7 common workplace safety hazards (revisited)

Eight years ago, Safety+Health asked National Safety Council workplace consultants about hazards they commonly spot during jobsite safety audits – and what safety professionals and workers can do about them.

The resulting article is still popular on our website and continues to generate comments from readers.

It spurred us to revisit the topic with current NSC consultants and instructors David Consider, JoAnn Dankert, Mike Ezzell and Dick Flynt.

Dankert, who also contributed to the 2016 article, isn’t surprised by how closely the new list mirrors the previous one. “I think it kind of follows the statistics,” she said.

With that, let’s dive into the latest insights from these experts.

Working at height

Hazards associated with working at height can easily stack up, the experts say. Perhaps an employer doesn’t have a written fall protection plan or is unaware of OSHA’s requirement to provide fall protection. Or maybe the fall protection equipment onsite is damaged, worn improperly or not attached to anything.

In fiscal year 2024, OSHA’s Top 10 most frequently cited standards included four related to working at height. Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501) topped the list for the 14th straight fiscal year. Ladders (1926.1053), Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503) and Scaffolding (1926.451) followed at third, seventh and eighth, respectively.

Why do these issues persist? Flynt used himself as one example: Although he’s in his mid-60s, at times he feels much younger.

“We forget how fragile we’ve become as we grow older,” Flynt said. “It’s very easy for me to think, ‘Well, it’s no problem. I can jump down off this. Or even if I fall, it’s no problem. I’ll just tuck and roll.’ Well, I can’t do that anymore. Most of us can’t.”

Fall prevention starts with proper training and auditing. Employers must know where and when fall protection is required. They should regularly provide training and refresher training to workers, and routinely evaluate the organization’s fall protection program.

Make sure workers have the correct-sized gear and that they know how to properly hook to an anchor point when working at height.

Poor Housekeeping

Consider sees it often: an exit route blocked by containers, machinery or garbage. If an exit sign is even properly posted and visible, that is.

Other examples of poor housekeeping: uncleaned material or chemical spills and clutter – either of which can result in slips, trips and falls.

“In construction, we often think of falls from height,” Dankert said. “But even if I tripped over my own two feet or materials on the ground, if you’re 5 feet tall and you fall and hit your head just right – falling 5 feet could be a dangerous thing regardless.”

Encouraging workers to clean as they go can help limit these issues. So can remaining attentive, even when the coast is seemingly clear.

Another issue: widespread use of cellphones easily leads to distracted walking. Remind workers to always be aware of their surroundings and step to the side or sit down when using electronic devices.

“There’s a lot of times where I pass somebody and I think, ‘Man, something bad is going to happen,’” Dankert said. “It’s not like the cartoon where you’re going to fall into the manhole, right, but it’s really more of somebody stopped short in front of you or something is in the way and you just don’t recognize it.”

Forklifts

During training sessions, Flynt encourages workers to think of being near forklifts as “like working in a room full of elephants.” The equipment is “in a very small, condensed package with rear-wheel steering,” he explains, “which a lot of pedestrians don’t understand – and they’re surprised by when a forklift turns. That back end swings out against you and it can squash you and not even feel you.” Consider says forklift operators often aren’t aware of their surroundings or responsibilities. Common hazards he sees include:

• A missing or unreadable nameplate or dataplate that lists the forklift’s capabilities and limitations
• Unauthorized forklift modifications (drilling holes in the forks for a trailer hitch or attachment point, for example)
• Damage to dock doors or overhead door panels because the forklift mast wasn’t lowered

Forklift operators should always wear a seat belt and say no to speeding and horseplay.

It’s also important to inspect forklifts before each job to ensure they’re in good working order. Closely check the seat belts, tires, lights, horn, brakes, backup alarms, fluid levels, and moving and load-supporting forklift parts.

Hand hazards

Cuts. Scrapes. Broken fingers. Amputations.

All of these can result when workers use machinery – and are becoming increasingly common at manufacturing worksites.

“As more and more automation is brought in,” Flynt said, “we have more and more machines that can take our arms and our hands.”

Although wearing gloves is recommended and can guard against chemical, vibration and laceration hazards, PPE is the lowest rung on the Hierarchy of Controls, the experts emphasize.

Changing behavior can help limit hand injuries at a higher level. For Flynt, it starts with “just moving your eyes” before anything else.

“We get into a routine all day where we tend to turn our shoulders and our feet and start to walk while we’re still looking in this direction,” he said. “We’re not turning our eyes first. We do the same thing with our hands – we reach before we really look what’s there.”

Electricity

In November, S+H looked at five common electrical safety errors: treating electrical work casually, not accounting for all scenarios, improper use of PPE, underestimating arc flash boundary and relying on institutional knowledge.

NSC consultants routinely spot many of these same hazards alongside others, including:

• Electrical cables with damaged insulation or exposed bare wires
• Damaged electrical outlets or outlets with covers missing
• Blocked electrical panels without at least a 3-foot clearance
• Panel plastic fittings damaged or missing
• Connecting multiple extension cords, also known as “daisy chaining”

Employers should ensure regular training on electrical safety is provided and incorporated into an organizational safety management system that includes risk assessment and auditing protocols.

In addition, make sure workers exposed to electrical arc or fire hazards refrain from wearing clothing that could ignite or melt into their skin.

Confined spaces

“It amazes me after all these years – and how many people we lose every year in confined spaces – that we don’t understand them better,” Flynt said. “I go into sites and I ask people, and they don’t even know the definition of a confined space or how to mitigate it or what the plan should be. So, I think there’s a lot to be done training-wise with confined spaces.”

Frequent contributing factors to confined-space incidents that Flynt sees are insufficient programs and poor training.

Employers must be aware of how to properly issue a permit and carry out a risk assessment.

Transportation incidents

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, nearly 40% of worker deaths each year are related to transportation.

Ezzell believes that employers “have too narrow a focus as far as drivers are concerned when it comes to the workplace.”

That means they may not have roadway safety in mind when a worker drives for a site visit, errand, conference or other work-related matter.

Employers should be vigilant about providing training on preventing distracted driving behaviors while ensuring related policies are clear and routinely enforced.

“It’s a message that we need to keep in front of people all the time,” Ezzell said. “It’s those constant reminders.”