Each year at the National Safety Council Congress and Expo, OSHA releases a list of the top 10 most-cited violations from the previous fiscal year.
On October 12, 2021, Acting Director of OSHA and Directorate of Enforcement Programs Patrick Kapust announced the preliminary violations list for FY 2021. A majority of the list went unchanged from 2020 and, for the 11th year in a row, Fall Protection held the top spot.
While the most-cited violation went unchanged, the listing order shifted for 2021. Among the changes, Respiratory Protection worked its way up to the number two spot and Hazard Communication moved down to number five from holding the number two spot in 2020.
Here is the full list of 2021’s most-cited OSHA violations, along with the corresponding OSHA regulation:
- Fall Protection, general requirements (29 CFR 1926.501)
- Respiratory Protection, general industry (29 CFR 1910.134)
- Ladders, construction (29 CFR 1926.1053)
- Scaffolding, general requirements, construction (29 CFR 1926.451)
- Hazard Communication Standard, general requirements (29 CFR 1910.1200)
- Lockout/Tagout, general requirements (29 CFR 1910.147)
- Fall Protection – Training Requirements (29 CFR 1926.503)
- Eye and Face Protection (29 CFR 1926.102)
- Powered Industrial Trucks, general requirements (29 CFR 1910.178)
- Machinery and Machine Guard, general requirements (29 CFR 1910.212)
Knowing the top 10 OSHA citations can help your business manage training and compliance priorities with employees to boost mitigation and safety culture. Employers can use this top 10 list to understand what OSHA inspectors look for and how they can make their own work environments safer.
