FACTS

1. Pinch points occur when a moving part of a machine or other equipment contacts or rubs against another part or surface. 
2. Pinch points are commonly found at a machine’s point of operation, or where the work is performed, and near gears, rollers, weights, doors, hinges, hand tools, and lifting equipment. 
3. Pinch points commonly impact fingers/hands, but can impact any area of the body. The injury resulting from a pinch point could be as minor as a blister or as severe as an amputation or death.
4. Employees in an industrial setting are at a high risk of these pervasive pinch point issues. They can occur with a variety of machines and devices, including power presses, conveyors, robotic machines, metal-forming machines, assembly machines and lines, printing presses.
5. Pinch points can lead to injuries with victims getting caught in conveyor belts, printing presses, powered rollers and doors, covers and hatches.

STATS

• Each year, workers suffer approximately 125,000 caught or crushed injuries that occur when body parts get caught between two objects or entangled with machinery. 
• Of the millions of disabling accidents that happen on the job, one third of them are hand injuries. Approximately 80% of these hand injuries are caused by pinch points.
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an estimated 110,000 workers suffer lost-time hand injuries each year in the United States. 70% of workers who suffered hand injuries weren’t wearing gloves. 
• More than 7 % of construction deaths were due to “caught-in/between” accidents — when a person is caught in or compressed by equipment or objects or struck by, caught in or crushed by a collapsing structure, piece of equipment or material. 
• About 10 % of hand injuries result from the improper use of hand tools, while 40 % are caused during the handling of materials.
• Five types of hand injuries are: lacerations (cuts), accounting for 63 % of the total; crush (13 %); avulsion (tearing of skin or soft tissue), accounting for 8 %; puncture (6 %); and fracture (5 %), according to the National Safety Council.