How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 38 severe cases involving office, banking, and retail equipment over the last decade. The vast majority of these incidents result in amputations, which are life-altering injuries that often require extensive surgery and long-term rehabilitation.
Finger injuries account for 82% of these reported incidents. Because this equipment often involves high-speed belts, sprockets, and heavy metal components, even a momentary lapse or mechanical failure can lead to permanent loss of function.
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Check My BenefitsHow these injuries happen
Most injuries occur when you are caught or entangled in running powered equipment during normal operation, accounting for 74% of incidents. This happens frequently when you attempt to clear debris or troubleshoot jams while the machine is still powered. Other incidents involve being compressed between running equipment and other objects or being struck by equipment during maintenance, cleaning, or testing.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caught, entangled in running powered equipment— normal operation | 28 |
| 2 | Compressed between running equipment and other object(s) | 3 |
| 3 | Struck by running powered equipment— during maintenance, cleaning, testing | 3 |
| 4 | Struck by falling object | 2 |
| 5 | Contact with non-running objects or equipment— unspecified | 1 |
| 6 | Struck against stationary object | 1 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing accounts for 37% of these severe injuries, as you frequently operate high-speed inserting and processing machinery in these facilities. Transportation and warehousing, along with administrative services, also see significant risks due to the constant use of automated sorting and office-based processing equipment that requires regular clearing and maintenance.
Real cases like yours
Many reported incidents follow a recurring pattern where you attempt to clear jams or repair components while equipment is still active or improperly locked out. These scenarios often involve your fingers being pulled into belts, sprockets, or pulleys during routine troubleshooting. 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 safety failures contributed to your injury.
| Year | State | Industry | Incident summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | TX | Manufacturing | "A maintenance employee was repairing a bent pusher on the inserting machine. The employee jogged the machine to view the pusher and his left hand was caught in the metal sprocket that drives the chain with the pusher, resulting in amputation of their left little finger at the first joint and the tip of the left middle finger." | |
| 2025 | TX | Manufacturing | "An employee was operating the inserter machine and was removing debris that was lodged at the divert rejection bin when his left index fingertip was caught by a belt and lacerated. The employee sustained amputation of the fingertip." | |
| 2024 | OH | Information | "An employee was installing an ATM and caught their finger between the metal bottom of the ATM and the concrete resulting in a fingertip amputation. " | |
| 2024 | MN | Transportation & Warehousing | "On September 9, 2024, an employee was operating the dual pass rough cull (DPRC) machine when their left index finger contacted the chain belt, resulting in amputation of the fingertip. " | |
| 2024 | WI | Manufacturing | "An employee was troubleshooting a drive belt on a mail processing machine. When the employee tried to cycle the machine by hand, it started up. The employee's left hand came into contact with the belt, which pulled the employee's fingers into the belt and pulley. The employee suffered an amputation to the left little fingertip (diagonally across the nail), as well as lacerations to three other fingers that required stitches." | |
| 2023 | TX | Manufacturing | "An employee was retrieving a tool from an envelope inserting machine. A belt pulled the employee's hand into the machine's gears, causing multiple finger amputations." | |
| 2023 | NJ | Administrative Services | "An employee was using a metal cleaning rod to clear a jam in a paper shredder. The shredder began to shred paper and the equipment grabbed the rod, pulling the rod and the employee's right index finger into the hole. The employee suffered a fingertip amputation." | |
| 2023 | MA | Construction | "On April 28, 2023, an employee was installing new wire upgrades to a self-checkout cash register. While pulling the electrical wires through a hole on the bottom of the register, they sustained a left middle fingertip amputation from the sharp metal on the cash register frame." | |
| 2022 | IL | Administrative Services | "On December 9, 2022, an employee was moving a change machine when it fell on them. The employee was hospitalized for a femur fracture." | |
| 2022 | IL | Manufacturing | "An employee was at a customer site to service a paper punch machine. The employee's left ring and little fingertips were in the die area when the machine cycled resulting in amputation of both fingertips." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.