How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 95 severe cases involving barges over the last decade, with fractures accounting for 49 percent of all reported injuries. These incidents frequently result in life-altering trauma, including amputations, which occur in 18 percent of documented cases.
The severity of these injuries is compounded by the environment, as you often suffer damage to fingers. Recovery from these accidents is frequently complex, requiring long-term medical care and rehabilitation for you if you sustain crushing or impact injuries.
How these injuries happen
Injuries on barges occur most frequently during routine operations, with 47 percent of incidents happening while the vessel is in normal use. You are often caught between moving equipment, such as deck winches, or suffer falls from heights when navigating barge lids and ladders.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Incidents onboard water vehicle in normal operation | 44 |
| 2 | Other water vehicle incident n.e.c. | 35 |
| 3 | Compressed between running equipment and other object(s) | 5 |
| 4 | Water vehicle collisions | 5 |
| 5 | Other fall to lower level | 3 |
| 6 | Pedestrian incidents involving motorized land vehicles, n.e.c. | 1 |
Where injuries happen most
Construction leads all sectors with 32 percent of barge-related incidents, followed by transportation and warehousing at 31 percent. These industries rely heavily on barge transport for heavy materials, but the environment often leads to rushed maintenance or inadequate safety protocols for you on deck.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports include you suffering severe fractures while navigating barge lids or losing fingers to improperly guarded winches. Other frequent scenarios involve heat exhaustion during sampling or slips on wet, cluttered decks that lead to falls into the water. 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 | TX | Professional Services | "An employee had been taking fuel samples from the top of a barge. The employee was hospitalized with heat exhaustion." | |
| 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 | LA | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was closing down a barge when he sustained cramps and was hospitalized for dehydration." | |
| 2025 | TX | Professional Services | "An employee was sampling petroleum on a barge. The employee slipped on a rag on the rain-soaked barge deck, fell into the water, and got water in his lung." | |
| 2025 | AL | Construction | "A maintenance employee was working on a barge in open water, replacing the belt on a deck winch. After replacing the belt and testing it, the employee was taking a picture of the model number on the belt when the machine started. His hand was pulled into the belt and pulley, resulting in a partial amputation to his index finger." | |
| 2025 | CA | Administrative Services | "An employee was conducting a rope swing transfer from a platform to a barge. The employee rolled his right ankle when landing due to the height differential of the landing position. The ankle was fractured." | |
| 2025 | AR | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was preparing to unload a barge. He was on the deck of a barge as it was being discharged and was struck by an excavator bucket, which knocked him into a structure on the barge, resulting in a fractured right arm." | |
| 2025 | TX | Manufacturing | "An employee was boarding a barge. As he stepped onto the gangway, it shifted and the handrail he was using collapsed, causing him to fall and strike his right knee against the gangway. His patellar tendon was torn." | |
| 2024 | FL | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was hooking up pipes to be hoisted and then went up a ladder. Before getting to the top of the ladder, he went to pull himself onto the top pipe. His foot slipped on the pipe and he fell approximately 2-3 feet and struck the column of the barge. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured left femur and required surgery." | |
| 2024 | LA | Wholesale Trade | "An employee was helping to uncover a barge when a cable popped and hit the employee, causing him to fall approximately 2-3 feet into the water. The employee suffered a fractured left leg, a fractured rib, and lacerations above the left eyebrow, under the left armpit, and on the left triceps." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.