An employee was operating a stand-up counterbalanced forklift and was attempting to push a stack of empty pallets using the rear, passenger compartment side of the forklift. As the pallets were being pushed, they became lodged between a rack and the forklift, causing the wooden pallets to break. Pieces of a broken pallet entered the passenger compartment of the forklift and struck the employee in the left leg, fracturing his tibia and fibula.