How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 25 severe incidents involving medical and surgical equipment over the past decade. The most frequent injury types are amputations, avulsions, and enucleations, which account for 64% of all reported cases.
These injuries are often life-altering, with fingers being the most frequently affected body part in 67% of incidents. The severity of these events often requires surgical intervention and long-term recovery for you.
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Check My BenefitsHow these injuries happen
Injuries involving medical equipment frequently occur when you are caught or entangled in running powered equipment during normal operation. Other common scenarios involve direct exposure to electricity while troubleshooting or repairing imaging devices, as well as being struck by moving components or heavy machinery parts.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caught, entangled in running powered equipment— normal operation | 9 |
| 2 | Direct exposure to electricity | 5 |
| 3 | Struck by running powered equipment— unspecified | 4 |
| 4 | Struck by rolling, sliding, or shifting objects—non-running | 2 |
| 5 | Injured by object handled by person | 1 |
| 6 | Struck by falling object | 1 |
| 7 | Struck against stationary object | 1 |
| 8 | Overexertion while materials moving by hand | 1 |
Where injuries happen most
Health care accounts for 64% of all reported incidents, as you interact daily with high-voltage imaging systems and complex mechanical devices. Manufacturing facilities also report significant risks, primarily due to the maintenance and repair of specialized medical components that require strict adherence to safety protocols.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these incidents include electrical shocks during cable replacement, fingertip amputations while troubleshooting fans in imaging devices, and impact injuries from wall-mounted equipment. If any of these scenarios sound like what happened to you, an attorney can help you review the specifics of your incident to determine if employer negligence contributed to your injury.
| Year | State | Industry | Incident summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | UT | Professional Services | "An X-ray machine had lost power and an employee went to replace the power supply. While replacing a cable on the power supply assembly, the employee's right hand contacted the grounding terminals coming out of the back of the power supply assembly and they received an electric shock. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2023 | GA | Manufacturing | "An employee was troubleshooting a fan on a CT imaging device when their right middle fingertip was amputated by the fan." | |
| 2023 | TX | Health Care | "An employee was increasing the regulator in the wall-mounted suction of the radiology department when they struck their head on the C-arm. The employee sustained a subdermal hematoma." | |
| 2022 | NJ | Health Care | "An employee was lifting a balloon pump out of a medical transport van when they sustained ruptured blood vessels in the arm. The employee was hospitalized and had surgery." | |
| 2022 | GA | Health Care | "An employee was reaching into the electrical panel of a CT Scanner and was shocked by 480 volts of electricity. The employee sustained electrical shock and burns to the right hand and arm." | |
| 2022 | WV | Health Care | "An employee was putting a tissue block in the clamp of a microtome when their left thumb was caught between the block and blade holder stage resulting in partial amputation of the left thumb without nail or bone loss." | |
| 2021 | CT | Health Care | "An employee was using a microtome to prepare slides for staining. The microtome blade lacerated the employee's left index finger, resulting in the amputation of part of the fingertip (without bone loss)." | |
| 2021 | DE | Health Care | "An employee was conducting maintenance on a rotary microtome when the tip of their right little finger contacted the microtome blade, resulting in an amputation." | |
| 2021 | ME | Manufacturing | "An employee was adjusting a machine when it cycled and its parts caused the amputation of the employee's middle fingertip." | |
| 2020 | OH | Health Care | "An employee was moving a surgical laser machine to a different location when the fingers of his right hand were caught and crushed between the machine and a door frame, resulting in the surgical amputation of his right small fingertip." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.