How can you avoid these violations and keep your employees safe? Reducing workplace injury is an ongoing process that starts with awareness and compliance.
Let’s take a look at OSHA’s top 10 violations of 2018 so you can make the necessary corrections this year, and know what to look out for. If you want to be in compliance and minimize workplace injury, it’s all about awareness and staying up to date with OSHA’s codes.
OSHA’s Top Ten 2018 Citations
1. Fall Protection (1926.501)
2. Hazard Communication (1910.1200)
3. Scaffolding – General Requirements (1926.451)
4. Respiratory Protection (1910.134)
5. Control of Hazardous Energy – Lockout/Tagout (1910.147)
6. Ladders (1926.1053)
7. Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178)
8. Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503)
9. Machine Guarding– General Requirement (1910.212)
10. Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection (1926.102)
If you’ll take a look at our analysis of 2017’s top ten citations, you’ll see that the top 5 citations remain virtually unchanged from the previous year. This should automatically give you a lot of insight into what to watch out for in your workplace.
Clearly, fall protection, hazard communication, and scaffolding are the big three that should be on everyone’s radar. If your workplace conditions are open to these kinds of hazards, you absolutely need to go over the conditions of your workplace and see what you can do to comply with OSHA’s standards as well as make things safe in general for you and your employees.
Respiratory Protection remains another major area of concern, remaining at number 4 and constituting a large chunk of OSHA’s overall violations year after year.
Because of the array of hazardous environments and equipment that is needed, respiratory safety can sometimes go lax. This is something that just can’t be allowed to happen. You need to be in compliance, otherwise you are opening yourself up to OSHA citations and much worse besides.
Ladders are still a major issue and an area where people just seem to lose their heads. Always follow proper protocol when using and storing ladders, and keep in mind that even fixed ladders pose dangers if you are not careful.
It’s also worth noting that it’s not just respiratory equipment, but eye and face protection in general that routinely ends up on the top citation lists. Because of the wear these devices tend to endure, they are often in disrepair or can even go unused in dangerous situations.
Following the OSHA regulations is one part awareness of the updates and one part common sense. Make sure you are doing what you can to mitigate hazards in your workplace and that you are following the statutes that apply to you at all times.
How to Stay in Compliance and Avoid OSHA Citations
Remember to regularly review your protocols in regards to any workplace hazard or environment when hazards come into play. Make sure all parties are informed of the dangers present and that they are up to date with their training. Schedule regular meetings to discuss workplace safety and new updates to the OSHA regulations. Ignorance of the statutes doesn’t get you out of citations and fines, and poses a real danger to those in the workplace.
Workplace tours are typically used to evaluate the state of things and ensure all parameters of the space are up to code and that everyone is aware of the possible dangers. These techniques should be monitored and adjusted accordingly.
Even if you have never had a citation or that you think everything is fine, you need to make sure that there is nothing that you may have missed. Because of the recent updates to OSHA, and the inevitability of machinery or safety measures failing over time, regular surveys of work-spaces and hazardous locations where work is to be conducted must occur in order to be sure.
If you have any questions about compliance issues, training, surveys, or simply want to ask some questions to make sure you are following protocol, call us up.