OSHA Renews its National Emphasis Program on Amputations in the Manufacturing Industry

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration renewed its National Emphasis Program on Amputations in Manufacturing Industries (NEP) on June 27, 2025, superseding the prior version. This new NEP will be in place for five years and provides updated guidance for OSHA’s National, Regional, and Area Offices, as well as its On-Site Consultation Programs and State Plans.¹

The focus of the NEP continues to be the prevention of amputations. Specifically, it seeks to identify and reduce or eliminate hazards from machinery or equipment in manufacturing and industrial workplaces that could cause amputations. 

Specific inspection criteria are set forth in the NEP including an explanation of the scope of inspections initiated under this NEP, parameters for an opening conference, and walkaround considerations for the Compliance Safety and Health Officer (CSHO), as well as training for CSHOs conducting inspections under the NEP.

The renewed NEP allows any establishment that had an inspection initiated under the NEP in the prior 24 months and no reported amputations in that period to be removed from the programmed inspection list. 

Additional changes from the prior NEP include: 

• Revisions to the North American Industry Code System (NAICS) establishment codes included in the NEP;²
• Revisions to the methodology used to target specific industries;³
• Permitting the expansion of unprogrammed inspections to an Amputations NEP inspection only if the NAICS code is included in Appendix B of the updated NEP;
• Specific criteria for inspection scheduling;
• Exempting participating Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) sites from OSHA’s programmed inspection list of targeted sites during the duration of their approved participation in the VPP;
• Exempting from inspections under the NEP establishments with 10 or fewer employees and a primary NAICS code contained on the “Low-Hazard Industry Table” of the Appropriations Act Directive; and
• Revising the OSHA Information Systems (OIS) coding instructions in Section VII for all OSHA amputation inspections.

In issuing this NEP, OSHA is making clear that many new types of industries are being folded into the mix of amputation-related inspections. These industries include, for example, soybean and other oilseed processing, beet sugar manufacturing, cane sugar manufacturing, frozen specialty food manufacturing, fruit and vegetable canning, spice and extract manufacturing, soft drink manufacturing, bottled water manufacturing, hardwood veneer and plywood manufacturing, cut stone and stone product manufacturing, farm machinery and equipment manufacturing, iron foundries, steel foundries (except investment), aluminum foundries, upholstered household furniture manufacturing, and automobile manufacturing. 

Any manufacturing employer covered by the NEP should use OSHA’s announcement to revisit its health and safety programs and procedures. This review should also encompass ensuring that all relevant machine guarding is in place, lockout-tagout procedures are updated, and employees are sufficiently trained on preventing amputations. Employers with questions or concerns about the NEP or their health and safety programs should contact knowledgeable workplace safety counsel.