The most cited OSHA violations of 2016 cover a wide range of workplace safety topics, from falls to chemicals, from PPE to forklifts.
Patrick Kapust, Deputy Director of Enforcement Programs for OSHA, revealed the list at the National Safety Council’s 2016 congress in Anaheim, CA. These numbers are preliminary. The totals will become final sometime in November.
- Fall protection (1926.501, 6,929 violations): As the economy improves, the number of fall protection violations rises with an increase in construction.
- Hazard communication (1910.1200, 5,677 violations): The number of violations in this category continues to increase. Although the content and style of safety data sheets changed in OSHA’s Hazard Communication standard in recent years, the requirements to keep that information is largely the same.
- Scaffolding (1926.451, 3,906 violations): One place where companies run afoul of this standard: improper assembly and maintenance of scaffolding.
- Respiratory protection (1910.134, 3,585 violations): Companies often attempt to perform proper fit testing of employees for respirators, but their efforts fall short.
- Lockout/tagout (1910.147, 3,414 violations): OSHA’s rule requiring prompt reporting of employee amputations has contributed to an increase in violations of this standard.
- Powered industrial trucks, i.e. forklifts (1910.178, 2,800 violations): This standard always makes the top 10, with the number of violations mostly steady from last year.
- Ladders (1926.1053, 2,639 violations): Simply not allowing employees to use broken ladders and forbidding them from standing on the top step would prevent many of the citations under this standard.
- Machine guarding (1910.212, 2,451 violations): This standard moves up one spot this year, once again because of OSHA’s updated amputation-reporting requirements.
- Electrical wiring methods (1910.305, 1,940 violations): Improper use of extension cords continues as a reason why companies are cited under this reg.
- Electrical general requirements (1910.303, 1,704 violations): Common violations include improper electrical installations.
