FACTS

1. Working at a conveyor or belt may include manual material handling, including repetitive motions, reaching, and lifting that may lead to musculoskeletal injuries, especially when movements are done quickly and for a long period of time.
2. Common employee injuries incurred working with conveyors include arm and hand amputations, finger lacerations, burns, scrapes and broken bones.
3. Every conveyor belt injury in a warehouse is costly, affecting worker morale, availability of trained labor, lost production, and increased overhead due to insurance premiums, along with mountains of paperwork, lawsuits and possible fines from government regulatory agencies.
4. While conveyor belts are integral facets of the distribution process and most warehouses could not function without them, they also pose the potential to cause serious injuries and sometimes even fatalities. 

STATS

• The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that over 40 workplace fatalities a year are the result of conveyor accidents, along with 9,000 injuries.
• Conveyor belt accidents lead to roughly 9,000 injuries per year, along with dozens of fatalities, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics reports over fifty workplace fatalities a year where conveyors are the primary source of injury. Workplace injuries account for nearly 25% of all workers’ compensation claims and up to 35% of all associated costs. 
• According to the data provided by related to the U.S., more than 40% of the fatalities and the accidents attributable  to the  conveyor represent 10%  of  all  fatalities  occurred  in the  last decade  in the mining  industry.
• 15% of the accidents were related to a jammed belt.
• 26% of accidents occurred during maintenance intervention. 
• While in motion, conveyor systems have inherent and obvious dangers. Belts continuously move at speeds up to 600 feet per minute or 10 feet per second.