OSHA Announces Top 10 Workplace Safety Violations

Ever since it was formed in 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has made great progress towards creating safer workplaces and subsequently reducing the number of work-related injury and illness. Nonetheless, statistics show that nearly three million nonfatal injuries occur every year in the United States. While there's no way to completely eliminate all incidents, OSHA continues to reduce these numbers by citing employers for safety violations.

If an employer doesn't comply with OSHA's safety guidelines, he or she may be cited. These citations aren't cheap, either. Depending on the severity and nature of the incident, employers can face up to $126,000 per violation (the 2016 maximum). And given the fact that many employers are cited for multiple violation, it's easy to see just how quickly the cost can rise.

Recently, OSHA Directorate of Enforcement Programs Patrick Kapust announced the agency's top 10 most common violations. While some of these violations are obvious, others are somewhat surprising.

1. Fall Protection in Construction: OSHA requires construction workers to wear fall safety harnesses or systems when working on elevated surfaces. Unfortunately, this is something that many construction workers and employers overlook, resulting in a substantial number of injuries.
2. Hazard Communication: this violation occurs when employers fail to label and communicate the presence of hazardous materials and chemicals in their respective workplace.
3. Scaffolding: painters, construction workers and other professionals use scaffolding to access elevated areas, in which case guardrails must be used to protect against injury. Failure to do so could result in a safety violation.
4. Respiratory Protection: of course, respiratory protection is another common safety violation reported by OSHA. Workers in certain industries and jobs must wear the appropriate respiratory protection to protect against respiratory disease.
5. Lockout/Tagout: when maintenance is being performed on heavy machinery or equipment, lockout protocols must be used to prevent the machinery or equipment from being turned on.
6. Ladders in Construction: construction companies must follow OSHA's rules regarding the use of ladders. OSHA has specific rules governing the type of ladders that construction companies can use and the way in which they can use them.
7. Powered Industrial Trucks: another common type of safety violation involves the use of powered industrial trucks. Normally, these violations stem from lack of training or operating such trucks without the appropriate license.
8. Machine Guarding: industry machines must have proper guarding to protect workers from injury.
9. Fall Protection Training: being that slips, trips and falls are one of the leading causes of injuries in the workplace, it should come as no surprise to learn that fall protection training is on the list.
10. Electrical Wiring Methods: finally, electrical wiring method violations occur when workers fail to comply with OSHA's rules regarding electrical wiring.