In a presentation before the National Safety Council’s (NSC) annual Congress & Expo last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) revealed its preliminary list of the top ten most frequent workplace safety violations for 2009. According to a NSC press release, the number of top ten violations has increased almost 30 percent from the previous year. OSHA’s final report outlining the top ten violations will be published in the December edition of NSC’s Safety+Health magazine.

The following is an excerpt from the NSC’s press release describing the top ten violations:

1. Scaffolding – 9,093 violations. Scaffold accidents most often result from the planking or support giving way, or to the employee slipping or being struck by a falling object.
2. Fall Protection – 6,771 violations. Any time a worker is at a height of four feet or more, the worker is at risk and needs to be protected. Fall protection must be provided at four feet in general industry, five feet in maritime and six feet in construction.
3. Hazard Communication – 6,378 violations. Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import, and prepare labels and safety data sheets to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers.
4. Respiratory Protection – 3,803 violations. Respirators protect workers against insufficient oxygen environments, harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, gases, vapors and sprays. These hazards may cause cancer, lung impairment, other diseases or death.
5. Lockout-Tag out – 3,321 violations. "Lockout-Tag out” refers to specific practices and procedures to safeguard employees from the unexpected startup of machinery and equipment, or the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities.
6. Electrical (Wiring) – 3,079 violations. Working with electricity can be dangerous. Engineers, electricians and other professionals work with electricity directly, including working on overhead lines, cable harnesses, and circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers and sales people, work with electricity indirectly and may also be exposed to electrical hazards.
7. Ladders – 3,072 violations. Occupational fatalities caused by falls remain a serious public health problem. The US Department of Labor (DOL) lists falls as one of the leading causes of traumatic occupational death, accounting for eight percent of all occupational fatalities from trauma.
8. Powered Industrial Trucks – 2,993 violations. Each year, tens of thousands of injuries related to powered industrial trucks (PIT), or forklifts, occur in US workplaces. Many employees are injured when lift trucks are inadvertently driven off loading docks, lifts fall between docks and an unsecured trailer, they are struck by a lift truck, or when they fall while on elevated pallets and tines.
9. Electrical – 2,556 violations. Working with electricity can be dangerous. Engineers, electricians, and other professionals work with electricity directly, including working on overhead lines, cable harnesses, and circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers and sales people, work with electricity indirectly and may also be exposed to electrical hazards.
10. Machine Guarding – 2,364 violations. Any machine part, function, or process that may cause injury must be safeguarded. When the operation of a machine or accidental contact injures the operator or others in the vicinity, the hazards must be eliminated or controlled.
     

Photo credit: guyerwood