How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 2,529 severe incidents involving food and beverage processing machinery over the last decade. The vast majority of these cases result in amputations, which are life-altering injuries that often require extensive surgery and long-term rehabilitation.
Your fingers are the most vulnerable body part, accounting for 85% of these severe reports. The nature of this equipment means that even a momentary lapse or mechanical failure can lead to permanent loss of function or limb.
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Check My BenefitsHow these injuries happen
Most injuries occur when you become caught or entangled in running powered equipment during normal operation, which accounts for 56% of all recorded incidents. These accidents often happen when safety guards are missing, bypassed, or improperly maintained, allowing your hands and fingers to contact moving parts like gears, blades, and rollers. Others are struck by equipment during cleaning or maintenance, highlighting the danger of inadequate lockout-tagout procedures.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caught, entangled in running powered equipment— normal operation | 1,390 |
| 2 | Struck by rolling, sliding, or shifting objects—non-running | 629 |
| 3 | Struck by running powered equipment— during maintenance, cleaning, testing | 140 |
| 4 | Struck by running powered equipment— unspecified | 133 |
| 5 | Struck by running powered equipment— n.e.c. | 60 |
| 6 | Compressed between running equipment and other object(s) | 53 |
| 7 | Struck against stationary object | 33 |
| 8 | Struck by falling object | 15 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing leads with 59% of all reported incidents, as high-speed production lines and heavy processing equipment create constant exposure risks. Retail trade follows with 23% of incidents, where you may operate meat saws and slicers in grocery environments. In both sectors, the pressure to maintain production speeds often leads to the removal of safety guards or the failure to follow required safety protocols.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these incidents involve you performing routine maintenance, cleaning, or operating machinery when a body part becomes trapped in gears, chains, or blades. These reports frequently highlight failures in machine guarding or the absence of proper energy isolation during pipe clean-outs and blade adjustments. 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 | WI | Manufacturing | "An employee was performing routine maintenance on an air valve when their right ring finger became caught in the valve. The employee sustained an amputation to the fingertip. " | |
| 2025 | TX | Retail Trade | "An employee was using a meat saw to cut pork product for sale and suffered a fractured finger and an amputation of the little fingertip." | |
| 2025 | NE | Manufacturing | "An employee was operating a hide puller when his hand became caught in the hide puller chain. He sustained shoulder and wrist injuries that required surgery." | |
| 2025 | KS | Manufacturing | "An employee was tearing down a sausage-linking machine as part of a weekly pipe clean out. As the meat piled up on the machine, he went to clean the meat off the top of the machine. The metering gears contacted his left index finger, resulting in a soft tissue fingertip amputation." | |
| 2025 | TX | Manufacturing | "An employee was operating a membrane skinner when her left little finger contacted the roller and blade, resulting in a laceration and hospitalization." | |
| 2025 | TX | Retail Trade | "An employee was cutting meat on a band saw when their left index finger was partially amputated." | |
| 2025 | NJ | Manufacturing | "On July 16, 2025, at 5:20 p.m., an employee in training was cleaning a machine that makes dough balls when the machine turned on and injured three fingers on his right hand, including a fingertip amputation on the middle finger." | |
| 2025 | ID | Manufacturing | "On 7/16/2025, at 12:45 PM, an employee was wet washing the blender in the production area. His fingers came into contact with the blender blades, resulting in partial amputation of two fingers on his left hand." | |
| 2025 | NE | Manufacturing | "An employee was filling a hopper that deposited blueberries in muffin trays. Two plastic plates inside the equipment closed, pinching and amputating the employee's left ring fingertip. The equipment was running and unguarded at the time." | |
| 2025 | NE | Manufacturing | "An employee was setting a piece of beef near the skinner machine when the blade amputated his right ring fingertip." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.