Every year, OSHA releases data about the OSHA standards that they most frequently issue citations for in the previous fiscal year. They did it in 2016. They did it in 2015. They did it...well, you get the idea.
And yep, they just did it again, at the National Safety Council's annual Congress & Expo, releasing information for the 2017 fiscal year.
Typically, the different standards that appear on the list are the same ones, year after year, although sometimes one leap-frogs ahead of some others to rank more highly than it did in past years.
We've got the list for you below, but before you jump down and see the answers, let's try to make this a little fun. What standard do you expect to be on the top of the list, with the most citations? Do you expect any standard to make a big jump up or down? Do you think any standard that's typically on the list won't be this year, or that there will be a new standard this year that usually isn't there?
Give those questions a little though, and then move on to see the list below.
When OSHA releases their extended data on these standard citations, which typically happens in December or January, we'll get you that information as well.
Convergence Training provides online safety training courses, learning management systems, and incident investigation software.
Explore the links below to learn more about what we do.
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Here's the actual list of the 10 standards that OSHA most frequently wrote citations for in fiscal year 2017:
The thing that jumps out at me the most is that while this list often has the same standards on it every year, this year Fall Protection--Training Requirements (1926.503) made the list with 1,523 citations. That really emphasizes the need for fall protection training. We've covered that issue quite a bit in recent blog posts, such as . In addition, we encourage you to consider adding some online fall protection training to your current safety training program at work. Check out the sample below.
Another thing I noticed is that there were significantly fewer citations for nearly all of the standards when compared to the previous year (fiscal year 2016). What do you think about this? Are we violating fewer standards or is OSHA simply not being as aggressive?
Here are some online safety training suggestions plus other helpful resources for this year's OSHA Top Ten Citations.
Here are the top ten violations cited, listed from the standard with the most citations to the standard with the tenth-most citations.
Total citations- 6,072, which is about 900 fewer than the previous year.
Ranking in previous year-#1 last year (same as this year)
Here's a sample of our online Fall Prevention and Protection training course.
Total citations- 4,176, almost 1,500 fewer than the previous year.
Ranking in previous year- #2 last year (same as this year)
And here's a sample of our online Hazard Communication training course.
Total citations- 3,288, about 600 fewer than the previous year.
Ranking in previous year- #3 (same as this year)
And here's a sample of our online Scaffolding training course.
Total citations- 3,097, about 500 fewer than the previous year.
Ranking in previous year- #4 (same as this year)
We offer quite a few courses on respirators and respiratory protection. Here they are.
Online Respirator Basics Training Course
Online Respirator Medical Evaluation and Fit Testing Training Course
Online Air-Supplying Respirators Training Course
Online Air-Purifying Respirators Training Course
Online Escape Respirator and SCSR Training Course
Total citations- 2,877, about 600 fewer than the previous year
Ranking in previous year- #5 (same as this year)
We have several courses related to lockout/tagout and control of hazardous energy. Here they are.
Online Lockout-Tagout Training Course (for authorized employees)
Online Lockout-Tagout Training Course (for affected employees)
Online Maintenance Safety Training Course
Online Line Breaking Safety Training Course
Online Blocking and Cribbing Training Course
Total violations- 2,241, about 400 fewer than the previous year
Ranking in previous year- #7 (one lower than this year)
Here is a sample of our online ladder safety training course.
Total violations- 2,162, about 700 fewer than the previous year
Ranking in previous year- #6 (one higher than this year)
Here is a sample of our online Forklift Safety training course.
Total violations- 1,933, about 500 fewer than the previous year
Ranking in previous year- #9 (one lower than this year)
Here is a sample of our online Machine Guarding training course.
Total citations- 1,523. This standard wasn't on the top ten list last year, so right off the top of our head we don't know how this compares to the previous year, but we'll see if we can track it down for you
Ranking in previous year-this standard wasn't on the top ten list last year
Here's a sample of our online Fall Prevention and Protection training course.
Total violations- 1,937, a BIG drop from the 2015 total of 2,624.
Ranking in previous year- #8 (one lower than this year--this was a big drop and bears some scrutiny)
We have several e-learning courses related to electrical hazards. Check out the samples below.
Arc Flash Safety e-learning course.
NFPA 70E e-learning course.
Remember that this is introductory data and we'll follow up in December or January when OSHA releases its more extended data set about the 2017 citations. So stay tuned for that.
There are many ways you can reduce the risk of getting a citation from OSHA for one of these standard (or others). An effective safety training program is one of them. We believe the samples of online safety training courses we've provided above can be a great help, but we also invite you to download the free guide to effective safety training below (it's based largely on ANSI Z490.1).
Let us know if you have any thoughts.
Learn how to design, create, deliver, and evaluate effective EHS training by following these best practices with our free step-by-step guide.
