Top 10 Most Cited OSHA Workplace Safety Violations for the 2018 Fiscal Year

In late October, Patrick Kapust, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Enforcement Programs (DEP) at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), disclosed the agency’s preliminary top 10 list of the most-cited safety and health standards for fiscal year 2018. The information was compiled from tens of thousands of workplace inspections conducted by federal OSHA employees and do not include violations form those states with their own enforcement agencies.
 
Each year OSHA publishes this list to alert employers and employees about commonly-cited standards so that steps can be taken to find and fix these recognized hazards. Once again, this year’s list is very comparable to the lists released over previous years with the exception of Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment/Eye and Face Protection, which appeared in the list for the first time.  The 2018 Top 10 Cited Violations List includes:
 

1. Fall Protection
2. Hazard Communication
3. Scaffolds
4. Respiratory Protection
5. Lockout/Tagout
6. Ladders
7. Powered Industrial Trucks
8. Machine Guarding
9. Fall Protection/Training Requirements
10. Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment/Eye and Face Protection

 
“This list represents over 32,000 violations,” said Jeffrey Miller, PhD, CIH^® and Chair of ABIH^®. “The fact that OSHA’s Top 10 List is so similar year after year, reveals that core health and safety programs need to be a greater priority for employers as thousands of workers die on the job and millions more are injured each year.”
 
The expertise of Certified Industrial Hygienists (CIHs) to develop and manage programs to mitigate or eliminate these and other health and safety issues is a critical component of the ongoing efforts required to create and maintain safe work environments. CIHs identify workplace hazards to protect the health and safety of workers and communities and are trained to anticipate, recognize, evaluate, and control a wide range of chemical, physical, biological, and ergonomic stressors. Health risk analysis, hazard communications, work environments, and industrial processes are all key components of the CIH^® program. This comprehensive knowledge base helps employers to protect the health and safety of workers, while also avoiding costly OSHA citations and workers’ compensation claims.
 
To learn more about the American Board of Industrial Hygiene^®, the Certified Industrial Hygienist^® credential, or to locate a CIH^® to perform industrial hygiene services, please visit www.ABIH.org or email abih@ABIH.org .  For information about the Qualified Environmental Practitioner (QEP^®) credential or Environmental Professional In-Training (EPI) designation, visit www.IPEP.org or email ipep@IPEP.org .  Please call (517) 321-2638 for questions about ABIH or its credentials and designations.
 
About the American Board of Industrial Hygiene ^®
Since 1960, ABIH^®, a not-for-profit corporation, has been the world’s largest organization for certifying professionals in the practice of industrial hygiene. ABIH^® is the premier credentialing body responsible for ensuring high-quality certification including education, experience, examination, certification maintenance, and ethics enforcement. ABIH^® also administers the Qualified Environmental Professional (QEP^®) credential for established environmental practitioners and the Environmental Professional In-Training (EPI) designation for early-career practitioners. Currently, more than 7,600 people around the world hold the CIH^® credential, QEP^® credential, or EPI designation. 

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