A federal investigation has been launched into an accident at a snowboard park in which a young worker suffered a serious injury to his arm. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced the investigation.
The teenage worker’s arm became stuck in a conveyor lift at Raging Buffalo Snowboard Park and Ski Area in Algonquin. A coworker found the injured employee stuck in the conveyor lift at the top of a ski hill. First responders needed approximately one hour to free his arm by cutting through the lift. According to authorities, the injured employee was then airlifted to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
More than 30 emergency personnel and nine emergency vehicles responded to the scene.
An OSHA spokesperson said that investigators will attempt to determine if there were any safety violations involved in the incident. The investigation is expected to last up to six months and will involve inspections of the machinery, interviews with employees and a determination of whether the worker was trained to work on the lift.
The investigation will also examine whether there was a lock-out mechanism installed with the equipment to prevent it from operating while being serviced.
The park is permitted to operate while the investigation continues.