| Date | City | State | Employer | Body Part | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-09-10 | Newport News | Va | Newport News Shipbuilding Division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Incorporated | Eye(s) | Injured by slipping or swinging object held by injured worker |
| An employee using twist pliers to install insulation panels was struck in the face by the pliers when a wire broke. The employee sustained a left eye orbital fracture and possibly a detached retina. | |||||
| 2021-08-25 | Corpus Christi | Tx | Cleaver-Brooks Sales and Service, Inc. | Lumbar region | Other fall to lower level |
| An employee was standing on the second or third rung of an A-frame ladder, holding a piece of sheet metal and using pliers to put tension on it. The rubber grip on the pliers came off and the employee fell, suffering lower back fractures. | |||||
| 2021-03-31 | Bridgeton | Mo | Midwest Block and Brick | Fingertip(s) | Caught in running equipment or machinery during maintenance, cleaning |
| An employee was using needle-nose pliers to remove shrink wrap from conveyor sprockets when the machine cycled and pinched his finger in the chain and sprocket. The employee's middle fingertip was amputated. | |||||
| 2020-10-09 | Warren | Pa | United Refining Company | Finger(s), fingernail(s) | Compressed or pinched by shifting objects or equipment |
| While working in the Rigger Shop, an employee was using channel lock pliers to disconnect two pieces of pipe that were bolted together. The pipe was raised by a crane. When the top bolt was removed, a portion of the pipe was pulled upward, and the other portion fell to floor. The employee's finger was pinched between lower handle of pliers and the portion of pipe supported by the crane. The employee suffered an amputation to his left ring finger. | |||||
| 2020-07-07 | Tucson | Arizona | Federal Corrections Complex | Finger(s), fingernail(s) | Injured by slipping or swinging object held by injured worker |
| An employee was cleaning debris from an auger. The employee suffered an amputation to the left ring finger caused by pliers. | |||||
| 2019-09-17 | Big Lake | Texas | West Texas Utility Services LLC | Hand(s) | Direct exposure to electricity |
| While performing a break-out and disassembling equipment on-site, an employee removed the meter cover. Then, while removing the bypass blades with pliers and a screwdriver, the screwdriver contacted the meter box, causing an arc flash. The employee sustained second degree burns on his face, chest, and left hand, and sustained a second/third degree burn on his right hand. | |||||
| 2019-09-15 | Gillett | Wisconsin | Seneca Foods Corporation | Fingertip(s) | Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects |
| An employee was using slip-joint pliers to clear a jam in a cutter machine's hoppers when the cutter partially amputated the employee's right middle fingertip. | |||||
| 2019-09-12 | Seguin | Texas | Grimsley-Tucker Inc. | Multiple body parts | Ignition of vapors, gases, or liquids |
| Two employees were changing an expansion valve on an outdoor chiller unit. One employee was using a canister torch to sweat the piping and valve while the other was pulling on the pipe with a pair of pliers. When the connection came loose, excess fluid inside of the valve was ignited by the torch and splashed onto the employee with the torch. The employee suffered second-degree burns from the right side of the face down to the right side of the waist. | |||||
| 2019-06-20 | West Chicago | Illinois | Papillon & Byrne, Inc. | Eye(s) | Injured by slipping or swinging object held by injured worker |
| An employee was installing an air conditioner at a customer's home. He was using a set of needle-nose pliers. The pliers slipped off from the object they were grasping and the employee's fist hit his left eye. He sustained a laceration to the globe of the left eye. | |||||
| 2019-04-25 | Cleveland | Texas | UNION TANK CAR COMPANY | Pelvis | Other fall to lower level |
| An employee was fixing an airline utilizing a lift. He fell over the rail as he was repairing the airline with a pair of pliers and struck a tank car below. The employee fractured his pelvis. | |||||
| 2019-04-12 | Cranberry Township | Pennsylvania | CUE, Inc. | Back, including spine, spinal cord | Overexertion in lifting-single episode |
| While using pliers to lift a urethane anvil cover, an employee suffered a slipped disc. | |||||
| 2019-04-08 | Sparta | Wisconsin | Century Foods International, LLC | Multiple body parts | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was tightening a clamp (using channel lock pliers) on a pasteurizer system when a leak was identified. The clamp fastener dislodged while turning and 240-degree liquid discharged onto the employee, causing burns to the waist, abdomen, legs, and knees. | |||||
| 2019-01-22 | Aberdeen | South Dakota | 3M | Fingertip(s) | Caught in running equipment or machinery during maintenance, cleaning |
| An employee was removing a plastic component that was jammed in a de-energized machine. The employee placed their left hand on a metal slide, then used pliers with their right hand to pry the slide open. Upon applying significant force to the slide with the pliers, the jam broke free. The employee's left index fingertip was pinched and amputated between the slide and an adjacent metal surface. | |||||
| 2018-07-25 | Bridgeport | Connecticut | We Transport LLC | Eye(s) | Injured by slipping or swinging object held by injured worker |
| An employee was working on the brakes of a school bus using needle nose pliers. The plier slipped and impaled the employee's right eye. | |||||
| 2018-04-16 | Oxford | Mississippi | Olin Corporation Winchester | Hand(s) and arm(s) | Explosion, n.e.c. |
| An employee was using needle nose pliers to remove a rifle cartridge from an adhesive pot filled with hot glue when the heat from the glue ignited the propellant powder in the rifle cartridge and caused it to burst open. Hot glue then splashed onto the employee's left arm and left hand, causing burns that required hospitalization. | |||||
