How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 830 severe incidents involving variable restraint containers over the last decade. Fractures are the most common injury type, accounting for 41 percent of all cases, often resulting from the weight of shifting or falling stacks.
These injuries are frequently life-altering, with fingers being the most commonly affected body part. The force involved in these accidents often leads to severe trauma, including amputations and internal injuries that require extensive surgical intervention and long-term recovery.
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Check My BenefitsHow these injuries happen
The primary danger stems from containers falling or shifting during transport and storage. Most injuries occur when stacks of containers collapse, striking you or pinning you against other equipment. These incidents often result from improper stacking, failed restraint mechanisms, or inadequate training on how to safely move heavy, irregular loads.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Struck by falling object | 432 |
| 2 | Compressed between running equipment and other object(s) | 122 |
| 3 | Struck by rolling, sliding, or shifting objects—non-running | 50 |
| 4 | Other fall to lower level | 42 |
| 5 | Overexertion while materials moving by hand | 37 |
| 6 | Struck by propelled, falling, or suspended object— unspecified | 23 |
| 7 | Struck by suspended or swinging object | 15 |
| 8 | Struck by propelled object or substance | 14 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing accounts for 49 percent of all reported incidents, as high-volume production environments rely heavily on the constant movement of heavy containers. Transportation and warehousing follow, where the pressure to load and unload irregular packages quickly often leads to the bypass of critical safety protocols and securement procedures.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports involve you being struck by falling stacks or having limbs crushed during manual handling. Whether it is a stack of medical waste containers collapsing or steel tubing sliding off a forklift, the recurring theme is a failure to properly secure the load before movement. 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 | MO | Manufacturing | "An employee was moving a stack of I-beams using a 12.5-ton overhead crane. The chains were not yet secured around the I-beams when the crane began lifting. The stack of beams fell onto the employee and pinned them against another stack of I-beams. The employee was hospitalized with a broken left leg, broken left ankle, and dislocated right shoulder. The employee's injuries required surgery." | |
| 2025 | MA | Manufacturing | "An employee was manually lifting a film roll when their right middle fingertip was pinched between the roll and a metal beam, resulting in a fingertip amputation." | |
| 2025 | GA | Wholesale Trade | "A bundle of steel tubing, weighing about 2,800 pounds, had slid off the forks of a forklift and fallen to the ground. An employee was helping the forklift operator pick up the tubing using straps that were part of the steel pieces. The bundle fell onto his left foot, crushing it and causing partial amputations to toes. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | OH | Administrative Services | "On July 24, 2025, an employee was unloading stacks of empty, 96-gallon medical waste containers. A stack of 10 containers, which weighed approximately 460 pounds, fell on him. The employee was hospitalized with multiple head, face, and neck injuries and a back injury requiring surgery." | |
| 2025 | OH | Transportation & Warehousing | "On July 23, 2025, an employee was loading irregular packages into a truck. A pole that was being shipped fell from from an upright position and struck the employee on the head, resulting in a concussion." | |
| 2025 | OK | Information | "An employee was removing 2,500-foot reels of 1 cable-in-conduit (CIC) weighing ~1,022 lbs. from the back of an enclosed delivery truck. The employee was manually rolling a reel off the truck when another reel shifted and rolled forward, crushing his right hand between the two reels. The employee's right ring finger was partially amputated without loss of bone." | |
| 2025 | AR | Manufacturing | "On July 21, 2025, at 9:52 a.m., an employee was moving rolls of film from a cart onto a stand when the roll slid to one side and fell through the stand's frame. The core of the roll struck their left hand, crushing their ring finger against the stand and resulting in fractures and a fingertip amputation that required hospitalization." | |
| 2025 | CO | Manufacturing | "An employee was working to move a paper roller carriage, which is a 3 by 3-foot paper roll weighing approximately 500 pounds. The employee's hands were positioned in the area where the spool meets the cradle. As the employee moved the carriage across a floor track, the paper roll was dislodged and caught the employee's finger, severing it. The employee's right middle fingertip was partially amputated." | |
| 2025 | FL | Retail Trade | "An employee was stocking cement boards when a stack of cement boards fell over and crushed them. The employee sustained fractures to their clavicle and ribs, and a punctured lung." | |
| 2025 | NC | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee reached into a hamper, picked up a package, and was hospitalized with a back injury that caused pain in his lower extremities." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.