln. The kiln returned to operation within 24 hours. No injuries. Superior Fire Department assisted in extinguishing the fire.
EE was struggling with the quality of Hydrate. EE decided to dump the material. EE locked-out the Hydrator and screw to troubleshoot. Once the cover was open EE noticed that there was no material in the screw housing. EE used a sledge to free the material from the chute. As EE was banging on the chute, material fell into the screw housing, inundating EE.
Employee was doing the daily task of using a forklift to empty a dumpster filled with off-spec material into a front end loader bucket. As employee went to empty the dumpster the full bucket immediately bounced back causing employee's left hand to be pinned against the forks and the frame of the dumpster.
Coal fire started in coal yard at approximately 12:30 AM on 4/2/2020. Heavy equipment operators used equipment to extinguish. Fire department and police department were called in as well to assist.
Employee was repairing a conveyor belt guard, was holding the guard up with left hand so it wouldn't fall into the stone bin. As EE was holding the guard employee was using a grinder in right hand to cut off the last fastener holding it in place. The guard shifted, causing the grinder to strike employee's left hand, resulting in a laceration.
Employee was starting up Hydrator and was troubleshooting when lime bridged over, fell, and inundated employee with lime in eyes. We went to the clinic the following day and received medication. Employee was excused from working last night shift. Employee has now been cleared by the doctor to fully return to work.
Smoldering coal fire started in coal yard. No structures or employees were affected. Contacted MSHA. Used D9 dozer to extinguish. Continued to monitor over the next week.
Smoldering coal fire was noticed in coalyard on 2/3/20. Plant management was called, MSHA was called, and the operator then used dozer to extinguish. Monitored return over the next few days.
Smoldering coal fire in the coal yard. Heavy equipment operators spent time using FEL, dozer, and excavator to extinguish.
Coal fire (smoldering) in the coal yard. HEO notified management. Management called MSHA online. Have been working on extinguishing fire this past week.
At 4 AM on 12/12 a coal fire was noticed in the coal yard. MSHA was contacted. The HEO used the excavator to mitigate the smoldering. The fire was out by 2 PM on 12/13.
There was persistent smoldering on the coal stock pile. Removing and extinguishing of embers took more than 30 minutes.
During cleanup after a lime kiln de-slagging job an employee got lime kiln dust in the right eye from debris that fell from above EE.
Chain handrail broke, employee fell backwards off catwalk. Employee landed on pallet of bricks 4.5 feet below.
Indoors, good lighting, dry floor. Falling material hit employee's jackhmmer bit causing the handle to strike employee in the chin resulting in a 1 inch laceration and a 1/2 inch laceration.
Employee was working as a relief Assistant Kiln Op, while removing an inspection cover for a girth gear on kiln 5, EE strained right shoulder. A 480v heater was placed in the area on the prior shift, employee did not move the heater prior to trying to remove the cover, resulting in an awkward body position.
Employee exiting their vehicle in employee parking lot and dust particles from the lot impacted left eye. Winds were 15-20 mph. Rinsed eye out, received medical attention for scratched cornea, prescribed antibiotic.
Kiln 5 was shedding ash ring, the cooler pit could not cool the lime/ash down enough and the hot material caused the conveyor belt to ignite. Fire Department was called and extinguished the fire rapidly. The conveyor belt and some conveyor rollers were damaged.
Employee raking ash ring from kiln grates when a large chunk of ring fell on to the rake, impact jarred their lower back. Employee was seen at Urgent Care that same day, lower lumbar strain. Treatment plan recommended not returning to their last night shift that evening. On 8/6/18, employee seen by Occupational Medicine and return to work without restrictions.
Attempting to remove a pin that was holding a gate up under the crossover screw. While trying to lift gate arm up employee strained the lower groin area. Occupational Medicine review indicated a hernia. Surgery to repair occurred on October 9, 2018. Employee worked their position until then without restrictions.
Shoveling a lime pile onto a conveyor, felt pain in lower back. Placed on weight and activity restrictions after Occupational Medicine visit.
Employee was loading rail cars with lime product. Employee had to release rail car brake by climbing rail car ladder to platform. After releasing the brake the employee started moving back towards ladder. During that process, employee fell to ground causing employees ankle to break.
Employee slipped on ice while moving rail cars with shuttle wagon. Employee is experiencing pain in right ribs near the kidney.
Employee was cleaning Kiln 4 cooler pit when lime dust from the cross-over belt level fell into the individual's left eye causing a chemical burn.
