How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 285 severe incidents involving textile and apparel machinery over the last decade. Amputations and avulsions account for 67% of all reported cases. These injuries are life-altering and require extensive medical intervention.
The severity of these accidents is reflected in the body parts most often affected, with fingers accounting for 65% of all reported injuries. When machinery is not properly guarded, you face a high risk of permanent loss of function, which often requires long-term rehabilitation and impacts your ability to return to your previous role.
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Check My BenefitsHow these injuries happen
Entanglement in running powered equipment during normal operation accounts for 75% of all reported incidents. You are frequently injured when you reach into machinery to adjust material, clear jams, or troubleshoot mechanical issues while the equipment is active. These accidents often occur because machines lack adequate sensors or physical barriers to prevent contact with moving parts.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caught, entangled in running powered equipment— normal operation | 212 |
| 2 | Struck by running powered equipment— unspecified | 22 |
| 3 | Struck by rolling, sliding, or shifting objects—non-running | 16 |
| 4 | Struck by running powered equipment— during maintenance, cleaning, testing | 13 |
| 5 | Compressed between running equipment and other object(s) | 6 |
| 6 | Other fall to lower level | 4 |
| 7 | Struck by falling object | 2 |
| 8 | Vehicle or machinery fire | 2 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing accounts for 62% of all textile machinery injuries, followed by agriculture at 30%. In manufacturing, high-speed production cycles and the constant need to feed materials into presses or rollers create constant exposure to nip points. Agricultural operations often involve similar machinery for processing raw materials, where the lack of standardized safety protocols increases your risk of entanglement.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these incidents involve you performing routine tasks like adjusting material, clearing jams, or training others when a machine cycles unexpectedly. Many reports highlight failures in machine guarding or the absence of lockout-tagout procedures during maintenance. 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 | IL | Manufacturing | "The injured employee was training another employee on a sole stamping machine that cuts shoe sole inserts. During the training, the injured employee (trainer) was adjusting the material and die when the machine cycled and their right middle fingertip was amputated. " | |
| 2025 | NY | Manufacturing | "An employee was operating a leatherworking press. When the press opened, leather was stuck to the plate. The employee was retrieving the leather when the press came back down, causing fingertip amputations to his right index, middle, and ring fingers." | |
| 2025 | PA | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was troubleshooting the superstack machine. Their right index finger became caught between the strap and anchor of the machine when the strap was tensioned, resulting in a fingertip amputation." | |
| 2025 | FL | Manufacturing | "On April 14, 2025, an employee was fixing a belt on a mattress tape machine. The belt had folded over; as he was unfolding it, it caught his right ring finger and pulled it into a roller. He suffered a partial amputation through the finger bone." | |
| 2025 | RI | Manufacturing | "An employee was beginning to wind fabric onto a wooden shell. His left arm was caught between the fabric and a nip point of the machine, and then pulled into the machine. He was hospitalized with bruising, contusions, and abrasions to his arm, head, and ribs. The machine was not guarded at the time." | |
| 2025 | AL | Manufacturing | "An employee was winding a bobbin on a bobbin-winding machine when the string became entangled. While the employee was untangling it with scissors, the string caught her finger, wrapped around it tightly, and amputated it at the first joint. The machine was guarded at the time." | |
| 2025 | IL | Manufacturing | "An employee was fixing bunched-up cloth in a machine. A doffing bar rose, and his hand was pinched and broken between a roller and a fixed guard. The machine was guarded at the time." | |
| 2025 | CA | Agriculture | "An employee had been using an air gun to blow cotton off the moving parts inside of the length/strength cabinet. The employee went to grab some cotton that was still stuck on the length/strength breaker bracket (above the rear jaw cylinder) when their left fourth finger became pinched. The employee sustained an amputation through the distal phalanx." | |
| 2025 | GA | Manufacturing | "An employee was making a fiber. He used his right hand to smooth the ends of polypropylene yarn and ensure they wrapped evenly onto a beam, spinning at 7 RPM. Some yarn got wrapped around his right middle finger and lacerated the finger and removed the nail, resulting in a distal amputation." | |
| 2025 | TX | Agriculture | "An employee was removing cotton build-up from a roller gin when their hand was pulled into the rollers. The employee sustained soft tissue damage to their right hand and forearm." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.