OSHA Releases Top 10 List of Most Frequently Cited OSHA Standards for Fiscal Year 2018

Dublin, California (December 13, 2018)—The Occupational Safety and Health Administration Training Institute Education Center at Chabot-Las Positas Community College District, the only OSHA-authorized office of transition initiatives education center headquartered in northern California, is highlighting OSHA’s top 10 list of the most frequently cited OSHA standards in fiscal year (FY) 2018 to help guide employers and workers in identifying the most common hazards in their workplaces. OSHA publishes its top 10 list of most frequent violations to provide a road map for organizations as they strive to reduce potential hazards and improve safety at their worksites.

“While the ranking of OSHA standards citations has shown minor variations over the years, the consistency of the top 10 safety violations has remained almost constant,” says Cari Elofson, assistant director of the OSHA Training Institute Education Center at Chabot-Las Positas Community College District. “We encourage employers to use this list to help focus on eliminating the biggest safety risks facing their employees by complying with OSHA standards and by providing safety training that targets the most common hazards.”

OSHA’s Top 10 violations for FY 2018 remain largely unchanged from FY 2017. Fall Protection – General Requirements once again tops the list with 7,216 violations and remains OSHA’s most frequently cited standard for the eighth year in a row. The one new addition to the Top 10 is Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection, with 1,528 citations.

OSHA’s top 10 list of the most frequent citations, along with the specific OSHA standard and number of violations (respectively), includes:

1.    Fall Protection—General Requirements (1926.501): 7,216 
2.    Hazard Communication (1910.1200): 4,537 
3.    Scaffolding (1926.451): 3,319 
4.    Respiratory Protection (1910.134): 3,112 
5.    Lockout/Tagout (1910.147): 2,923 
6.    Ladders (1926.1053): 2,780 
7.    Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178): 2,281 
8.    Fall Protection—Training Requirements (1926.503): 1,978 
9.    Machine Guarding (1910.212): 1,969 
10.  Personal Protective/Life Saving Equipment—Eye and Face Protection (1926.102): 1,528

A complete list of OSHA Standards is available on OSHA’s website.