Employee ruptured distal bicep tendon while removing heater from a hanger bracket in a scissor lift. Employee needs a MRI with surgery to follow. Employee is under restricted work until surgery is scheduled.
Employee was cleaning at transfer point of the west belt in the stone tunnel. While using the hand tool for this work, it hung up on something under the belt. EE pulled harder, sudden release and smashed finger into the conduit connection on the wall behind EE. The connection cut left small finger. EE was wearing a leather glove.
Transferring lime fines material from hopper to loader bucket, lime material contacted right eye causing chemical burn.
Unplugging 1/8" lime from product chute using hammer caused product to surge onto belt and become airborne and into employee's eyes. Employee flushed eyes at plant and was taken to the emergency room for additional flushing and examination. Employee was given a precautionary prescription and returned to work. Eyes were not damaged.
Dislocated left shoulder when repositioning body, while kneeling, employee was cleaning ESP #2. Employee stated that shoulder has been dislocated previously from participation in athletics.
Miner struck left thumb with a brick hammer, fracturing the bone under left thumb nail. EE is on restricted light duty.
Employee was climbing down a ship ladder to the dock. He placed his left foot on the ground then began to lift his right foot off the ladder and heard a pop and felt pain in his left ankle. He went to the ER and was diagnosed with a sprained left ankle and was given two days of lost scheduled work days. He is now working at this site on restricted duty.
Miner was using a pedestal grinder to sharpen the edge on a steel wedge. The miner raised the wedge too high and the grinding wheel grabbed it and forced it into the tool rest gap of the machine. The minor's thumb got crushed between the steel wedge and the grinding wheel which resulted in an amputated left thumb tip requiring emergency room surgery.
On 01/28/15 the employee got something in his eye when he pulled his hoodie sweatshirt over his head. He subsequently went to the emergency room seeking medical treatment. The emergency room doctor removed a piece of foreign material from his left eye and prescribed pain and antibiotic medication for his eye.
Employee got lime dust in his right eye while removing his dust mask and safety glasses in the control room. He flushed his eye for 15 minutes at the plant and was then taken to a nearby medical clinic where they performed additional flushing and gave him prescription eye drops.
Employee got hydrated lime in his right eye while unplugging elevator in the hydrate plant. Flushed eye at the plant but did not provide relief. Visited doctor the following day, who prescribed a preventative antibiotic. Did not miss any work shifts.
Employee received lime burns to his right and left forearms after unplugging a chute in the lime storage area. Lime had filled the cuffs of his gloves and chemical reaction occurred when the lime combined with his sweat, which caused burns to his right and left forearms.
Employee was closing the bridge crane cab door and the door closed on his right hand, cutting his ring finger to the bone, around the nail. Employee was driven by a fellow employee to the local ER. He received stitches and an x-ray revealed that he had 4 bone fragments in his finger. Employee was able to return to work without restrictions.
Employee was carrying two buckets to the lab. He tripped on a slightly-elevated section of asphalt. It was not slippery or rocky. He was unable to break his fall and fell hard on his right knee. He felt a sharp pain and was unable to support his weight on it. He was driven to Urgent Care where they identified internal fluid buildup and a potential bone fracture.
Millwright was pushing the #4 scale feed belt, which was jammed with a rock. His hands slipped and his chest struck the motor. The injury wasn't immediately felt but started to hurt after an hour, especially when walking and breathing deeply. He notified management and went to the hospital where X-rays revealed a fractured rib.
Note: This incident was originally reported on 12/6/11 as a near-miss. It later became a reportable event when the employee visited his chiropractor for treatment on 12/19/11. Incident Description: When opening a railcar top door, the door jammed because it had a broken bolt. The sudden stop caused the employee to strain his lower back.
Working in stone tunnel shoveling. Felt pain in lower back. Able to continue working. Became reportable later after he visited a chiropractor for treatment.
Employee broke small toe on right foot when removing plate access door.
Lime dust in right eye due to wind gust. Employee went to emergency ward and was given antibiotic drops. Employee returned to work.
Lime dust entered the left eye while cleaning back end of lime kiln.
Was loading Rail Cars and the loading doors were frozen to the top of the car. Wrenched his lower back trying to open these doors.
When taking two 4" hose connectors ( cam locks ) apart, one end flung up and struck the worker on the upper lip and chipped his upper front left tooth. Also a small laceration on his upper lip.