| Date | City | State | Employer | Body Part | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-10-21 | Mobile | Al | Austal USA, LLC | Nonclassifiable | Ignition of clothing from controlled heat source |
| An employee was welding a module, lying on his back in a tight area. Welding slag fell onto his arm and caught his welding fleece on fire. He suffered second-degree burns. | |||||
| 2021-07-17 | Marinette | Wi | Waupaca Foundry, Inc. | Abdomen, except internal location of diseases or disorders | Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects |
| An employee was removing slag from the walls of a receiver with a chipping hammer. The employee was caught between a hot metal carrier ladle and chisel bits and suffered a crushing injury to the torso that resulted in a lacerated liver. The employee was hospitalized. | |||||
| 2021-05-05 | Blytheville | Ar | Phoenix Services, LLC | Nonclassifiable | Ingestion of harmful substance |
| At 4:45 p.m. on May 5, 2021, an employee was cutting up steel scrap with an oxygen lance rod. A piece of hot slag went under his face shield, bounced off his chest, entered his mouth, and was swallowed. He was hospitalized. | |||||
| 2021-03-30 | Rockford | Il | Gunite Corporation | Lower leg(s) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| On March 30, 2021, an employee was standing on a metal step, clearing built-up slag to allow water to flow through a trough. When he stepped down, his foot entered the hot water and he suffered second-degree burns to the right shin. | |||||
| 2021-01-09 | Appleton | Wi | Luvata Appleton LLC | Multiple body parts | Explosion of nonpressurized vapors, gases, or liquids |
| An employee was scraping slag off an alloy melting furnace pot when residual liquid nitrogen mixed with molten metal still in the furnace. The instantaneous mixing caused an explosion, which knocked the employee to the ground. His protective helmet and face shield were knocked off and he suffered second- and third-degree burns to the neck and left arm. | |||||
| 2020-10-06 | Zanesville | Oh | Casting Solutions, LLC | Multiple body parts | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was using a slag spoon to skim off impurities on molten gray iron. The employee dipped the spoon into the zircon wash and gray iron popped onto the employee. The employee sustained first and second degree burns to the left side of the palm, the forearm, and the abdomen. | |||||
| 2020-07-30 | Latrobe | Pennsylvania | Carpenters Technolongy | Leg(s) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was taking a sample of molten metal when a piece of slag contacted the tongue of his boot. The employee was hospitalized with burns to his leg. | |||||
| 2020-04-27 | Jefferson | Louisiana | Intercoastal Repair Services | Hand(s) and arm(s) | Nonstructural fire, n.e.c. |
| An employee was repairing a leak on a barge. After repairing the leak, the employee was working overhead when fire/slag from a welding torch's oxygen line fell on his glove, igniting and burning his left hand and forearm. He was hospitalized. | |||||
| 2020-03-10 | Theodore | Alabama | C&B Fabrication LLC | Upper arm(s) | Struck by discharged object or substance |
| An employee was blasting a steel structure using black beauty/coal slag as the blast media. The employee lost control of the hose and blasting device and was struck in the upper right arm by the blast media sustaining a laceration and penetration of the skin. | |||||
| 2019-09-08 | Center | North Dakota | Industrial Contractors, Inc. | Multiple body parts | Struck by dislodged flying object, particle |
| An employee was raking slag while standing on a platform. A plug in the boiler came loose causing water and slag to eject at high pressure and strike the employee. The employee was hospitalized with a laceration to the back, a compression fracture to vertebrae, and a brain hematoma. | |||||
| 2019-07-17 | Chambersburg | Pennsylvania | Olympic Steel | Fingertip(s) | Compressed or pinched by shifting objects or equipment |
| An employee was using a bridge crane to replace slag trays in the burn table. The employee's left ring finger was caught between a slag tray and the inside receiving edge of the burn table, resulting in the fracture and amputation of the left ring fingertip. | |||||
| 2019-07-13 | Hobson | Texas | ATEC Steel, LLC | Eye(s) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was welding the inner rim plate of a pontoon using a wire welding machine with .045 flux-core welding wire. The employee stopped welding and then proceeded to chip the slag from the weld when a piece of hot slag popped off the weld and landed on the employee's right upper and lower eyelids resulting in second-degree burns. | |||||
