A crew was pulling a 4-inch plastic gas pipe off a reel and straightening it for installation. The injured employee stepped up on the trailer to cut the last band holding the pipe in the coil on the reel. As he turned to step off the trailer, the end of the pipe rotated and sprung out of the cage surrounding the coil, striking the employee on the side of the head and knocking him off of the trailer into the roadway. The employee suffered head trauma that required hospitalization.