How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 1,000 severe incidents involving packaging, bottling, and wrapping machinery over the last decade. These events most frequently result in amputations, which account for 81% of all reported cases. Such injuries are life-altering and often require extensive surgical intervention and long-term rehabilitation.
The severity of these accidents is underscored by the fact that 86% of all injuries involve your fingers. When machinery is not properly guarded or when you are forced to clear jams while equipment is live, the risk of permanent tissue loss or bone damage increases significantly.
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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 operations, which accounts for 75% of all reported incidents. These accidents often happen when a machine jams and you attempt to clear the obstruction without the equipment being fully DE-energized. Other common scenarios involve being struck by machinery during cleaning or maintenance cycles, or becoming compressed between moving parts and fixed objects.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caught, entangled in running powered equipment— normal operation | 739 |
| 2 | Struck by running powered equipment— during maintenance, cleaning, testing | 110 |
| 3 | Struck by running powered equipment— unspecified | 64 |
| 4 | Compressed between running equipment and other object(s) | 21 |
| 5 | Contact with hot objects or substances | 15 |
| 6 | Struck by rolling, sliding, or shifting objects—non-running | 12 |
| 7 | Struck by falling object | 7 |
| 8 | Struck against stationary object | 5 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing accounts for 81% of all packaging machinery injuries, as high-speed production lines require constant interaction with automated systems. Wholesale trade and administrative services also see significant incident rates, often due to the use of industrial shrink-wrap and sealing equipment in distribution centers where safety protocols may be less rigorous than in primary manufacturing facilities.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports include you attempting to clear jams in packaging machines or aligning plates while equipment is active, leading to immediate entanglement. Other recurring themes involve contact with heating elements during the wrapping process or your fingers slipping into gaps between motor housings and framework. If any of these scenarios sound like what happened to you, an attorney can help you review the specific circumstances of your injury.
| Year | State | Industry | Incident summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | TX | Wholesale Trade | "An employee was removing a jam in a straw packaging machine. The machine pulled in her hand, and the blades lacerated her left middle finger and amputated the fingertip. The machine was guarded at the time of the incident." | |
| 2025 | TX | Manufacturing | "An employee was filling a blister feed on a machine and aligning a plate when her left middle finger got caught between the machine and the plate. The machine started and the blister feed came up and crushed her finger, resulting in hospitalization and a surgical fingertip amputation." | |
| 2025 | AR | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was retrieving a can from an ammunition can sealer. The machine severely lacerated his right thumb, which required hospitalization and surgery." | |
| 2025 | TX | Manufacturing | "A temporary employee was operating a shrink wrap heating machine. When the machine cycled, the heating element came into contact with the employee's left hand, resulting in third-degree burns. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | KS | Manufacturing | "An employee was operating a donut wrapper machine. There was a small gap between the wrapper framework, fixed factory guard, and motor housing. His fingers went into the gap and came into contact with the chain and gear assembly. The employee's fingertip was partially amputated without bone loss." | |
| 2025 | NY | Manufacturing | "On July 3, 2025, an employee was in the enclosure on the bagging machine to troubleshoot the machine. Their left index finger got caught in a pulley near the sealer and was amputated." | |
| 2025 | TX | Manufacturing | "An employee was troubleshooting a piece of packaging equipment when his finger was broken." | |
| 2025 | IL | Manufacturing | "On June 30, 2025, an employee was working in a bagger machine. They went to pull plastic from the exit of the machine and sustained partial amputations to their left middle and ring fingers. " | |
| 2025 | KS | Manufacturing | "An employee was working to clear plastic film from a packaging machine when she came in contact with a chain, resulting in an amputation to her middle fingertip." | |
| 2025 | NJ | Administrative Services | "A temporary employee was operating a bagging machine when they dropped a bag. They went to grab the bag and the machine partially amputated a finger." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.