How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 2,188 severe cases involving nonroadway vehicle collisions over the last decade. Fractures are the most common injury, accounting for 48% of all reported incidents, which often require extensive surgical intervention and long-term rehabilitation.
These events are dangerous because they frequently involve heavy machinery impacting your lower body. With fingers being the most affected specific body part, you face significant risks of mobility limitations or amputation following a collision.
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These incidents typically occur when powered industrial vehicles like forklifts or riding pallet jacks operate in shared workspaces. Collisions happen when you lose control on slick surfaces, strike racking systems, or back into coworkers in blind spots. The presence of heavy material hauling equipment in high-traffic areas creates a constant risk of crushing injuries when safety protocols are ignored.
| Injury Type | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fractures | 1,035 |
| 2 | Traumatic injuries or exposures— unspecified | 390 |
| 3 | Amputations, avulsions, enucleations | 321 |
| 4 | Cuts, lacerations, punctures without injury to internal structures | 150 |
| 5 | Severe wounds or internal injuries and other injuries | 60 |
| 6 | Intracranial Injuries | 46 |
| 7 | Bruises, contusions | 41 |
| 8 | Injuries to internal organs and major blood vessels | 30 |
Where injuries happen most
Transportation and warehousing accounts for 29% of these severe incidents, largely due to the high volume of forklift and pallet jack activity in confined loading zones. Manufacturing follows at 23%, where the combination of fast-paced production and heavy transport machinery creates frequent opportunities for vehicle-related strikes.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports involve you being pinned between equipment and stationary objects like racking or bollards during routine loading tasks. Other frequent scenarios include operators losing balance after striking infrastructure or passengers being ejected from utility vehicles during sudden stops. If any of these scenarios sound like what happened to you, an attorney can help you review the specifics of your incident.
| Year | State | Industry | Incident summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | PA | Construction | "An employee was moving an aerial lift across the mechanical room when he struck a hanging duct structure. The employee sustained lacerations to the face and a fractured jaw." | |
| 2025 | GA | Transportation & Warehousing | "On July 29, 2025, an employee was using a riding pallet jack to load gaylords (corrugated boxes) into a trailer. While reversing out of the trailer, the pallet jack backed into a protective bollard. The employee's hand was crushed between the pallet jack and the bollard. He sustained fractures, requiring hospitalization and surgery." | |
| 2025 | PA | Wholesale Trade | "An employee was operating a standup forklift in the warehouse. The forklift struck racking, causing the employee to lose their balance. Their left foot became caught between the forklift and the racking and was fractured." | |
| 2025 | FL | Agriculture | "An employee was riding in a utility task vehicle (UTV) with several children (patrons). One of the children pressed the gas pedal of the UTV and the vehicle struck a fence post. The employee was thrown from the UTV and sustained five broken ribs, a partial pneumothorax to the right lung, an abrasion to the right arm, and contusions to the body. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | AL | Administrative Services | "An employee was driving a forklift when the forklift slipped on butter that was on the floor, causing it to strike a rack. The employee's left big toe contacted the rack, resulting in an amputation." | |
| 2025 | CO | Retail Trade | "An employee was being trained to use a counterbalance forklift. While operating the forklift under the supervision of his trainer, the employee exited one aisle and began turning into another when his left foot struck the end of a racking angle iron (rack protector). The employee was hospitalized with multiple foot and ankle fractures." | |
| 2025 | IL | Retail Trade | "An employee was driving a pickup truck into an auction lot when it collided with a security hut, causing the airbags to deploy. The employee was hospitalized due to a broken right hip; broken ribs number three, five, and seven on the right side; a chest contusion; a laceration to the top of the head; and a concussion." | |
| 2025 | MO | Manufacturing | "An employee was operating a stand-up cart tugger and was returning from delivering a cart of I-beams to a staging area. The vehicle struck a rock on the concrete pad and then suddenly swerved to the left. The employee lost balance and fell out of the vehicle, landing on his hip. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured right hip and required surgery." | |
| 2025 | WI | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was traveling through a loading dock area on a stand-up forklift. His foot was pinned between the forklift and a column, resulting in fractures to the foot and the heel." | |
| 2025 | IL | Manufacturing | "An employee was driving a carry deck/small crane when its boom made contact with an overhead support beam. The employee was jostled in the cab and suffered a concussion." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.