Research·
What causes workplace amputations: caught in running machinery
27,770 of 105,313 federal OSHA severe-injury reports (26%) are amputations, and workers caught in running equipment or machinery are the single largest cause.
Of the 105,313 severe injuries employers reported to federal OSHA between January 2015 and October 2025, 27,770 — more than one in four — were amputations. The single largest cause is a worker caught in running equipment or machinery.
The events behind the amputations
OSHA's event classification for the amputation reports. Each links to the underlying records.
| Event | Amputations |
|---|---|
| Caught in running machinery — regular operation | 4,879 |
| Caught in running machinery — maintenance / cleaning | 3,814 |
| Compressed or pinched by shifting objects or equipment | 3,762 |
| Struck against a moving machine part | 1,822 |
| Caught in or compressed by equipment, unspecified | 1,575 |
| Struck by running powered equipment during maintenance | 1,153 |
| Slipping / swinging object held by the worker | 984 |
| Caught or entangled in running equipment — normal operation | 946 |
It is a machine-guarding and lockout story
Group the “caught in running machinery” events together — regular operation, maintenance, entanglement, and the unspecified cases — and they account for more than 11,000 amputations, far more than any other mechanism. The split inside that group is the important part. The 3,814 amputations during maintenance or cleaning are precisely the injuries lockout/tagout — the control of hazardous energy (1910.147) exists to prevent: a machine that should have been de-energized before a worker reached in. The regular-operation amputations point instead to guarding failures under machine guarding (1910.212) and power-transmission apparatus (1910.219).
Where it happens
Amputations concentrate in manufacturing — see the sector and company breakdowns in manufacturing amputations and food manufacturing amputations, and the year-over-year trend. The same machine hazards that take fingers and hands also appear among the leading causes of workplace fatalities and the most-cited OSHA standards. Browse the underlying amputation records.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor / OSHA Severe Injury Reports (employer-reported hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye), federal-jurisdiction establishments, 2015–2025, as indexed by Safety Incidents. The ~22 states running their own OSHA-approved plans report severe injuries separately and are not included. Event labels are OSHA's published classification. Figures are computed directly from OSHA's records.