Incident date: 2020-10-09
NAICS industry code: 332811

The injured employee was operating a sit-down forklift (PIT) with an empty pallet on its forks when the PIT got stuck in the grass and mud while ascending a slight incline in a grassy area in back of the building. A second PIT was used to push the stuck PIT out of a rut to no avail. A third PIT was then connected to the other two PITs with a sling tether and a heavy chain. The two PITs attempted to tow the injured employee s PIT out of the rut and the jarring motion caused a small rock or piece of mud to strike the injured employee in the back of the head, causing her head to strike the PIT frame. The employee suffered a loss of consciousness, a skull fracture, a subdural hematoma and a head laceration. The employee was hospitalized.

Hazard classification:
code_event: title: Struck by dislodged flying object, particle
code_source: title: Nonmetallic minerals, except fuel, unspecified
code_nature: title: Skull fracture and intracranial injury
code_body: title: Brain
severity: moderate