OSHA Announces Top 10 Violations for FY 2023

OSHA recently released its list of the top 10 most frequently cited standards following inspections of worksites by federal OSHA. The list, which consists of preliminary data and is subject to change, reflects the citations across industries and accounts for citations that occurred between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 29, 2023.

OSHA notes that workers suffer preventable injuries, illnesses and deaths related to the hazards addressed by these standards. The publication of the top 10 list is intended to alert employers so they can take steps to locate and remedy these violations, along with other risks.  

For the 2023 fiscal year (FY), the top 10 most cited OSHA standards were as follows:

1. Fall protection—General requirements (29 CFR 1926.501): 7,271 violations
2. Hazard communication (29 CFR 1910.1200): 3,213 violations
3. Ladders (29 CFR 1926.1053): 2,978 violations
4. Scaffolding (29 CFR 1926.451): 2,859 violations
5. Powered industrial trucks (29 CFR 1910.178): 2,561 violations
6. Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) (29 CFR 1910.147): 2,554 violations
7. Respiratory protection (29 CFR 1910.134): 2,481 violations
8. Fall protection—Training requirements (29 CFR 1926.503):2,112 violations
9. Personal protective and life-saving equipment—Eye and face protection (29 CFR 1923.102): 2,074 violations
10. Machinery and machine guarding (29 CFR 1910.212): 1,644 violations

The 2023 FY top 10 list contained the same standards as 2022 FY, but there was some shuffling within the list. For example, while “fall protection—general requirements” and “hazard communication” were still the top two most frequently cited standards a year ago, “respiratory protection” moved to the seventh most commonly cited standard after being in the third position in 2022. Additionally, the 2,561 “powered industrial truck” violations in 2023 moved into in the fifth most commonly cited OSHA standard. In 2022, it was in the seventh position.

Notably, “fall protection—general requirements” was the most frequently cited standard for the 13^th consecutive FY.

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