How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 189 severe cases involving water vehicles over the last decade. Fractures are the most common injury type, representing 55 percent of these incidents. These injuries often result in long-term disability and require extensive medical intervention.
The nature of these incidents frequently leads to severe trauma. You may face life-altering consequences, including amputations and intracranial injuries, due to the heavy machinery found on ships and barges.
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Injuries on water vehicles typically occur during routine operations, cargo handling, or maintenance tasks. A primary source of these incidents is the water vehicle itself, including cargo ships and barges, where you are exposed to crush injuries, falls, and thermal burns. Whether you are tightening turnbuckles, discharging heavy steel slabs, or working in hulls, the environment presents constant risks.
| Injury Type | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fractures | 103 |
| 2 | Traumatic injuries or exposures— unspecified | 13 |
| 3 | Amputations, avulsions, enucleations | 12 |
| 4 | Severe wounds or internal injuries and other injuries | 12 |
| 5 | Intracranial Injuries | 11 |
| 6 | Cuts, lacerations, punctures without injury to internal structures | 7 |
| 7 | Injuries to internal organs and major blood vessels | 6 |
| 8 | Effects of heat and light | 5 |
Where injuries happen most
Transportation and warehousing accounts for 42 percent of these severe incidents. You face unique risks while loading and unloading cargo, where equipment failure or improper lashing operations can lead to catastrophic accidents. Manufacturing follows as a sector where you may be exposed to hazardous conditions while working in vessel hulls or performing lamination activities.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports involve equipment failure during cargo discharge, crush injuries during lashing operations, and heat exhaustion in confined spaces. These incidents often stem from mechanical failures or lapses in safety procedures during high-pressure tasks. If any of these scenarios sound like what happened to you, an attorney can help you evaluate your legal options.
| Year | State | Industry | Incident summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | TX | Professional Services | "An employee had been taking fuel samples from the top of a barge. The employee was hospitalized with heat exhaustion." | |
| 2025 | FL | Manufacturing | "An employee was working in the hull of a boat, applying resin as part of lamination activities. He sat down and lost consciousness due to heat exhaustion. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | TX | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was working inside the cargo hold of a cargo ship, discharging steel slabs. The slabs (approximately 4 feet by 20 feet) were being hoisted by a powered industrial truck (PIT) equipped with an electromagnetic lifting device. The lifting device failed and released a steel slab that struck the employee's right foot. The employee sustained injuries to their big toe, including partial amputation." | |
| 2025 | CA | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was tightening a turnbuckle while attempting to conduct lash-back operations on a ship when their left gloved hand was caught between the upper and lower turnbuckles. The employee suffered a crush injury to the little finger that resulted in a fingertip amputation." | |
| 2025 | FL | Professional Services | "The employee shut off a steam valve and was descending a ladder to enter a berth pit and open the cargo line valve. He slipped during the descent causing his right foot to be submerged in the hot water inside the dock pit. Hot water entered his right boot resulting in burns to his right foot/ankle." | |
| 2025 | OK | Manufacturing | "An employee was descending the side of a barge, having ascended to the top of it to close an opening on top of the barge lid. There was a towing rope on top of the three-step ladder on the barge; the employee put his weight on this rope, believing it to be part of the ladder, and fell backward. His ankle and shin were caught between the top of the third step and the barge lid. He suffered a fracture near the right ankle and another near his right shin and was hospitalized, undergoing surgery." | |
| 2025 | VA | Agriculture | "An employee experienced heat-related illness while working on a commercial fishing boat." | |
| 2025 | WA | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was unlocking containers on deck. The employee was de-lashing while standing on the edge of the lid. The lashing bar he was holding came off the cone, causing him to turn 90 degrees and strike a railing behind him. The employee sustained four fractured ribs." | |
| 2025 | WA | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee parked a side-by-side on the fixed internal ramp aboard a cargo ship. They exited the side-by-side and went to inspect the cargo below. The side-by-side rolled toward the employee and struck them as they were walking toward the edge of the ramp. The employee was knocked off the ramp and landed on the lower deck approximately 8 feet below. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured shoulder." | |
| 2025 | LA | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was closing down a barge when he sustained cramps and was hospitalized for dehydration." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.