How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 156 severe cases involving vehicle and machine exterior parts over the last decade. These incidents frequently result in amputations, which account for 45 percent of all reported injuries in this category.
The severity of these injuries is often extreme, with fingers being the most commonly affected body part in 51 percent of incidents. You may suffer permanent loss of function or require complex reconstructive surgery after being caught in doors or falling from vehicle steps.
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Check My BenefitsHow these injuries happen
Injuries involving exterior parts often occur during your routine entry or exit from vehicles and machinery. You are frequently struck by falling or swinging objects, such as heavy doors, or become caught between running equipment and stationary surfaces.
| Cause | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Struck by falling object | 40 |
| 2 | Struck by suspended or swinging object | 40 |
| 3 | Other fall to lower level | 18 |
| 4 | Compressed between running equipment and other object(s) | 8 |
| 5 | Caught or wedged between objects— nonrunning | 8 |
| 6 | Fall on same level | 5 |
| 7 | Struck by propelled object or substance | 5 |
| 8 | Struck by rolling powered vehicle or machinery | 4 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing leads with 31 percent of all severe cases, as you interact with heavy machinery and complex equipment daily. Wholesale trade and transportation follow, where the constant movement of trucks and trailers creates frequent opportunities for you to be struck by or caught in exterior components.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports include you suffering fingertip amputations when doors slam shut or sustaining fractures after falling from slick truck steps. These incidents often stem from equipment design flaws or a lack of clear safety protocols during vehicle operation. 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 | VA | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was getting out of a postal vehicle when the door shut on his right ring finger, severing his fingertip. The employee's right ring fingertip was amputated." | |
| 2025 | GA | Wholesale Trade | "On July 25, 2025, an employee was exiting his truck when he fell approximately 2 feet from the truck step to the asphalt surface below. The employee's left hip was fractured." | |
| 2025 | WI | Administrative Services | "An employee was opening a door to a semi trailer at the facility and his hand was caught between the door and another parked semi. The employee's left index finger was fractured and thumb muscles were injured. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery. " | |
| 2025 | OK | Agriculture | "An employee was making rounds to the barns to take care of cattle. The employee was stepping out of a van and the sliding door closed on their little finger. The employee's fingertip was amputated." | |
| 2025 | MO | Manufacturing | "An employee was reaching for a label and stepped onto a metal piece along rollers and slipped. His leg went down into a gap between the machines and contacted the metal in the gap between the rollers. The employee was hospitalized with the avulsion of skin on his left shin between the ankle and knee, as well as injuries to muscle and ligament." | |
| 2025 | FL | Arts & Entertainment | "An employee was walking behind a trailer with the ramp in the up position. The ramp was bumped, causing it to fall onto the back of their ankle. The employee was hospitalized with a torn tendon." | |
| 2025 | PA | Construction | "An employee was unhooking the ramps to an equipment trailer in preparation for unloading equipment. The employee engaged the pneumatic system to lower the ramp. He walked around the back of the trailer and the ramp fell down and pinned him to the ground. The employee sustained fractures to his T5 and T7 to T11 vertebrae, three fractured ribs on the left side, a punctured lung, and severe bruising of his left side and hip. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | TX | Wholesale Trade | "An employee had just finished a delivery of food products at a customer location. While walking down the side ramp of a trailer, the employee slipped and fell, sustaining a fractured right elbow." | |
| 2025 | PA | Arts & Entertainment | "An employee was loading snow guns and jacks onto a dump-style truck. The truck was parked on an incline and the door closed on the employee. The employee was hospitalized for contusions and a lacerated liver." | |
| 2025 | TX | Utilities | "An employee was operating a dump truck when the trailer door swung and pinched the employee's right middle fingertip underneath the nailbed, resulting in an amputation." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.