How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 507 severe foot injuries between 2015 and 2025, with fractures representing 54% of all reported cases. These incidents often involve significant trauma, such as heel pad avulsions or complex breaks that require surgical intervention and extended recovery periods.
The functional impact of a foot injury is profound, as it directly limits your mobility and ability to perform essential job duties. When your ability to stand, walk, or operate machinery is compromised, your long-term earning capacity and daily independence are often at risk.
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Falls from heights and slips on hazardous surfaces are the primary drivers of severe foot trauma. You may sustain these injuries when you fall from ladders, scaffolds, or platforms, landing with enough force to shatter the heel bone. Other incidents involve being struck by heavy falling objects or getting your foot pinned between industrial vehicles and stationary structures like support poles.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Other fall to lower level | 168 |
| 2 | Struck by falling object | 56 |
| 3 | Pedestrian struck by vehicle in nonroadway area | 47 |
| 4 | Nonroadway collision with object other than vehicle | 40 |
| 5 | Caught, entangled in running powered equipment— normal operation | 33 |
| 6 | Struck against stationary object | 21 |
| 7 | Nonroadway noncollision incident | 17 |
| 8 | Struck by rolling powered vehicle or machinery | 16 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing accounts for 27% of all reported severe foot injuries, largely due to the constant movement of heavy materials and the use of powered industrial vehicles. In these environments, you are frequently exposed to slick floors and high-traffic zones where the risk of being struck by machinery or falling from elevated work stations is high.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports reveal a recurring failure to provide stable work platforms or safe walking surfaces. Many incidents involve you falling from ladders or scaffolds while performing routine maintenance, or sustaining crush injuries when forklifts slide on contaminated warehouse floors. If any of these scenarios sound like what happened to you, an attorney can help you review the specifics of your incident to determine if employer negligence played a role.
| Year | State | Industry | Incident summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | FL | Construction | "An employee was installing an acoustic ceiling grid while on a two-tier bakers scaffold approximately 11 feet high. While moving the scaffold over, he lost his balance and fell from the scaffold to the cement floor. The employee sustained fractures to both heels." | |
| 2025 | IL | Wholesale Trade | "A warehouse employee was operating a forklift in the freezer area. While making a turn, the forklift slid on condensation that had accumulated on the freezer floor. The forklift struck a yellow pole that designates the exit path and the employee s left heel became caught between the forklift and the yellow pole, resulting in a heel pad avulsion, or rupture of the heel fat pad. The employee's injury required surgery and hospitalization." | |
| 2025 | TX | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was walking on a rail container catwalk and removing a lock that guides the container onto the chassis and locks it into place. The employee tripped over a guard on the rail container and lost his balance, causing him to jump 4 feet to the crushed rock ground surface. He landed on his feet, resulting in hospitalization for a fractured left heel that required surgery." | |
| 2025 | MA | Wholesale Trade | "An employee jumped from a trailer to the pavement and sustained two fractured heels." | |
| 2025 | NY | Construction | "An employee was welding a 12-inch steam line while standing on top of a boiler. While descending from the boiler, the employee lost his footing and slipped off a 6-foot A-frame ladder and his left foot struck the floor. The employee sustained a fractured left heel." | |
| 2025 | MA | Construction | "An employee was on a 12-foot ladder working above a drop ceiling when he lost balance and fell about 10 feet to the ground, landing on his feet. The employee sustained a Lisfranc fracture and dislocation to their left foot. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | IL | Manufacturing | "An employee was rinsing the top of a dough mixer using a power washer. The spray struck his left foot, resulting in a laceration/puncture to the top of the foot." | |
| 2025 | NY | Wholesale Trade | "An employee was riding a pallet jack when it slid on a wet spot. When he went to jump off, his right foot was caught between the machine and the warehouse curb. The employee was hospitalized with a fracture to his right heel." | |
| 2025 | NY | Transportation & Warehousing | "A forklift backed into an employee who was standing on a dock. His left foot was broken and the skin was removed." | |
| 2025 | NY | Manufacturing | "An employee was operating an electric pallet jack in a warehouse. As he turned out of one aisle into another, he had to reverse to get a better angle. While reversing, the pallet jack struck a metal guardrail and trapped the employee's right ankle against it. The employee's foot was broken." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.