OSHA’s Top 10 Most Cited Violations for 2016

On the TOP 10 SERIOUS VIOLATIONS chart, the code sections for Hazard Communication and Scaffolding are reversed.

As a 36 year veteran Safety Professional, when I read through the list of 10 most citied violation and they all are the same year after year and the largest OSHA fines it get me thinking, are we are really making head way in protecting workers? I know we are however, we still read about the many employers that don't seem to care about their workers as much as they do the bottom line. Another thing that just does not make sense how can a business that kills two employees only receive a $900,000 OSHA fine while another business who receives 46 egregious is fined 3.2 million? One would think that killing a worker or two would bring a higher dollar amount that any type of violation. In my opinion all of the companies above with egregious violation should no longer be in business period! It's really sad that in this day and age that we still have companies turning a blind eye towards safety and protecting their employees from hazards in the name of profit. When if they paid attention to both they would increased their profits.

Buenas tardes a OSHAS, quisiera incrementar mis conocimientos en seguridad y salud ocupacional...en la institución a las que ustedes pertenecen, quisiera que me orienten que debo hacer gracias... saludos.

Sir, In many cases, safety IS a priority. But following the norms is cumbersome. And results in excess time spent on the job. Imagine a worker at elevated height ,with a safety belt; adjusting the same after a few minutes of work as he changes his position constantly. OR a worker entering a confined space ,with safety belt, breathing apparatus and working with other tools in his hands.It IS possible, and NECESSARY, but results in MORE time and effort ; and many a times therefore by passed to speed up work. FINALLY its a case of SAFETY vs TIME and PRODUCTION STOPPAGE ( MONEY) ; hence SAFETY bis compromised.

Looked at the list of top ten and vendors who could solve that problem but did not see anyone from the immediate area. Must mean that only the big time advertisers can help? Also comment on the OSHA fine when there is a fatality....I have been in safety for 30 year plus and had more then one compliance officer tell me that the fine is for the violation of the OSHA Standard and not the fatality. The family can take the information, violation and fine to an attorney for a civil case and sue for damage, violations and wrongdoing. I believe that is how the system works. How would OSHA know what that life meant to the family or anyone else regarding earning potential, etc, etc. Just saying.

Sounds like you're making the case that government regulation is ineffective and unable to produce intended results despite their enormous costs to all of us. How is that possible?

Ed, I hear what your saying about the $$ amount of fines, and yes it would seem a death should bring a higher fine. That said, maybe it's your example that's off. A One - to - One comparison would show the average of those 46 fines is $69,565.00 ea. The two deaths would have been $400,000.00 ea. And are they being fined for the DEATH or the Action that caused the Death? It should be the 2nd of the two, the Action, if I'm not mistaken. That in mind, how many of the 46 you referenced were actions that "could" have caused a death in the worst case scenario? As for having the same violations in the top 10 year after year, I dug just a little bit for a different perspective on that. Before I list numbers, consider this....it's always got to be SOMETHING. They would make a 95% reduction in every area, and they're would still be 10 of Something, so it being 10 of the most often used areas can't really be a surprise. Commercial Diving, as dangerous as it is, just isn't done nearly as much as Scaffold use, so we'll never see it in the top 10. Now back to the numbers. 2014 2015 2016 Fall Prot 7516 7402 6906 HazCom 6148 5681 5665 Scaffold 4968 4681* 3900 With the exception of the 2015 scaffold increasing slightly, all of them went down, then Scaffolding dropped a lot the next year. So, you are correct, we are making headway. (granted, I haven't looked at the other 7 yet). The Top 10 may swap back and forth, sometimes #11 and #12 jumping back up there, but hopefully we never see Commercial Diving in the Top 10, or even near it. And HOPEFULLY we continue on that downward trend in 2017.

tienes que leer mucho , de que país eres...?

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I was recently at walmart, and my car was hit by a mentally handicapped employee operating a cart machine. There are scrapes and dents with paint on my car. Is this a violation??