OSHA 2024 Top 10 Violations

Brad Kelechava

4 months ago

Worker walking up stairs wearing orange safety harness after being cited by OSHA for violating fall protection rules.

Real-life workplace hazards are emphasized with the OSHA Top 10, which is released every year. This list aggregates the citations issued by OSHA staff of violations of federal standards as they conduct safety inspections of workplaces. OSHA’s top 10 citations in 2024 consists of safety violations noted during the 2024 fiscal year between October 1, 2023 and September 5, 2024.

OSHA 2024 Top 10:

Fall Protection—General Requirements (1926.501): 6,307 violations
Hazard Communication (1910.1200): 2,888 violations
Ladders (1926.1053): 2,573 violations
Respiratory Protection (1910.134): 2,470 violations
Lockout/Tagout (1910.147): 2,443 violations
Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178): 2,248 violations
Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503): 2,050 violations
Scaffolding (1926.451): 1,873 violations
Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection (1926.102): 1,814 violations
Machine Guarding (1910.212): 1,541 violations

For the 14^th consecutive year, fall protection has topped the list. Hazard communication is again in spot 2, followed by ladders. Eye and face protection and machine guarding have again retained their respective positions at 9 and 10. The remaining 5 were all featured in last year’s list, although they have been rearranged somewhat.

Movement in the OSHA Top 10 in 2024

When comparing the 2024 top 10 with the top 10 violations of 2023, a few noticeable changes stand out. Scaffolding, previously placed at 4, has fallen to 8, with the number of violations declining from 2,859 to 2,050. Respiratory protection, which was at position 7, jumped up to 4, even though the number of violations for it has gone down slightly. In fact, all standards in the top 10 saw a decrease in the number of violations cited for each in 2024. While fall protection is still at 1, its violations cited in inspections were nearly 1000 less than in 2023. However, it should be noted that 2023 saw an increase in total citation numbers when compared to 2022.

Occupational Health and Safety Standards, Certification, and Accreditation

While the OSHA Top 10 doesn’t indicate where accidents have happened, it does note where employers have been neglectful, giving them areas to focus to protect personnel. In addition to federal requirements by OSHA, voluntary consensus standards provide requirements, specifications, and guidelines to keep workers safe in the area of occupational health and safety.

ISO 45001, an international standard developed and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), outlines the requirements for an occupational health and safety management system (OH&SMS). Such a system, in accordance with the standard, enables organizations of any size, type, or activities to provide safe and healthy workplaces by preventing work-related injury and ill-health. To demonstrate compliance with these requirements and convey an improved OH&S performance, organizations can seek certification. The bodies that issue certifications ensure adherence to their own requirements and convey their own competence through accreditation by an accreditation body like ANAB. In the past, ANAB accredited certification bodies that certified to ANSI/AIHA Z10, BS OHSAS 18001, and/or CSA Z1000, but these have been or are being migrated to ISO 45001.

These conformity assessment processes help put in place and reinforce a culture that promotes occupational safety and health within organizations, thereby limiting accidents like those that can result from violations cited in the OSHA top 10.