Fall protection again top OSHA violation, but injuries down overall in 2017

November 12th, 2018 by Dakota Software Staff

"Fall Protection - General Requirements" is once again OSHA's most frequently cited standard, the agency announced at the 2018 National Safety Council Congress & Expo - held in Houston, appropriately enough, during the midst of the fall season.

With 7,270 violations in fiscal year 2018, Fall Protection topped the list of most common violations for the eighth straight year. Hazard Communication placed second with 4,552 violations, Scaffolding was third with 3,336 citations, Respiratory Protection finished fourth with 3,118 instances, and Lockout/Tagout rounded out the top five with 2,944 reported incidents.

This is the fourth straight year that the top five violations have remained unchanged, reports Safety and Health Magazine.

Ladders, Powered Industrial Trucks, Fall Protection - Training Requirements and Machine Guarding were the sixth through ninth most frequent violations, respectively. Eye and Face Protection, the tenth place finisher, was the list's lone newcomer this year.

"The Top 10 represents the most frequently cited standards, and they are a good place to start for the employer in identifying hazards in their own workplace," said Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA's Directorate of Enforcement Programs, as he presented the data.

Bureau of Labor Statistics finds steady decrease in rate of nonfatal workplace injuries

Last year also saw a continued decline in the nonfatal injury and illness rate for private-sector U.S. employees, according to annual data just recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate of nonfatal injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work also fell.

Though companies continue to be cited for fall protection violations, nonfatal injuries as a whole have continued to trend downward.

In 2017, roughly 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported by private industry employers, which is nearly 45,800 fewer nonfatal injury and illness cases than were reported the year before.

That represents a rate of 2.8 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers in 2017, which is down from 2.9 cases per 100 in 2016 and 3.0 cases per 100 in 2015.

Overall, there were 882,730 cases of nonfatal injuries or illnesses that resulted in days away from work in 2017, for a rate of 89.4 injury and illness cases per 10,000 full-time workers. That number is down from 91.7 in 2016 and 93.9 in 2015.

The study also found that the median days away from work needed to recover was eight, which was unchanged from the previous year. Hospitals, social assistance and administrative and support services were the three industries that saw a decline in cases requiring days away from work. Meanwhile, the number of DAFW cases in manufacturing was virtually unchanged from 2016, holding steady at 115,550 instances.

The DAFW rate for workers struck by objects or equipment had stood at 14.5 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in 2016, but last year shrank to 13.8 cases per 10,000. The overall number of cases in this segment decreased by 4,180 occurrences.

A clearer picture of last year's workplace injuries will emerge next month, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its annual Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries report on Dec. 18, 2018.