EE was exiting the 980loader in the shop,maintaining 3-points of contact,EE's L foot was on the ground & EEs R foot got stuck in the bottom step.This threw the EE off balance and EE fell backwards and EEs L side landed on a pallet with a cylinder on it.The pallet was approx 10'away from the loader.EE broke 4 ribs on EEs L side from the fall onto the pallet with the cylinder on it.