How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 42 severe cases involving internal respiratory organs over the last decade. Injuries to internal organs and major blood vessels account for 55 percent of these incidents, often leading to prolonged hospital stays and complex medical recovery.
Damage to your lungs directly impacts your ability to perform physical labor and maintain daily activity levels. These injuries frequently result in permanent respiratory impairment, which can limit your future earning capacity and require long-term medical monitoring.
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Free Benefits ReviewHow these injuries happen
Inhalation of harmful substances is the leading cause of these injuries, accounting for 28 percent of reported cases. You are also frequently injured by falls from heights or being struck by heavy equipment, which can cause blunt force trauma to your chest and immediate lung collapse.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inhalation of harmful substance | 11 |
| 2 | Other fall to lower level | 6 |
| 3 | Struck by propelled object or substance | 3 |
| 4 | Exposure to harmful substances— unspecified | 3 |
| 5 | Nonroadway noncollision incident | 3 |
| 6 | Fall to lower level from collapsing structure or equipment | 3 |
| 7 | Stabbing, cutting, slashing by other person | 1 |
| 8 | Ski, snowboard, and sled incidents | 1 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing accounts for 21 percent of these severe cases, as you may face risks from hazardous airborne particles and heavy machinery in this sector. Construction and transportation environments also present risks, where equipment failures or falls can lead to sudden, life-threatening chest trauma.
Real cases like yours
Reported incidents frequently involve you being pinned by heavy machinery, struck by recoiling equipment, or suffering from sudden respiratory distress during physically demanding tasks. These stories highlight how quickly a safe environment can turn dangerous due to mechanical failure or lack of proper safety protocols. If any of these scenarios sound like what happened to you, an attorney can help you review the specifics of your case.
| Year | State | Industry | Incident summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | WI | Agriculture | "An employee entered a stall to free a cow caught in a milking parlor entrance. The safety gate closed, allowing the parlor to rotate. The employee was pinned between the stall divider and the gate, suffering a punctured lung." | |
| 2025 | OH | Health Care | "At about 6:00 p.m. on May 10, 2025, three employees were redirecting a nursing resident away from the kitchen. The resident pulled the injured employee's hair and shoved them to the ground. That employee was hospitalized with a collapsed lung." | |
| 2025 | ID | Public Administration | "An employee was engaged in initial smokejumper training which includes physical fitness testing, tree climbing training, chainsaw and crosscut certification, as well as initial introduction to equipment and smokejumper-specific safety procedures. Some of the training involves carrying 110 pounds of equipment. The employee reported tightness in his chest and difficulty breathing. The employee was hospitalized with a lung injury." | |
| 2025 | WI | Wholesale Trade | "An employee was operating a tractor and utilizing a 2.5-foot kinetic rope and a 1-inch soft shackle to pull another tractor that was stuck in the mud. An additional 30-foot kinetic rope with a soft shackle was hooked up to provide distance from the soft soil. While pulling, the loop end of the terminal shackle on the stuck tractor frayed and released the rope, causing it to recoil back at the pulling tractor. The rope(s) struck the back of the pull tractor, broke the rear window, and struck the employee. The employee was pushed forward into the steering wheel and sustained severe lacerations to the head and a collapsed lung." | |
| 2025 | MO | Information | "An employee climbed to the top of a ladder at a customer's house. The ladder shifted and the employee fell 28 feet to the ground. The employee was hospitalized for a lung contusion and a right foot contusion." | |
| 2025 | ID | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was exposed to grain dust (corn and wheat) while cleaning a soak bin without a dust mask. The employee was hospitalized for dust accumulation in their lungs. " | |
| 2025 | OK | Agriculture | "An employee was driving a backhoe that was hauling dirt to build a new pond. As he drove between the new pond and an existing pond, the wind blew dirt into his windshield and the backhoe veered off into the existing pond. The bed tipped over but the cab did not. The seat belt caused injuries to the employee's chest including bruised lungs." | |
| 2025 | MN | Professional Services | "At about 9:15 a.m. on March 10, 2025, an employee was riding along a hardpack snow-covered roadway on a snowmobile. The snowmobile went over a berm and tipped/rolled, causing the employee to fall to the ground. He suffered a collapsed left lung and was hospitalized." | |
| 2024 | PA | Retail Trade | "An employee was acting in a loss prevention capacity when they were stabbed in the abdomen with a knife by an individual. The employee sustained multiple stab wounds, one of which punctured his lung. Part of the knife broke off in his body, requiring surgery." | |
| 2024 | FL | Manufacturing | "The injured employee was holding the rafters at the roof build table area while a co-worker attached them to the roof frame using a pneumatic nailer. A four-inch nail ricocheted and pierced the employee's left shoulder resulting in injury to an artery and the left lung. " |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.