Machine Safety: OSHA’s top 10 cited violations for 2013

Are you very aware of OSHA’s top 10 citations for 2013? Is this because of your excellent safety culture and organizational diligence? Or, is it because you’ve been cited by OSHA?

By JB Titus December 30, 2013

Are you very aware of OSHA’s top 10 citations for 2013? Is this because of your excellent safety culture and organizational diligence? Or, is it because you’ve been cited by OSHA? It seems to me, "Here we go again!"

Does OSHA’s top ten list ever mix it up much at all? I’ve been watching this list fairly close for the past few years, and I can’t overtly state any significant changes. I think these standards move around a little but don’t they all pretty much fall into the top ten year after year?

The preliminary figures for the OSHA FY 2013 Top 10 are:

Standard Total Violations

1. 1926.501 – Fall Protection 8,241

2. 1910.1200 – Hazard Communication 6,156

3. 1926.451 – Scaffolding 5,423

4. 1910.134 – Respiratory Protection 3,879

5. 1910.305 – Electrical, Wiring Methods 3,452

6. 1910.178 – Powered Industrial Trucks 3,340

7. 1926.1053 – Ladders 3,311

8. 1910.147 – Lockout/Tagout 3,254

9. 1910.303 – Electrical, General Requirements 2,745

10. 1910.212 – Machine Guarding 2,701

Courtesy of OSHA: www.osha.gov/Top_Ten_Standards.html 

In my last few blogs on this subject I’ve indicated that several of these standards relate directly to machine safety, not only item #10 Machine Guarding. In November’s Control Engineering magazine on page 26, a short news article asks: “Were you on the OSHA top 10 list of violations?” The news story goes on to say: “OSHA violations related to machine safety include electrical and wiring methods (5), Lockout/tagout (8), electrical (9), and machine guarding (10)." This mixes the order up a bit, but I recall these same four violations reported in previous years. There were 27,186 total violations in 2012, and 42,502 violations in 2013. So, doubling the number of OSHA reported violations has little direct impact in the types of violations.

My take away is as follows: we’ve still got a lot of work to do if we truly want Machine Safety to not be reported in OSHA’s top 10 list of violations. What is your take away?

Please use these blog posts for advance your machine safety efforts. Do you have some specific topic or interest that we could cover in future blog posts? Add your comments or thoughts to the discussion by submitting your ideas, experiences, and challenges in the comments section below.

Related articles:

Machine Safety: OSHA Top 10 Violations for 2012

Machine safety pays off – by JB Titus

Machine Safety – does OSHA reference consensus standards for compliance?

Machine Safety: Is OSHA okay with my ‘acceptable’ risk mitigation?

Integrated Safety Systems: Ensuring Safety and Operational Productivity – by the Aberdeen Group

OSHA – search for near miss

Contact: https://www.jbtitus.com for “Solutions for Machine Safety.”