In what might come as little to no surprise to the roofing industry, fall protection has topped the list of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's most frequently cited workplace safety standards for the 15th straight year. 

The preliminary data, revealed during the 2025 NSC Safety Congress & Expo — one of the world’s largest annual gatherings of safety professionals — highlights persistent compliance issues and the need for stronger safety efforts across industries.

The Top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety standards are:

1. Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501): 5,914 violations
2. Hazard Communication (1910.1200): 2,546
3. Ladders (1926.1053): 2,405
4. Lockout/Tagout (1910.147): 2,177
5. Respiratory Protection (1910.134): 1,953
6. Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503): 1,907
7. Scaffolding (1926.451): 1,905
8. Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178): 1,826
9. Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection (1926.102): 1,665
10. Machine Guarding (1910.212): 1,239

When compared to 2024, Fall Protection – General Requirements violations are down by 6.2% from 6,307. Fall Protection – Training Requirements are down by 6.9% from 2,050.

“While progress has been made in many workplaces, the consistency in citation rankings year after year signals there is more work ahead,” said Lorraine Martin, NSC CEO. “The safety community must intensify our efforts to better protect workers and save lives. We can do this through robust training, updated metrics, high-hazard identification and control implementation, coupled with employee engagement and leadership accountability.”

Using the most current data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2023, roofing was among the third deadliest civilian occupations due to the amount of fatal workplace incidents. The roofing industry experienced 134 workplace fatalities in 2023, which calculates to a rate of 51.8 fatal injuries per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in the roofing industry.

Of the 134 fatalities in roofing that took place in 2023, 110 were caused by a fall, slip or trip. This means 82% of fatalities in roofing happened because of a fall.