OSHA released its top 10 violations for 2018, and the list looks familiar because it didn’t change much from 2017.

OSHA Violations

Patrick Kapust, OSHA’s deputy director, announced the OSHA violations last week at the National Safety Council Congress in Houston. The list is based on an estimated 32,266 violations from fiscal year 2018. The violations were found by OSHA and precluded violations discovered by state enforcement agencies.

According to Kapust, “The top 10 represents the most frequently cited standards, and they are a good place to start for the employer in identifying hazards in their own workplace.”

Employers should by now be very familiar with the list. The top seven OSHA violations remained basically unchanged for the fourth year in a row, and in fact, there was only one new addition to the list from years’ past: This is the first year that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has ranked in OSHA’s top 10 violations, replacing Electrical Wiring Methods.

The top 10 list of OSHA violations for 2018 is as follows:

  1. Fall Protection – General Requirements

Violations: 7,270

OSHA Standard: 1926.501

  1. Hazard Communication

Violations: 4,552

OSHA Standard: 1910.200

  1. Scaffolds – General Requirements

Violations: 3,336

OSHA Standard: 1926.451

  1. Respiratory Protection

Violations: 3,118

OSHA Standard: 1910.200

  1. Lockout/Tagout

Violations: 2,944

OSHA Standard: 1910.147

  1. Ladders

Violations: 2,812

OSHA Standard: 1926.1053

  1. Powered Industrial Trucks

Violations: 2,294

OSHA Standard: 1910.178

  1. Fall Protection

Violations: 1,982

OSHA Standard: 1926.503

*OSHA Top 10 Violations 2017 Rank: 9

  1. Machine Guarding

Violations: 1,972

OSHA Standard: 1910.212

*OSHA Top 10 Violations 2017 Rank: 8

  1. Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment (PPE) – Eye and Face Protection

OSHA Standard: 1926.95

Violations: 1,536

*OSHA Top 10 Violations 2017 Rank: Unranked

If you fear your facility may be committing a few of the violations on OSHA’s 2018 top 10 list, you need to act to ensure your worksite gets into compliance. Trust KC Supply Co. to help you comply with OSHA’s standards so you do not appear among the violations on next year’s list. We can provide safety and monitoring equipment, including PPE and respirators. Visit www.kcsupply.com to learn more, or call us at 800.KC.SUPPLY and we’ll be happy to answer all your compliance and safety equipment questions.