How often these injuries happen
OSHA has recorded 690 severe cases involving nonroadway vehicle collisions over the last decade. Fractures are the most common injury, representing 53% of all reported incidents and often requiring extensive surgical intervention.
These collisions frequently impact your lower extremities, with your ankles and lower legs being particularly vulnerable. The high force involved in these accidents often results in life-altering trauma, including amputations and severe internal injuries.
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Most of these incidents involve industrial vehicles and material hauling equipment, which account for 81% of all reported sources. Collisions often occur in high-traffic warehouse intersections or when you are working in reverse without adequate visibility. These events are frequently the result of poor traffic management, obstructed pathways, or failures in equipment safety protocols.
| Injury Type | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fractures | 356 |
| 2 | Traumatic injuries or exposures— unspecified | 121 |
| 3 | Cuts, lacerations, punctures without injury to internal structures | 59 |
| 4 | Amputations, avulsions, enucleations | 55 |
| 5 | Severe wounds or internal injuries and other injuries | 21 |
| 6 | Injuries to internal organs and major blood vessels | 15 |
| 7 | Bruises, contusions | 10 |
| 8 | Intracranial Injuries | 7 |
Where injuries happen most
Transportation and warehousing accounts for 32% of these incidents, reflecting the high density of powered industrial trucks operating in confined spaces. Wholesale trade and manufacturing follow, where the constant movement of heavy materials and pallet jacks creates a high-risk environment for you.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports involve forklifts striking you in blind spots, pallet jacks colliding in intersections, and equipment tipping over during repositioning. These incidents often occur when safety protocols are bypassed or when visibility is compromised in busy work zones. 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 | NJ | Retail Trade | "An employee was driving a forklift backward out of a freezer. Another forklift was entering the freezer and struck the employee's left ankle, resulting in a fracture. The employee had surgery on the ankle." | |
| 2025 | OH | Wholesale Trade | "A forklift and a pallet jack collided in an intersection. The pallet jack operator was hospitalized with a foot fracture that required surgery." | |
| 2025 | TX | Construction | "On July 3, 2025, at approximately 9:45 PM, an employee was operating a utility task vehicle (UTV) on a project road when the UTV struck the rear of a reversing bulldozer. The employee struck their head and face on the UTV dashboard and collapsed onto a UTV passenger. The employee was hospitalized with a forehead laceration, a nasal fracture, and central cord syndrome. The other employee on the UTV sustained a bruised left forearm and was not hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | GA | Construction | "On June 26, 2025, an employee was standing on a scissor lift at a height of about 6 feet. He was conducting quality checks, light cleaning, and touching up paint on a piping assembly framework that was secured to a drop-deck trailer attached to a tractor. When the tractor trailer drove forward to reposition, it contacted the scissor lift at the deck frame and pulled it forward, causing it to tip over. The employee fell with the lift to the floor. He sustained fractures to his right forearm and wrist, and a burst fracture of his L1 vertebra. He was hospitalized and required surgery." | |
| 2025 | CT | Wholesale Trade | "An employee was moving loads with a forklift when their forklift struck another forklift. One of the forklifts was traveling in reverse. The employee sustained a fractured ankle." | |
| 2025 | TX | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was driving a baggage-tugging vehicle when it collided with another baggage-tugging vehicle, nearly head-on. The two vehicles came to rest parallel to each other, with the employee's leg caught between them. The employee suffered a broken femur that required hospitalization." | |
| 2025 | GA | Manufacturing | "On June 10, 2025, an employee was driving a forklift west when they were struck by another forklift driving south. The suffered a puncture wound on the right calf." | |
| 2025 | NJ | Wholesale Trade | "An employee was operating a stand-up reach truck. He was taking a small pallet of product through a dock area when another stand-up reach truck struck him. The steel forks punctured his lower right calf, also breaking a bone in the same area. He was hospitalized, requiring surgery." | |
| 2025 | PA | Manufacturing | "An employee was operating a forklift when it collided with another forklift at an intersection. The employee suffered a broken lower right leg from a rack of battery plates on the forks of the other truck." | |
| 2025 | NJ | Wholesale Trade | "An employee was parking a reach truck in the charging area when his left calf was pinched against another reach truck. The employee was hospitalized with a laceration to the left calf." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.