At this year’s National Safety Council (NSC) Congress & Expo in Indianapolis, OSHA’s Deputy Director of Enforcement Programs announced its preliminary list of the top ten citations issued for fiscal year 2017. OSHA’s top 10 violations for 2017 are as follows:
- Fall Protection in Construction (29 CFR 1926.501) 6,072 violations
Frequently violated requirements include unprotected edges and open sides in residential construction and failure to provide fall protection on low-slope roofs. - Hazard Communication (29 CFR 1910.1200) 4,176 violations
Failure to have a written hazard communication program was the most frequently violated requirement, followed by failing to provide employee access to safety data sheets. - Scaffolding (29 CFR 1926.451) 3,288 violations
Frequent violations include improper access to surfaces and lack of guardrails. - Respiratory Protection (29 CFR 1910.134) 3,097 violations
Failure to establish a written respiratory protection program topped these violations, followed by failure to provide medical evaluations. - Lockout/Tagout (29 CFR 1910.147) 2,877 violations
Frequent violations were inadequate worker training and failure to conduct periodic inspections. - Ladders in Construction (29 CFR 1926.1053) 2,241 violations
Frequent violations include improper use of ladders, damaged ladders, and using the top step. - Powered Industrial Trucks (29 CFR 1910.178) 2,162 violations
Violations included inadequate worker training and refresher training. - Machine Guarding (29 CFR 1910.212) 1,933 violations
Exposure to/failure to guard points of operation topped these violations. - Fall Protection—Training Requirements (29 CFR 1926.503) 1,523 violations
The most frequent violations include failure to train workers in identifying fall hazards and proper use of fall protection equipment. - Electrical—Wiring Methods (29 CFR 1910.305) 1,405 violations
Violations of this standard included temporary writing in lieu of permanent wiring and were found in most general industry sectors, including food and beverage, retail, and manufacturing.
While OSHA’s top ten rankings vary little from year to year (2017’s top five violations remained the same), there is one new addition this year: Fall Protection – Training Requirements in the number 9 slot. The final report on the Top 10 violations for 2017 will be published in the December. Roughly 13,000 of these violations were in the construction industry, which is disproportionate to the employment in that industry compared with all others. This is likely reflective of the high turnover of employees and the number of employers who engage in construction work on an intermittent basis. The number of training and communication citations show the importance of paying attention to the administrative and paperwork regulations, and not just to the health and safety rules.