The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

recently issued an updated National Emphasis Program on Amputations. The National Emphasis

Program was created in 2006 to help protect employees in industries with high numbers and rates

of amputations. In this updated version, OSHA has used more current enforcement data and

Bureau of Labor Statistics injury data to assist in site selection targeting. This is the same

methodology previously used by OSHA. The statistics have shown more than 2,000 workers

suffered amputations in 2013 in the manufacturing industry. This created an amputation rate of

1.7 per 10,000 employees in the manufacturing industry, which is more than twice the average of

all private industry (0.7 per 10,000 employees).

“Workers injured from unguarded machinery and equipment can suffer permanent disability or

lose their lives,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David

Michaels. “This directive will help ensure that employers identify and eliminate serious

workplace hazards and provide safe workplaces for all workers.”

So if you own a company in the manufacturing industry, it is important to ensure your machine

guarding and lockout tagout policies and procedures are being followed. And if you have any

concerns about the efficacy of your policies and procedures, it is important to properly update

them, either in-house or with the assistance of a qualified third party occupational safety and

health auditing firm.

If you have any questions about how this updated program impacts your company or if you have

any questions about your current occupational safety and health policies and procedures, please

contact us. If you have anything to add about the updated National Emphasis Program on

Amputations, please leave a comment.