Certified Painting Co., Inc., of Alsip, IL, faces $225,000 in fines for 17 alleged violations — eight willful and nine serious.

That’s bad enough. But this is the 16th time the company has been inspected by OSHA since 1976. It’s been cited for more than 100 safety and health violations.

In the latest case, Certified has cited for failure to:

• have proper carbon monoxide monitoring devices
• provide and ensure workers were using personal protective equipment
• provide required hygiene facilities
• ensure workers conducted required hygiene practices after possible exposure to lead or other hazardous materials
• provide U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets and have a lifesaving skiff immediately available at locations where employees were working over or adjacent to water
• provide proper fall protection for employees working on scaffolding
• maintain a safety and health program
• provide a required training program before employee exposure to lead, and
• conduct regular inspections of the job site by a competent person.

You can read more about OSHA’s citations against Certified here.

Sure, OSHA has been more “business-friendly” in the last eight years. But it hasn’t been a paper tiger. New statistics on the agency’s citations and penalties for fiscal year 2008 show just the opposite. And with a new administration in January, OSHA is set to issue even more fines.

What’s tripping up companies when OSHA inspectors visit?

These are the top 10 most frequently cited standards in fiscal year 2008 (Oct. 2007 through Sept. 2008):

1. Scaffolding, general requirements, construction (29 CFR 1926.451) [related topic page]
2. Fall protection, construction (29 CFR 1926.501) [related topics page]
3. Hazard communication standard, general industry (29 CFR 1910.1200) [related topic page]
4. Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), general industry (29 CFR 1910.147) [related topic page]
5. Respiratory protection, general industry (29 CFR 1910.134) [related topic page]
6. Electrical, wiring methods, components and equipment, general industry (29 CFR 1910.305) [related topic page]
7. Powered industrial trucks, general industry (29 CFR 1910.178) [related topic page]
8. Ladders, construction (29 CFR 1926.1053) [related topic page]
9. Machines, general requirements, general industry (29 CFR 1910.212) [related topics page]
10. Electrical systems design, general requirements, general industry (29 CFR 1910.303) [related topic page]

OSHA assessed the highest penalties for these standards in fiscal year 2008 (October 2007 through September 2008):

1. Fall protection, construction (29 CFR 1926.501) [related topics page]
2. Scaffolding, general requirements, construction (29 CFR 1926.451) [related topic page]
3. Electrical, hazardous (classified) locations (29 CFR 1910.307) [related topic page]
4. Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), general industry (29 CFR 1910.147) [related topic page]
5. Excavations, requirements for protective systems, construction (29 CFR 1926.652) [related topics page]
6. Machines, general requirements, general industry (29 CFR 1910.212) [related topics page]
7. General duty clause (Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act)
8. Powered industrial trucks, general industry (29 CFR 1910.178) [related topic page]
9. Walking-working surfaces, general requirements (29 CFR 1910.22) [related topic page]
10. Process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals (29 CFR 1910.119) [related topic page]

This information is for all types of industries combined in states where federal OSHA conducts safety inspections. You can search for most frequently cited violations in your industry or a state that has its own OSHA program here.

Many in the Top 10 are all-too common causes of workplace fatalities: falls, accidents involving forklifts and electrocutions.

OSHA released its revised list for the first nine months of the 2008 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008) at the National Safety Council annual congress.

1. Scaffolding — Construction (1926.451), 7,027 violations
2. Hazard Communication (1910.1200), 4,973 violations
3. Fall Protection — Construction (1926.501), 4,797 violations
4. Respiratory Protection (1910.134), 3,062 violations
5. Lockout/Tagout (1910.147), 2,937 violations
6. Electrical — Wiring (1910.305), 2,524 violations
7. Powered Industrial Trucks (forklifts) (1910.178), 2,437 violations
8. Machine Guarding — General requirements (1910.212) 2,138 violations
9. Ladders in construction (1926.1053) 2,135 violations
10. Electrical — General requirements (1910.303), 2,016 violations.

To find the most common violations in your industry, click here.