UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

At 12:25 p.m. on January 11, 2022, an employee was engaged in "rolling" 8 inch d iameter iron pipe sections along rails to an area where they could be lifted via forklift and moved to another area of the plant. The employee was waiting for p ipe to be deposited from a higher level via a cart that dumped the pipe onto an arm and clamp machine which lowered them to the rails. The arm and clamp machine was operated by a coworker on the upper level. The machine uses hydraulics to raise and lower the pipe sections and is equipped with an audible alarm and ligh t system to warn employees of pipe sections being lowered. Two sections of pipe successfully came off of the clamp and onto the rails while one section was hung up and still on the arms. The coworker hit the notification system and operated the machine to attempt to lower the hung up section of pipe when it somehow fel l off of the arms. The pipe bounced and struck the employee on his right elbow w hich he was using to hold the other two sections of pipe back on the rails. The employee incurred a puncture wound and arterial damage to his right arm at the e lbow, requiring hospitalization.