On September 26^th, OSHA announced that citations for 9 out of the 10 most frequently cited standards noticeably declined since fiscal 2016. According to OSHA data, preliminary violation[1] numbers from last fiscal year dropped following years of declining total inspection numbers.  Deputy Director of the OSHA enforcement branch, Patrick Kapust, particularly noted the steep decline in fall protection citations.  Kapust also mentioned that construction fall-related violations, such as ladders, scaffolding, and training,  remain the most commonly cited, and that construction sites account for close to half of OSHA’s inspections. For your reference, here is the list of preliminary top 10 most-cited violations for fiscal 2017:

1. Fall protection at 6,072 (down from 6,929 preliminary violations in fiscal 2016)
2. Hazard communication at 4,176 (down from 5,677 preliminary violations in fiscal 2016)
3. Scaffolding at 3,288 (down from 3,906 preliminary violations in fiscal 2016)
4. Respiratory protection at 3,097 ( down from 3,585 preliminary violations in fiscal 2016)
5. Lockout/tagout at 2,877 (down from 3,414 preliminary violations in fiscal 2016)
6. Ladders at 2,241 (down from 2,639 preliminary violations in fiscal 2016)
7. Powered industrial trucks at 2,162 (down from 2,860 preliminary violations in fiscal 2016)
8. Machine guarding at 1,933 (down from 2,451 preliminary violations in fiscal 2016)
9. Fall protection training at 1,523
10. Electrical wiring methods at 1,405 (down from 1,940 preliminary violations in fiscal 2016)

Written with assistance from Ana Ramirez

[1] The violation numbers are preliminary because OSHA inspectors have up to six months following an inspection to issue citations.