| 2018-03-21 | Cambridge | Massachusett | HANKARD ELECTRIC CO., INC. | Shoulder(s), including clavicle(s), scapula(e) | Other fall to lower level |
| An employee was on a ladder testing an energized wire in the ceiling to make it safe when his pliers touched the electrical junction box, causing an arc flash. The flash startled the employee, causing him to fall off the second rung of the ladder to the floor, re-aggravating a pre-existing shoulder injury. | |||||
| 2018-01-10 | Molino | Florida | Gulf Power Company | Finger(s), fingernail(s) | Indirect exposure to electricity |
| An employee and his coworker were installing a new meter set on a 4-gang meter base to provide electrical service to a multi-residential area. While his coworker went to the company truck to retrieve a new meter ring, he noticed a frog inside the meter base and was attempting to remove it with a pair of pliers when an electrical flash occurred. He sustained second degree burns on his right-hand fingers and was hospitalized. | |||||
| 2017-07-06 | Gainesville | Georgia | Prime Pak Foods Inc | Finger(s), fingernail(s) | Caught in running equipment or machinery during maintenance, cleaning |
| An employee was using a pair of pliers to clear jammed chicken from a cuber machine when the employee's left hand was pulled into the machine's knives, lacerating and partially amputating the ring and pinky fingers. | |||||
| 2017-06-10 | Phillips | Wisconsin | Aspirus, Inc. | BODY SYSTEMS | Inhalation of harmful substance-single episode |
| On June 10, 2017, an employee opened a tub of liquid chlorine bleach with pliers and rinsed the pliers in a stream of what appeared to be running water, but was actually disinfectant. The employee then experienced shortness of breath and lowered oxygen saturation, requiring hospitalization. | |||||
| 2017-04-07 | Peoria | Illinois | Keystone Steel and Wire, Inc. | Finger(s), fingernail(s) | Caught in running equipment or machinery during maintenance, cleaning |
| An employee was attempting to repair the welding machine with a pair of pliers when the pliers became caught and pulled the employee's hand into the machine, partially amputating the left ring finger. | |||||
| 2017-03-27 | Berea | Ohio | Cleveland Metal Stamping | Finger(s), fingernail(s) | Caught in running equipment or machinery during regular operation |
| An employee was running the punch press and removing a piece of stamped metal from the press using pliers. The pliers got caught in the machine causing the employee's finger to get caught between the press bed and the pliers. The employee's finger was fractured and the nailbed was removed. | |||||
| 2016-08-23 | Conroe | Texas | CenturyLink | Hand(s), except finger(s) | Injured by slipping or swinging object held by injured worker |
| On August 23, 2016, at approximately 11:30 a.m., an employee was removing the sheath from a telecommunications cable using needle nose pliers. The pliers slipped and struck the employee's left hand between the index finger and thumb, causing a laceration/cut. | |||||
| 2016-07-25 | Sunflower | Mississippi | Thompson Machinery Commerce Corporation | Arm(s) | Direct exposure to electricity, greater than 220 volts |
| An employee was using needle-nose pliers to change a fuse in a switchgear panel when an arc blast/flash occurred, causing flash burns to his right arm. | |||||
| 2016-06-03 | Midland | Texas | BND Industries Inc. | Multiple body parts | Other fall to lower level |
| An employee on a ladder was working on a circuit that he thought was de-energized. He grabbed the circuit with lineman pliers. He was knocked off the ladder by a coworker, sustaining a shoulder fracture and shock injuries. | |||||
| 2016-03-08 | Gloucester | Massachusett | Dave Grondin | Eye(s) | Struck by dislodged flying object, particle |
| An employee was pulling a nail with a pair of 6" channel lock pliers when the nail broke and released from the pliers. A nail fragment went under the employee's safety glasses and punctured the globe of the employee's left eye. | |||||
| 2015-12-05 | Brandon | Florida | Air Rescue Air Conditioning, Inc. | Eye(s) | Struck by dislodged flying object, particle |
| An employee was pulling a wire using needle nose pliers. The pliers slipped, and the wire struck and severely injured the employee's right eye. | |||||
| 2015-08-25 | Chicago | Illinois | MIDWEST FENCE CORPORATION | Abdomen, except internal location of diseases or disorders | Fall on same level due to tripping over an object |
| An employee was erecting a fence when he tripped over some rebar on the ground and fell. He fell on top of his tool belt and punctured the stomach on his tools (pliers) in his tool belt. | |||||
| 2015-08-09 | Lena | Louisiana | BOISE CASCADE COMPANY | Finger(s), fingernail(s) | Compressed or pinched by shifting objects or equipment |
| An employee was performing maintenance on composer #1. After completing the maintenance task, the employee released the hood from the locked out position and engaged the pneumatics to lower the hood back into place via a lever system. Once this was done, the employee noticed a pair of pliers inside the machine. She placed her left hand on the edge of the machine and reached inside with her right hand to grab the pliers. At that time, the hood came down onto her hand, amputating her left pinky be | |||||
| 2015-08-09 | Jacksonville | Florida | AVMAX Montana, Inc. | Multiple face locations | Struck by object or equipment |
| An employee was using needle nose pliers to close up the safety cable's compartment located underneath the right side of the aircraft by the aileron when he hurt the left side of his face and eye. The injured employee did not know what hit him. He was admitted to the hospital overnight for surgery. | |||||
| 2015-01-22 | Saint Louis | Missouri | Heartland Automotive Services, Inc. | Hip(s) | Fall on same level, n.e.c. |
| On 1/22/15 at approximately 8:00 a.m., a worker was working on an overhead shop heater that was mounted on the wall at approximate shoulder height. He was standing on the floor during the maintenance activity and had pliers in his hand. He lost his footing and fell on the same level. He fractured his right hip and was hospitalized as a result. | |||||