Undefeated Texas Work Injury Lawyers
Few work-related injuries are as devastating as an amputation.
Whether the direct result of a plant accident or explosion or made medically necessary because of severe trauma, workers who lose a limb are too often left to endure permanent disability, years of treatment and therapy, severe psychological distress, and the immense financial strain of mounting medical bills coupled with an inability to return to work.
Unfortunately, workplace amputations are more common than many assume. In fact, these catastrophic injuries are on the rise across the nation, including Texas, where the rate of job-related limb loss outpaces every other state in the country, and by a wide margin.
How Common Are Workplace Amputations?
According to a recent analysis of federal data conducted by Public Health Watch, more than 26,000 American workers suffered an amputation on the job during the 10-year period beginning in 2015. After dropping off during the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of such injuries has been rising consistently, increasing by more than 6 percent from 2021 to 2024.
Texas workers suffered more than 3,900 amputations during the study period, the highest number of any state and more than 1.6 times higher than Ohio, which ranked second.
More than half of all workplace amputations reported nationwide from 2015 through 2024 involved bone loss, from fingers and toes to arms, legs, hands, and, in some cases, multiple limbs.
The remainder were largely fingertip amputations. While such injuries may seem minor, they actually require hospitalization at least 20 percent of the time and often cause permanent nerve damage.
Industries With the Highest Rates of Amputation
Amputations can occur in just about any workplace, but in Texas and across the nation, they are heavily concentrated in industries where workers routinely operate heavy machinery, handle high-pressure equipment, or work in close proximity to dangerous moving parts.
Manufacturing
More than half of all amputations nationally — roughly 14,500 reported over the ten-year period covered by the Public Health Watch study — occurred in manufacturing, which encompasses more than 300 subsectors.
The most dangerous, animal slaughtering and processing, accounted for 946 amputations over that decade. More than 425 were reported among workers in the poultry processing sector alone, while 274 were reported in connection with the processing of other animal carcasses. Animal slaughtering, excluding poultry, accounted for 215 amputations.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced two proposed rules that would increase line speeds at poultry and hog processing plants — a move the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future warned would lead to even hire injury rates among this workforce.
Construction
Construction was the second most dangerous industry nationally, accounting for more than 2,700 amputations — about one in ten of all reported cases over the decade. According to federal data, these injuries tend to occur when construction workers operate unguarded or inadequately safeguarded equipment — power presses, conveyors, shears, grinders, and hand tools — and during materials-handling activities involving forklifts. However, many also suffer amputations during routine maintenance tasks, such as setting up, adjusting, cleaning, lubricating, and clearing jams on machinery that has not been properly de-energized.
Oil and Gas
Oilfield and offshore energy workers also face a high risk of limb loss on the job. In fact, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 417 job-related amputations were reported among well service contract workers from 2015 through 2022, the highest of any subsector. Loss of the hands, arms, and fingers accounted for 43 percent of all severe injuries reported among workers in the industry overall.
Utilities
According to the Public Health Watch analysis, amputations among utility workers jumped from 17 in 2023 to 28 in 2024, an increase of nearly 65 percent in a single year. Over the past decade, utility workers have lost limbs to forklifts, had fingers bitten off by dogs while working on lines, and in two separate cases lost multiple limbs after electrocution.
Why are Workplace Amputations Surging?
It’s unlikely that the current stats on workplace amputations fully capture the true scope of the problem. In fact, a 2018 audit by the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General found that companies fail to report more than half of severe workplace injuries suffered by their employees, including amputations.
According to Debbie Berkowitz, a fellow at the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University and a former senior OSHA official, underreporting is a particular problem in meatpacking, where the workforce is disproportionately made up of undocumented immigrants.
“They may be terrified, even if they have an amputation,” she told Public Health Watch. “They may say to the company … ‘You don’t need to take care of me. I’m going to go do this on my own. You don’t have to report it.'”
Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s lax attitude toward workplace safety could help drive the rate of job-related amputations even higher in the coming years. Among other things, the administration has moved to eliminate a rule requiring adequate lighting at construction sites and to eliminate color-coded hazard warnings on machinery such as unguarded saws. At the same time, OSHA lost an estimated 20 percent of its inspection staff last year.
“Final numbers for 2025 are not yet out,” Jordan Barab, former deputy assistant secretary of labor for OSHA in the Obama administration, told Public Health Watch, “but we’ve seen indications that there were fewer inspections, overall penalties were lower and there were fewer willful violations cited.”
In a move unlikely to encourage many employers to improve workplace safety, the Labor Department also changed its policies to allow companies with 25 or fewer employees to receive automatic 70 percent penalty reductions for workplace safety violations. Companies without a history of violations or those that took immediate steps to remedy an unsafe situation are also eligible for reductions.
The Cost of Job-Related Limb Loss
Approximately one-third of workers who lose a limb on the job are forever robbed of their ability to earn a living, while many of those who can work must change jobs entirely, often to lower-paying occupations.
Yet, according to the National Safety Council, the average workers’ compensation payout for an amputation is only about $125,000 — less than a quarter of the projected lifetime cost of $509,275.
In Texas, benefits may not even be available to an injured worker, as it’s the only state in the nation that allows private employers to opt out of the workers’ comp system.
Beyond the physical injury itself, anxiety, depression, and PTSD are also common among amputees. According to another decade-long study, the inability to work is more closely tied to long-term psychological issues than to the physical limitations associated with a workplace amputation.
Protect Your Legal Rights After a Workplace Amputation
Because a workplace amputation has such far-reaching implications for victims and their families, it’s especially critical to take immediate steps to safeguard both your legal rights and your future if you or a loved one loses a limb on the job. Otherwise, you may give the company and its insurer an opportunity to raise doubts about your credibility, blame you for your injuries, and lose or destroy critical evidence proving they were at fault.
- Get Medical Attention Immediately. Immediately heading to the ER or urgent care ensures you’ll get the treatment you need, and it also creates a clear medical record tying your amputation directly to your workplace.
- Report the Injury in Writing. Texas law requires written notice to your employer within 30 days of a workplace injury, though same-day written notice by text or email is best. However, be cautious and only provide a straightforward account of the accident, where it happened, and what you were doing at the time. This is not the time for speculation.
- Document the Scene If You Can. Take photos or video of the work area, the equipment involved, and your visible injuries. Get the names and contact information of any coworkers who witnessed what happened. If you’re physically unable, ask a trusted co-worker to do so on your behalf.
- Preserve Physical Evidence. Keep your clothing, gloves, hard hat, boots, and any damaged tools or equipment in your possession. Store them safely, unwashed and unaltered, until you can give them to your attorney.
- Don’t Provide a Recorded Statement or Sign Anything: Your employer’s insurance adjuster isn’t on your side; their job is to save the company money, no matter what that means for you and your family. You are not obligated to give a recorded statement, sign anything, or accept a settlement offer, and it is in your best interest not to do so without first speaking with a lawyer.
- Don’t Assume Workers’ Compensation Will Be Enough. Even when workers’ comp is available, it covers only a portion of lost wages for a limited time and provides nothing for pain and suffering, disfigurement, or the long-term impact of losing a limb on your life and livelihood.
- Don’t Assume You Can’t File a Lawsuit. If your employer opted out of the workers’ comp system, Texas allows you to file a negligence lawsuit to recover compensation for amputations and other workplace injuries. Depending on the circumstances, there may also be third-party contractors, equipment manufacturers, or other companies whose negligence contributed to your injuries.
- Keep Through Records. Keep receipts of medical co-pays, prescriptions, and other out-of-pocket expenses related to your injuries, as well as missed work and lost wages. Write down everything you remember while it is still fresh, and keep a journal detailing how the loss of your limb is impacting your quality of life.
- Limit What You Say About the Accident and Your Injuries. Anything you say — to coworkers, on social media, or anywhere else — can be taken out of context and used to undermine your claim. Insurance companies have even been known to hire private investigators to surveil injured workers in public. Only discuss the accident with your attorney and your spouse.
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