OSHA Announces Its 2017 Top 10 Violations

At the National Safety Council’s annual Congress and Expo, OSHA announced its Top 10 Most Commonly Cited Violations for 2017. The list combines both general industry (1910) and construction standards (1926). Fall protection — especially the general requirements category — continues to dominate the list, signaling that this hazard class is OSHA’s primary enforcement focus across all sectors.

⚡ In short: OSHA’s 2017 Top 10 cited violations list shows fall protection (both general requirements and training) at the top, followed by hazard communication, scaffolding, respiratory protection, and lockout/tagout. These violations persist because they affect multiple industries and because many employers fail to implement or maintain the required protection systems. The same violations have dominated the list for years — indicating systemic compliance gaps, not regulatory whim.

Why the Same Violations Keep Appearing

This year’s list is largely unchanged from prior years. General electrical hazards dropped off; fall protection training moved up. But the core hazard categories — fall protection, hazard communication, lockout/tagout, machine guarding, and respiratory protection — remain consistent year after year.

⚠️ Why this matters: The consistency of this list reveals that these violations represent widespread compliance failures across industries. OSHA is not citing random violations. These are the hazards where employers, consistently and repeatedly, fail to implement required protection. That pattern suggests that even if your facility has not been cited for these items yet, the hazards exist and the compliance obligation is the same.

OSHA’s Top 10 for 2017

Here is the complete list, ranked by citation frequency:

1. Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501)
2. Hazard Communication (1910.1200)
3. Scaffolding (1926.451)
4. Respiratory Protection (1910.134)
5. Lockout/Tagout (1910.147)
6. Ladders (1926.1053)
7. Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178)
8. Machine Guarding (1910.212)
9. Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503)
10. Electrical – Wiring Methods (1910.305)

Source: National Safety Council

If your facility operates in construction, manufacturing, or any industry where workers are exposed to height, electrical, or mechanical hazards, at least three of these violations likely apply to your operation. Most facilities have compliance gaps in at least one of these areas — the question is whether you identify and correct them before OSHA does.

Building a Program Around These High-Risk Areas

The strategic approach to reducing your OSHA violation probability is to treat these 10 categories as non-negotiable. Rather than waiting for an inspection to identify deficiencies, conduct an internal audit focused on the top-hazard areas: Fall protection systems and training, hazard communication and SDS management, scaffolding specifications, respiratory protection programs, and lockout/tagout procedures. Each of these requires active management, not just policy documentation.

💰 What a citation for these violations looks like: OSHA serious violations run $5,000–$16,550 per citation depending on severity and corrective action history. A facility cited for multiple violations from the Top 10 list can easily accumulate $50,000+ in penalties in a single inspection. Most of these violations are addressable through procedural fixes (training, documentation, system updates) that cost a fraction of a single citation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why are fall protection violations the most commonly cited OSHA violation?

Fall protection encompasses hazard assessment, protective systems (guardrails, nets, harnesses), and training. OSHA cites fall protection violations frequently because many employers fail to maintain or properly implement these systems. Falls remain one of the leading causes of serious workplace injury and death, so OSHA prioritizes enforcement in this area across all industries where heights are involved.

Q: What is hazard communication and why does OSHA cite it so frequently?

Hazard Communication (HAZCOM) requires employers to identify chemical hazards, label containers, provide safety data sheets (SDS), and train employees on hazardous substance handling. Violations occur when facilities fail to maintain current SDS information, improperly label chemicals, or provide inadequate employee training on chemical hazards and protective measures.

Q: How have OSHA’s Top 10 violations changed year to year, and what does that tell us about compliance risk?

The Top 10 list has remained relatively consistent over several years, with only minor positional shifts. This consistency indicates that the compliance failures are systemic and widespread, not isolated incidents. The fact that the same hazards appear year after year suggests that many employers have not implemented effective compliance programs in these areas despite years of OSHA enforcement activity.

Q: What should a manufacturing facility do first to reduce its citation exposure?

Start with the hazards that apply to your operation. Conduct an internal audit of fall protection systems, machine guarding, lockout/tagout procedures, and hazard communication programs. Document findings and create a corrective action plan with specific timelines. For each area, assign responsibility to a supervisor and conduct training on the applicable standard. A documented compliance effort is your strongest defense if an inspection occurs.

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