After splicing a haulback, the worker used a hard steel hammer to drive a marlin spike to remove a log staple that had been used to secure the wire rope to a log.

While hammering, a shard broke off the marlin spike and hit the Hooktender in the back of the left hand penetrating his glove. He was working approximately 7 feet away.

A plastic surgeon removed the metal shard as it was embedded close to tendons and nerves. This had the potential to be much more serious.

This was a repeat of similar very serious incidents (using hard steel hammer on hard steel) that happened in April 2017 and April 2019.