How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 809 severe cases of sprains, strains, and tears over the last decade. These injuries most frequently impact your knees and back, often resulting in immediate loss of mobility and the inability to perform your essential job functions.
These injuries are particularly consequential because they often lead to chronic pain and long-term functional limitations. Even after initial treatment, you may face reduced earning capacity and a prolonged recovery period that can permanently alter your professional life.
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Falls on the same level account for 20% of these severe injuries, often occurring when you encounter slick surfaces or uneven flooring. Many incidents also stem from overexertion while materials moving by hand, where improper lifting techniques or excessive weight loads push your muscles and tendons beyond their physical limits.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fall on same level | 157 |
| 2 | Other fall to lower level | 155 |
| 3 | Overexertion while materials moving by hand | 130 |
| 4 | Twisting, reaching, bending | 46 |
| 5 | Slip, trip, stumble on same level— without fall | 36 |
| 6 | Struck by falling object | 32 |
| 7 | Caught, entangled in running powered equipment— normal operation | 30 |
| 8 | Overexertion while moving or manipulating external object(s)— unspecified | 27 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing accounts for 19% of these severe cases, as the fast-paced environment and constant material handling create high-risk conditions for soft tissue damage. You may face repetitive strain and sudden overexertion risks due to the heavy machinery and manual labor required to maintain production quotas.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports involve you suffering sudden tears while navigating uneven surfaces or attempting to stabilize heavy loads that shift unexpectedly. If these scenarios mirror your own experience, an attorney can help you review the specific circumstances to determine if your employer failed to provide a safe working environment.
| 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 | OH | Construction | "An employee developed lower back pain after climbing up fixed ladders to reach a roof, then beginning to route wire into an air handling unit. When the employee knelt to pick up rope, the back pain became severe. The employee was hospitalized, having suffered a sprain to a back muscle." | |
| 2025 | IL | Manufacturing | "An employee was walking up a set of three steps that lead out of a pit. Water that had leaked from a valve was on his boots and he slipped and fell backward to the floor. The employee sustained an injury to his L5 vertebra and a ruptured hamstring that required surgery." | |
| 2025 | FL | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was delivering a box to a customer. They assisted the customer with moving the box containing a playground apparatus when the box broke open, causing the employee to lose their grip and strain their lower back." | |
| 2025 | FL | Arts & Entertainment | "An employee was walking behind a trailer with the ramp in the up position. The ramp was bumped, causing it to fall onto the back of their ankle. The employee was hospitalized with a torn tendon." | |
| 2025 | OR | Public Administration | "A law enforcement employee was engaged in an altercation during a protest when they fell off a ledge, resulting in a tear to their left adductor longus tendon." | |
| 2025 | FL | Administrative Services | "The injured employee was stepping onto a riding lawn mower when the wheel of the mower was turned by the operator and it caught the injured employee's foot, causing his left ankle to twist. He sustained a sprained left foot and a laceration on his left big toe. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | TX | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was exiting a work truck when he slipped on the truck's wet steps and fell to the concrete. The employee sustained a partial tear to the left shoulder and a thoracic strain. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | ID | Wholesale Trade | "An employee was walking past a cow barn when he slipped on a wet floor mat and fell. The employee sustained torn ligaments and his quadriceps were torn from the bone on both legs." | |
| 2025 | MO | Wholesale Trade | "An employee tore both quadriceps tendons while stepping down from a garage to a driveway. The employee was hospitalized." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.