OSHA Unveils FY2017 Top Ten Most-Cited Standards
Fall protection again topped the list, which was revealed Sept. 26 at the NSC conference before a standing-room-only crowd.
INDIANAPOLIS -- OSHA's Patrick Kapust revealed the Top Ten list of most-cited OSHA standards for fiscal year 2017 on Sept. 26 during a standing-room-only Learning Lab session at the National Safety Congress & Expo here in the Indiana Convention Center. Not only were attendees standing all along the walls of the meeting room in the expo hall for this presentation, but many others were lined up outside to watch and photograph Kapust's slides as he talked.
Kapust, CSP, is deputy director of OSHA's Directorate of Enforcement Programs and has worked for OSHA since 1991.
"This list doesn't change much year to year. The order may change," he said. "I encourage folks to use this list and look at your own workplaces" to make sure the hazards addressed in the Top Ten list of standards are addressed," he added.
The FY2017 Top Ten:
1. Fall Protection, 1926.501, 6,072 violations
2. Hazard Communication, 1910.1200, 4,176 violations
3. Scaffolding, 1926.451, 3,288 violations
4. Respiratory Protection, 1910.134, 3,097 violations
5. Lockout/Tagout, 1910.147, 2,877 violations
6. Ladders, 1926.1053, 2,241 violations
7. Powered Industrial Trucks, 1910.178, 2,162 violations
8. Machine Guarding, 1910.212, 1,933 violations
9. Fall Protection -- Training Requirements, 1926.503, 1,523 violations
10. Electrical Wiring Methods, 1910.305, 1,405 violations
Four of the Top Ten involve fall exposures, and Kapust explained that inadequate or unprovided training is involved in many or most of the violations cited by OSHA in four of the standards on the list.
With respiratory protection, medical evaluations often are not done and fit testing also is often undone, he said, adding, "These are readily fixable, easy to take care of."