OSHA stands for Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Their job is to help maintain safe working environments for employees through standards, training, education and more. Each fiscal year OSHA publishes their Top Cited Violations, their Top Serious Violations and their Willful Violations which were committed knowingly and with disregard or indifference to the requirements of the OSHA Act.

Some of the most serious OSHA violations can lead to large physical injuries or even death to employees. Below you will find some of the most serious OSHA violations that were reported during fiscal year 2023. We have included some statistics as well as Practices on how you can prevent each type of hazard.

Fall Protection: Construction

Last year there were over 7,000 fall protection violations cited at construction sites. Fall protection is any type of safety equipment that prevents falls in the workplace. OSHA standards dictate that employers must provide fall protection when working on surfaces with an unprotected edge which are higher than 6 feet above a lower level.

You can learn more about fall protection and OSHA standards here. If you own/run a construction company or work at a construction site and would like to get trained, you can take our Fall Protection Certificate Course for Construction here.

Fall Protection Safety & Prevention Practices

• Provide proper employee supervision for fall prevention
• Install barriers to protect edges and sides
• Check the stability of floors and surfaces to prevent falling through
• Use caution on low slope roofs and steep roofs

Hazard Communication: General Industry

Something that had over 3,000 serious hazard communications violations cited last year was hazard communication. Hazard communication includes any chemical hazards found in the workplace. These chemicals can be things created at your job site, or things that you bring to the job site to use for work.

Employers must train employees properly about these chemicals and communicate with their employees regarding the hazards.

Hazard Communication Safety & Prevention Practices

• Improve training and continuing education about chemicals
• Provide access to safety data sheets
• Use proper labels on all containers

Ladders: Construction

Used in many different workplaces, ladders continue to make the list for top safety hazards. Last year there were close to 3,000 citations for ladder-related violations.

Learn more about ladder and stairway safety here. Take our Ladders and stairways Course to learn about specific regulations and earn a certificate of completion.

Ladders Safety & Prevention Practices

• Make sure the ladder side rails extend at least 3 feet above the upper surface.
• Only use ladders for the task that they were intended to be used for.
• Do not use broken or defective ladders.
• Only use ladders on stable surfaces. Make sure the surface is level too.

Scaffolding: Construction

Scaffolding can be very dangerous for workers. In fact, last year there were a total of 2,835 serious violations when it came to scaffolding. Employers must make sure the scaffolding is designed by a qualified person, constructed and loaded according to a scaffold plan which has been tested for safety.

Construction workers who work on scaffolding over 10 feet above a lower level are at risk if these regulations are not followed.

Take our scaffolding regulation OSHA standards course here.

Scaffolding Safety & Prevention Practices

• Use barriers to prevent falls around the edges.
• Install guardrail support when working on platforms.
• Limit access to scaffolding areas to workers who need to be there.
• Do not overload scaffolding. Always pay attention to the weight capacity.

Powered Industrial Trucks

For our next serious violation OSHA listed powered industrial trucks. Powered industrial trucks are any trucks used to move materials in the workplace. These trucks include forks lifts, motorized hand trucks and more. Last year there were more than 2,500 serious violations cited.

Powered Industrial Truck Safety & Prevention Practices

• Train operators in compliance with OSHA standards.
• Make sure all operators are competent to use the trucks.
• Take trucks out of the working area if they are not safe.

Fall Protection: Training Requirements

This may look familiar to number 1 on our list, but these fall protection violations are specifically for employers who fail to train their employees on fall protection. OSHA issued over 2,000 fall protection training citations last year.

When training employees about fall protection OSHA has specific requirements employers need to follow.

Fall Protection Safety & Prevention Practices

• Fall protection training should be of good quality, and all employees should take it.
• Employers should designate a competent person to identify any fall protection hazards.
• Training records should be kept on file and all workers should be up to date on their training.

Eye and Face Protection: Construction

There are thousands of facial injuries each year that could have been prevented. Injuries, including blindness, happen when eye or face protection is not used at work. There were over 2,000 citations issued last year when employers failed to have their employees use face or eye PPE.

Eye and Face Protection Safety & Prevention Practices

• Regularly check your PPE inventory to ensure you have enough
• Enforce use of equipment to help prevent any accidents

• Ensure face and eye protection is up to standards to protect against chemical, environmental, radiological and mechanical hazards as well as other hazards.

Final Thoughts About OSHA Safety Violations

When it comes to OSHA safety violations, knowledge is power. When accidents happen, it costs lives and companies can lose millions of dollars. If your company knows what hazardous areas there are and can recognize and prepare for these situations when it comes to safety on a job site, they can prevent these accidents from happening. Not only will this keep workers safe and your company OSHA compliant, but it could possibly save your company millions of dollars in accident costs.