| 2019-07-01 | Stanton | Texas | Double K Drilling LLC | Leg(s) | Struck by object or equipment |
| An employee was flagging a forklift driver when metal slag broke off a piece of steel being welded and hit the employee in the leg, causing a fracture. The employee was hospitalized. | |||||
| 2019-06-24 | Pascagoula | Mississippi | Ingalls Shipbuilding Inc. | Thigh(s) | Nonstructural fire, n.e.c. |
| An employee was cutting T-beams with a cutting torch when the employee's pants caught on fire possibly due to a piece of molten slag, resulting in second and third degree burns to the employee's inner thighs. | |||||
| 2019-06-04 | Blossburg | Pennsylvania | Hydro Recovery LP | Fingertip(s) | Struck by object or equipment dropped by injured worker |
| On June 4, 2019, at approximately 11:45 AM, an employee was judging the weight of a piece of metal (solid slag metal for centrifuge) by lifting it. The metal piece slipped and fell catching the employee's left index finger between the metal and the ground or pallet jack and caused a fingertip amputation. | |||||
| 2019-05-15 | Columbus | Mississippi | Steel Dynamics, Inc. | Leg(s) | Other fall to lower level less than 6 feet |
| An employee was working under a platform when a piece of slag fell off the furnace, hitting him in the hard hat and knocking him into a 2.5-foot pit. He suffered injuries to his scalp and a fractured leg. | |||||
| 2019-05-13 | Wills Point | Texas | Big Tex Trailer Manufacturing, Inc. | Multiple body parts | Nonstructural fire, n.e.c. |
| An employee was electric welding a goose neck trailer when the employee's shirt caught on fire from welding slag, causing second degree burns to the employee's torso and left arm. | |||||
| 2019-04-03 | Milton | Pennsylvania | Milton Steel Company | Foot (feet) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| On April 3, 2019, at approximately 2:00 AM, an employee was MIG (metal inert gas) welding on a steel bridge cord. A piece of hot silica (slag) fell into the employee's left boot causing a severe burn to the bottom of the foot. | |||||
| 2019-02-07 | Pueblo | Colorado | Canyon Commercial Construction, Inc. | Abdomen, except internal location of diseases or disorders | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was torch-cutting a flatbed railcar when he was showered with sparks and pieces of slag that penetrated his flame-resistant coat, causing severe burns to his left-side abdomen. | |||||
| 2018-09-14 | Braddock | Pennsylvania | U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson Works | BODY SYSTEMS | Exposure to environmental heat |
| An employee had been performing helper duties on a blast furnace, including cleaning/loading the mud gun, installing the slag dam, and cleaning the sides of the trough, when he was overcome by heat approximately 6.5 hours into his shift. He suffered heat-related illness, cramping in his arms, and loss of consciousness. | |||||
| 2018-06-08 | Mckinney | Texas | Encore Wire Corporation | Foot (feet) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was cleaning slag from a vessel containing molten copper. The slag and molten copper splashed onto the employee's left foot burning it. | |||||
| 2018-06-06 | Calvert | Alabama | Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC | Upper and lower limb(s) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was lacing using an oxygen lancer. Concrete was heated by the lance and metal slag shot into the air and contacted the injured employee. The employee sustained burns to the left foot and right hand. | |||||
| 2018-05-03 | Braddock | Pennsylvania | United States Steel Corporation | BODY SYSTEMS | Exposure to environmental heat |
| An employee was cleaning out the slag runner on a blast furnace when the employee began to experience muscle cramping in the arms, legs, and back. The employee was hospitalized for dehydration and/or potential heat stress-related symptoms. | |||||
| 2018-04-22 | La Porte | Texas | UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD | Nonclassifiable | Explosion of nonpressurized vapors, gases, or liquids |
| An employee was welding next to railroad tracks. He removed the slag pan, stepped across the rail, and down the ballast section to dump slag from the slag pan. The slag slipped out of the pan and into a ditch with water adjacent to the tracks, resulting in an explosion. The employee suffered third degree burns, requiring hospitalization. | |||||
