The 2017 National Safety Council’s Congress & Expo attended a presentation that reviewed a preliminary list of OSHA’s 2017 fiscal year Top 10 violations. While the list was presented with data from about a month before the fiscal year ended, the order of the violations is not expected to change.
- Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501): 6.072 violations
- Hazard Communication (1910.1200): 4,176 violations
- Scaffolding (1926.451): 3,288 violations
- Respiratory Protection (1910.134): 3,097 violations
- Lockout/Tagouts (1910.147) 2,877 violations
- Ladders (1926.1053): 2,241 violations
- Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178): 2,162 violations
- Machine Guarding (1910.212): 1,933 violations
- Fall Protection – Training Requirements: 1,523 violations
- Electrical – Wiring Methods (1910.305): 1,405 violations
The list has changed very little from 2016’s list, with Powered Industrial Trucks and Ladders switching positions, and Fall Protection – Training Requirements coming in at No. 9, pushing Electrical – General Requirements off the list.
Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA‘s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, and Kevin Druley, associate editor for Safety+Health Magazine, presented the list on the expo floor on September 26, 2017. During the presentation, Kapust said “…this list doesn’t change too much from year to year. These things are readily fixable.” The NSC President and CEO Deborah A.P. Hersman even called it “a blueprint for keeping workers safe.”
With the list remaining fairly constant, it is a good guideline for businesses to renew where their company stands. Are they at risk for any of these violations? Have they already been cited for any of these violations? What can they do to fix at-risk areas and make sure workers get home safely? Businesses should use the list as a tool to self-evaluate and improve workplace safety.
Sources: Fall protection leads OSHA’s ‘Top 10’ list of most frequently cited violations; OSHA’s Top 10 Most Cited Violations for 2016
