Fall protection again leads OSHA Top 10 violations

Citations for safety violations increase 56% in 2013

October 1, 2013

Fall protection is once again the top OSHA-cited workplace safety violation with more than 8,000 citations. Fall protection is the annual leader in the OSHA Top 10 Violations list, which was announced Oct. 1 at the annual National Safety Congress in Chicago. The 2013 Congress marks the 100th anniversary of the National Safety Council’s charter.

The 10 top OSHA violations (along with the associated OSHA standard) are:

There were 42,502 violations in the OSHA Top 10 in 2013, a 56.3% increase from the 27,186 in the OSHA Top 10 in 2012.

This year’s Top 10 list differs only in the order of finish and in the number of violations. The first four remain unchanged from 2012, but there were almost 1,000 more citations in 2013 for fall protection than in 2012. Wiring methods moved from eighth to fifth on this year’s list, which machine guarding dropped from sixth to tenth.

“Today’s presentation reminds us that it’s very important to learn from the past and address these top violations to help make our workplaces safer,” said National Safety Council president and CEO Janet Froetscher.