| 2018-04-02 | Pueblo | Colorado | Evraz | Brain | Struck by falling object or equipment |
| While hooking a chain to a ladle, an employee was struck in the head by a piece of falling slag, suffering a concussion. | |||||
| 2018-02-08 | Pflugerville | Texas | Bosworth Steel Erectors, Inc. | Back, including spine, spinal cord | Nonstructural fire, n.e.c. |
| An employee was welding when hot slag dropped into his tool bag, igniting it and causing burns on his back and side. | |||||
| 2018-02-02 | Rockford | Illinois | Gunite Corporation | Hand(s) | Ignition of vapors, gases, or liquids |
| An employee was using an oxygen lance to clean a cupola slag runner (a portion of a foundry furnace) when the oxygen line supplying the lance failed causing a flame to strike the employee and enter his glove. The employee sustained third degree burns to the back and palm of his right hand. | |||||
| 2018-01-23 | West Hazleton | Pennsylvania | Valmont Industries | Hip(s) | Struck by object falling from vehicle or machinery-other than vehicle part |
| An employee was going to perform routine maintenance (cleaning) on the plasma cutter table. The employee lifted the top part off the plasma cutter table with an overhead crane. The interior slag tray slipped out of the rigging and fell onto the employee, who suffered a broken hip and was hospitalized. | |||||
| 2017-10-14 | Rochester | New York | National Vacuum Environmental Services Corp | Thigh(s) | Fall on same level due to slipping |
| An employee was pressure-washing slag through a 3-inch port at the bottom section of a boiler. While blasting the slag, the employee lost his balance and released his grip on the pressure-washing lance. He slipped and fell backwards into a wingnut protruding from a hatch on the boiler and lacerated his right thigh. | |||||
| 2017-09-11 | Bourbonnais | Illinois | Systems Plant Services, Inc. | Pelvis | Struck by falling object or equipment |
| Employees were removing slag with bars. A large chunk of slag fell and pinned one employee against a wall. The employee injured his pelvis and was admitted to the hospital. | |||||
| 2017-08-30 | Browntown | Wisconsin | Grede Wisconsin Subsidiaries LLC | Foot(feet) and leg(s) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was using a skimming bar to remove slag from the top of a ladle of molten iron when the molten iron (2,600 degrees) poured down and burned his left leg and foot. | |||||
| 2017-08-16 | Sharon | Pennsylvania | City Materials Services, Inc. | Foot (feet) | Struck by falling part of powered vehicle still attached |
| A 5,400-pound magnet was attached to an excavator. Employees were using the magnet and excavator to pull metal out of piles of slag. When these activities were completed, the excavator operator placed the magnet on uneven ground. An employee was attempting to remove the magnet from the excavator when it slid and landed on the employee's feet, causing multiple fractures in both feet. | |||||
| 2017-04-06 | Oklahoma City | Oklahoma | Mega MS LTD | Leg(s) | Ignition of clothing from controlled heat source |
| An employee was torch-cutting metal when the resulting sparks and slag caught his cotton coveralls on fire. He suffered burns to the back of his legs. Fire-retardant clothing was not worn at the time. | |||||
| 2017-02-09 | Paducah | Kentucky | JAMES MARINE INC. | Multiple trunk locations | Ignition of clothing from controlled heat source |
| An employee and a coworker were welding on the inboard and outboard sides of a bulkhead. Welding slag became trapped between the sweatshirts of one employee and ignited. The employee suffered first, second, and potentially third degree burns to the right side of the back and right armpit. | |||||
| 2017-01-19 | Boise | Idaho | Idaho Timber | Lower extremities | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was cutting metal with a torch when slag entered the employee's boot and caused a burn. The burn became infected and required hospitalization. | |||||
| 2016-10-22 | Monaca | Pennsylvania | Enerfab Power and Industrial | Brain | Struck by falling object or equipment |
| An employee was working inside of a boiler on the 13th floor of Unit 3. A piece of slag fell from above and struck the employee on the head. The employee sustained a concussion and minor lacerations. | |||||
| 2016-08-14 | Burnsville | Mississippi | Mississippi Silicon, LLC | Multiple body parts | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was using a hardwood pole to clean a furnace's tap channel when molten metal slag suddenly released from the furnace, burning the employee's hands, head, face, left ear, lips, and mouth. | |||||
