How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 123 severe abrasion cases over the past decade. These injuries often occur when your skin is subjected to intense friction or high-velocity impact, frequently requiring medical intervention beyond basic first aid.
While often dismissed as minor, severe abrasions can lead to long-term complications such as permanent scarring, nerve damage, or secondary infections. These injuries frequently result in significant time away from work and can permanently limit your ability to perform manual tasks.
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Free Benefits ReviewWhat causes Abrasions
Most severe abrasions occur when safety protocols fail to isolate you from moving parts or high-pressure materials. Being struck by propelled objects or substances accounts for 23% of these cases, while entanglement in powered equipment during normal operation accounts for 18%.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Struck by propelled object or substance | 27 |
| 2 | Caught, entangled in running powered equipment— normal operation | 21 |
| 3 | Struck against stationary object | 10 |
| 4 | Fall on same level | 10 |
| 5 | Other fall to lower level | 8 |
| 6 | Struck by falling object | 7 |
| 7 | Rubbed or abraded by non-running object | 4 |
| 8 | Pedestrian struck by vehicle in nonroadway area | 3 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing accounts for 37% of all severe abrasion cases, largely due to the prevalence of high-speed machinery and conveyor systems. In these environments, inadequate machine guarding and insufficient lockout procedures frequently expose you to rotating components that cause severe surface injuries.
Real cases like yours
Recurring patterns in these reports show that most injuries occur during routine machine operation, maintenance, or material handling tasks where safety guards were either absent or bypassed. If your injury happened while operating equipment or performing maintenance tasks similar to these documented incidents, an attorney can help you review the specifics of your case to determine if employer negligence contributed to your harm.
| Year | State | Industry | Incident summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | OK | Manufacturing | "An employee was operating a vertical mill to machine a fixture for an engineering project. The employee was using calipers to take a measurement of the fixture in proximity to the spindle when the sleeve of his shop coat got caught in the spindle, pulling his left hand into the tool. The employee sustained a severe abrasion to the back of his hand." | |
| 2025 | OK | Manufacturing | "An employee in the long bar processing area had completed work for the day. The last material that had passed through a machine had been discharged on the exit side. The employee approached the machine and his left hand was caught between the rotating grinding stone and the support rollers. The employee sustained severe abrasive injuries to the back of his left hand." | |
| 2025 | TX | Retail Trade | "A facilities maintenance technician was helping to perform a bearing repair on a conveyor shaft. His right hand became caught on the conveyor belt and he sustained abrasions and swelling. He was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | ID | Construction | "An employee was pressure washing grease on a low-sloped roof when their fall protection lanyard caught on the roof, causing them to trip and drop the pressure washer wand. The spray hit the employee's right leg and thigh, resulting in an abrasion and injected water below the surface of the skin." | |
| 2025 | TX | Construction | "At about 12:05 p.m. on April 8, 2025, while performing material handling tasks on jack-up scaffolding, an employee of Lopez Masonry was walking along the scaffold's inner-face walk board when the walk board became dislodged from its holding flange. The employee fell to the ground and suffered abrasions to the right arm and the left side of the chest. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | AS | Transportation & Warehousing | "A mechanic was working on the brakes of a truck when the driver operated the vehicle. The vehicle partially ran over the side of the mechanic's abdomen. The employee sustained soft tissue abrasions." | |
| 2024 | FL | Manufacturing | "An employee was performing quality control checks on a conveyor. They grabbed a tray on the conveyor and the conveyor contacted their hand, resulting in an abrasion." | |
| 2024 | FL | Manufacturing | "An employee was pressure washing a crane on a wash rack. He stumbled and his boot and foot were struck by the high pressure water. The employee was hospitalized with an abrasion to the top of his right foot." | |
| 2024 | VA | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was using a mail truck to deliver mail when they struck a patch of loose gravel and the vehicle overturned onto its side. The employee suffered leg and ankle pain as well as road burn. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2024 | TX | Real Estate | "An employee was unhooking an air hose from an oil pump in a shop. As he disconnected the quick coupler, the compressed air caused an abrasion to his right ring finger." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.