Here Come the Lists - OSHA's Most Common Safety Violations for 2018
Recently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its list of the Top 10 safety violations for the 2018 fiscal year. This list is created on an annual basis by OSHA and published on the OSHA website. The list takes into account violations occurring between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018.
OSHA’s Deputy Director of the Directorate of Enforcement Programs Patrick Kapust has recommended that employers use the top 10 list to strengthen their company safety programs. The list can help employers identify hazards that may exist within the workplace.
The greatest amount of violations among OSHA’s general requirements occurred in the area of fall protection, which saw 7,720 violations. Interestingly enough, fall-related violations occupied four of the fiscal year’s top 10.
Number two on the list was attributed to hazard communication violations with 4,552 violations cited.
The third most commonly reported violation was scaffold-related, with 3,336 violations cited.
The list below represents the remaining seven (of the Top 10) violations cited throughout 2018:
4. Respiratory Protection: 3,118 violations
5. Lockout/Tagout: 2,944 violations
6. Ladders: 2,812 violations
7. Powered Industrial Trucks: 2,294 violations
8. Fall Protection-Training Requirements: 1,982 violations
9. Machine Guarding: 1,972 violations
10. Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment-Eye and Face Protection: 1,536 violations
The OSHA website https://www.osha.gov/Top_Ten_Standards.html outlines the 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards and also provides links to each specific standard. The page further provides links to OSHA Safety and Health Topics page for each violation-related topic.
Employers should be familiar with the OSHA standards and consider whether it is applicable to their business. They should also know if their business-related practices is could pose safety threats which could violate a particular standard.
Penalties for OSHA violations can be significant (adding to the distress caused by injury), so understanding risks plus OSHA standards, and then implementing programs to reduce accidents is critical for both employers and their employees.