Fall-protection categories top OSHA’s top-10 list of 2017 workplace safety citations

THE FEDERAL Occupational and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both units of the U.S. Department of Labor, together publish a boatload of statistics each year on the state of the American workplace.

A key role of Safety Solutions & Supply and its safety training instructional team is to help keep as many companies as possible — and as many worker accidents as possible — off one of the stats sheets. That would be OSHA’s annual list of the 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations.

The OSHA top 10 for fiscal year 2017 was released in preliminary form in early September 2017 and then finalized with updated violation numbers a few weeks later. Four of the top 10 categories are related to fall exposures. They include a new list category: Fall Protection – Training Requirements (OSHA Standard 1926.503).

Generally, the violation categories in the top 10 list don’t change from year to year, though the order might be different. That’s according to Patrick Kapust, the deputy director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs. Kapust, who has worked for OSHA since 1991, was a featured speaker during the 2017 National Safety Congress & Expo in late September in Indianapolis.

Below is OSHA’s top-10 list of safety violations for fiscal year 2017 (Oct. 1, 2016 through Sept. 30, 2017). Each line item includes the relevant OSHA safety standard and how the category ranked in the 2016 fiscal year (FY) top-10 listing.

OSHA’s FY2017 Top 10 Safety Citations:

1. Fall Protection, 1926.501, 6,887 violations (FY 2016 ranking = 1)

2. Hazard Communication, 1910.1200, 4,1652 violations (FY 2016 ranking = 2)

3. Scaffolding, 1926.451, 3,697 violations (Fiscal year 2016 ranking = 3)

4. Respiratory Protection, 1910.134, 3,381 violations (Fiscal year 2016 ranking = 4)

5. Lockout/Tagout, 1910.147, 3,131 violations (FY 2016 ranking = 5)

6. Ladders, 1926.1053, 2,567 violations (FY 2016 ranking = 7)

7. Powered Industrial Trucks, 1910.178, 2,162 violations (FY 2016 ranking = 6)

8. Machine Guarding, 1910.212, 2,109 violations (FY  2016 ranking = 8)

9. Fall Protection — Training Requirements, 1926.503, 1,724 violations (FY 2016 ranking = Not ranked)

10. Electrical Wiring Methods, 1910.305, 1,530 violations (FY 2016 ranking = 9)

Electrical — General Requirements was bumped from the FY 2017 top 10 list.

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