How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 497 severe upper arm injuries over the last decade, with fractures representing 54% of all cases. These injuries often involve significant trauma, such as bone breaks and deep lacerations, that require immediate hospitalization and surgical intervention.
Your upper arm is essential for lifting, reaching, and maintaining balance, making any injury to this area a direct threat to your ability to perform physical labor. A severe fracture or muscle tear can lead to long-term limitations in strength and range of motion, potentially impacting your career and daily life.
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Falls are the primary driver of upper arm trauma, accounting for 30% of all reported incidents. Whether you fall on the same level or from an elevated platform, the instinct to catch yourself often results in the full force of the impact being absorbed by your arm. Other common causes include entanglement in powered equipment, which accounts for 14% of cases, and being struck by falling objects, which accounts for 6% of cases.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fall on same level | 145 |
| 2 | Other fall to lower level | 73 |
| 3 | Caught, entangled in running powered equipment— normal operation | 70 |
| 4 | Injured by object handled by person | 39 |
| 5 | Struck by falling object | 30 |
| 6 | Struck by propelled object or substance | 29 |
| 7 | Struck by running powered equipment— during maintenance, cleaning, testing | 9 |
| 8 | Contact with hot objects or substances | 7 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing accounts for 35% of all severe upper arm injuries, largely due to your proximity to heavy machinery and conveyor systems. In these environments, even a momentary lapse in machine guarding or lockout procedures can lead to life-altering arm injuries. Construction and health care also report high incident rates, where manual handling and patient transfers create constant physical strain.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports involve you falling from heights, getting limbs caught in unguarded conveyors, or suffering injuries while handling heavy tools. These incidents frequently reveal failures in basic safety protocols, such as missing floor covers or neglected lockout procedures. If any of these scenarios sound like what happened to you, an attorney can help you evaluate your options.
| Year | State | Industry | Incident summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | TX | Other Services | "In the flight line area, an employee was on a work stand platform conducting repairs to an aircraft. While transitioning to another location, he stepped over another employee and lost his balance. The employee reached for the railing to catch themselves, fell, and tore his right bicep. The employee was hospitalized for surgery." | |
| 2025 | FL | Construction | "An employee was walking on the second floor of a residential construction site when they fell through a hole in the floor to the concrete flooring on the first floor, resulting in a broken right upper arm." | |
| 2025 | TX | Construction | "Two employees were hammering railroad spikes onto railroad ties when shrapnel splintered off the metal head of the spike maul. A metal fragment pierced the injured employee's upper left arm." | |
| 2025 | IL | Manufacturing | "Candy fell inside a conveyor and caused a jam. An employee was clearing the jam when his right bicep was lacerated and he was hospitalized. The machine was not locked out/tagged out at the time." | |
| 2025 | NJ | Wholesale Trade | "An employee was cutting the seal on a delivery truck for an inventory delivery. He fell from the loading dock to the concrete below, fracturing his humerus." | |
| 2025 | NY | Construction | "An employee fell off a 5-gallon bucket and an exposed pipe lacerated his bicep. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | TX | Manufacturing | "An employee was inspecting a casted part that weighed 330 pounds. The part fell from a lift assist onto the employee, striking his upper right arm and head. He suffered burns to the upper right arm and was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | OH | Manufacturing | "An employee was running a high-pressure water cabinet waterblast unit. When the employee released the wand, it propelled itself out of the blast cabinet. The wand whipped around and the high-pressure water stream lacerated the employee's upper right arm." | |
| 2025 | TX | Mining | "During maintenance of an annular blowout preventer, air pressure was applied to dislodge a stuck internal piston. The piston ejected and struck an employee's left bicep, causing a laceration and a fracture." | |
| 2025 | WV | Health Care | "An employee tripped and fell while walking to the main lobby. She sustained a fractured left humerus and a hematoma on her forehead. The employee was hospitalized. " |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.