Top 10 OSHA Violations 2016

Monday, October 31, 2016

Every October, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration releases a preliminary list of the top 10 most frequently cited safety and health violations for the fiscal year. The list is comprised from nearly 32,000 inspections by OSHA staff.

The interesting thing about this list is how little it changes from year to year. OSHA urges that employers consider and correct these top 10 hazards in belief that it would drastically reduce the number of worker deaths and injuries each year.

Below are OSHA's 2016 fiscal year most cited workplace violations. The figures are preliminary as of Sept. 30:

1. Fall Protection, 1926.501 (C) — 6,929 citations (+208 from 2015)
2. Hazard Communication, 1910.1200 — 5,677 citations (+485 from 2015)
3. Scaffolds, 1926.451 (C) — 3,906 citations (-389 from 2015)
4. Respiratory Protection, 1910.134 — 3,585 citations (+280 from 2015)
5. Lockout/Tagout, 1910.147 — 3,414 citations (+412 from 2015)
6. Powered Industrial Trucks, 1910.178 — 2,860 citations (+100 from 2015)
7. Ladders, 1926.1053 (C) — 2,639 citations (+150 from 2015)
8. Machine Guarding, 1910.212 — 2,451 citations (+156 from 2015)
9. Electrical Wiring, 1910.305 — 1,940 citations (-464 from 2015)
10. Electrical, General Requirements, 1910.303 — 1,704 citations (-269 from 2015)

These top violations are the same top violations as last year and are in the same order with the one exception. It appears machine guarding has over-taken electrical wiring for the number 8 spot. As you can see, the only decreases in number of citations were in scaffolds, electrical wiring, and electrical, general requirements.

Check out the DOL’s write up of the list here.

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