| 2016-07-15 | Fremont | Nebraska | Magnus, L.L.C. | Multiple lower extremities locations | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| On July 15, 2016, an employee was skimming slag off the top of a pot of molten bronze when some of the slag and molten bronze dropped onto his coveralls. The molten bronze and slag, with a temperature over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit burned through his coveralls, seriously burning his shin, ankle, and foot before his boot could be removed. | |||||
| 2016-04-28 | Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania | Wayne Crouse Inc | Forearm(s) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee had his left forearm leaning against a pipe for support while making a weld. Slag became wedged between the pipe and his protective leathers allowing heat to radiate through the leathers. The employee suffered second degree burns to his left forearm. | |||||
| 2016-03-19 | Sturgeon Bay | Wisconsin | Fincantieri Marine Group LLC | Back, including spine, spinal cord | Ignition of clothing from controlled heat source |
| An employee was cutting an overhead steel member with a cutting torch when molten slag fell onto his clothing and ignited it. He suffered 1st and 2nd degree burns to his back and additional burns on his hand. | |||||
| 2016-02-11 | Fulton | Arkansas | Fisher Tank Company | Ankle(s) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was mig welding on a vertical seam on a 137-ft-diameter, 40 ft.-high open-top above-ground steel storage tank when a piece of hot slag dropped down onto his right boot. His leg began swelling and he was later hospitalized with right ankle burns. | |||||
| 2016-01-29 | Mckinney | Texas | BOSWORTH STEEL ERECTORS, INC. | Leg(s) | Ignition of vapors, gases, or liquids |
| Employee was hospitalized after burning his legs while welding structural steel. Hot slag caught the acetylene tank on fire. | |||||
| 2015-11-02 | Columbus | Georgia | DMI Columbus, LLC | Upper and lower limb(s) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was burned on the hands and feet while breaking slag loose from the side of Furnace-A with a slag rod. | |||||
| 2015-10-30 | Concordia | Kansas | Foley Equipment Company | Lower leg(s) | Ignition of clothing from controlled heat source |
| An employee was using a cutting torch to cut hooks from the bucket of a front end loader. Slag inadvertently fell onto his left pants leg catching his pants leg on fire. The employee was burned on his shin and hospitalized. | |||||
| 2015-10-15 | Canon City | Colorado | CC Fab | Multiple body parts | Ignition of clothing from controlled heat source |
| An employee was welding with a cutting torch when a piece of hot slag landed on his shirt, which caught on fire. He suffered third degree burns to his left arm, hand, shoulder, and torso. | |||||
| 2015-10-07 | Springdale | Arkansas | Transportation Technology Services | Leg(s) | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee performing cutting operations with a torch suffered second degree burns to 6-7 percent of his leg after the slag and torch flame came into contact with his leg. | |||||
| 2015-08-10 | Blossburg | Pennsylvania | Ward Manufacturing LLC | Multiple body parts | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| An employee was severely burned (first and second degree burns) on his thigh and genital area by a lancing rod while attempting to remove slag on the cupola system. The lancing rod dropped and ignited a flame burning the employee. | |||||
| 2015-07-14 | Freehold | New Jersey | Freehold Cartage Inc | Nonclassifiable | Contact with hot objects or substances |
| A worker was welding the underside of a truck when the flame flashed back through a stress fracture in the fitting causing slag to hit the torch. The torch fell into his lap causing 2nd and 3rd degree burns. | |||||
| 2015-02-20 | Pascagoula | Mississippi | Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc. | Internal neck location | Ingestion of harmful substance |
| An employee was inspecting a ship intake duct that had been fabricated. The employee heard someone grinding above him and when he looked up, a piece of welding slag fell into his mouth. The employee removed the slag from his mouth and continued working. Later that evening at his residence, the employee experienced breathing problems. The employee went to a hospital emergency room for treatment where it was discovered that the employee had welding slag in his throat. The employee was admitted to | |||||