Roofing Safety

Fall Protection Leads OSHA Top 10 Most Cited Violations of 2019

Photo courtesy of Miller Fall Protection/Honeywell.

SAN DIEGO — For the ninth year in a row, “fall protection – general requirements” was named the most frequently cited safety violation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The National Safety Council (NSC) and OSHA announced the preliminary Top 10 workplace safety violations for fiscal year 2019. Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, presented the list as part of the NSC 2019 Congress & Expo, the world’s largest annual gathering for safety professionals.

As reported by RC, fall protection remains one of the top hazards in the roofing industry. In this year alone, at least two roofing contractors have faced charges of manslaughter related to fatal falls, while multiple citations have been issued due to fall protection violations.

“Far too many preventable injuries and deaths occur on the job,” said Lorraine M. Martin, NSC president and CEO. “The OSHA Top 10 list is a helpful guide for understanding just how adept America’s businesses are in complying with the basic rules of workplace safety.”

Like previous years, fall protection made the list twice, with training requirement violations for fall protection taking the eighth spot.

The rest of the list remains largely unchanged from 2018, with the exception being lockout/tagout violations moving up one place to the fourth spot, bumping respiratory protection to fifth. Data for the list was collected from Oct. 1, 2018 to Aug. 15, 2019.

“This list should serve as a challenge for us to do better as a nation and expect more from employers,” Martin said. “It should also serve as a catalyst for individual employees to re-commit to safety.”

The full list* is as follows: