Each year, a “Top Ten” list of the most common work site safety violations cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), is compiled and published by OSHA in tandem with the National Safety Council (NSC) at the annual Safety Congress and Expo hosted by the internationally respected non-profit safety organization based in Itasca, Illinois. See, e.g., “OSHA Reveal Top 10 Violations for 2019 at NSC Congress and Expo,” published on September 10, 2019, by the National Safety Council.
For earlier OSHA Top Ten Safety Violation lists, read our discussions in:
- OSHA’s Top Ten Serious or Willful Violations of Worker Safety Laws
- 2018 OSHA Top Ten List of Most Violated Federal Worker Safety Regulations
- 2017 OSHA Top Ten List of Safety Violations.
However, the Coronavirus Pandemic has interrupted this year’s December publication of the 2020 OSHA Top Ten List. OSHA is still in the process of collecting, finalizing, and analyzing its citation data for the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2020.
This year, instead of the OSHA Top Ten List being published on its usual schedule, Illinois’ renowned National Safety Council is offering an analysis from two of its nationally known safety experts, JoAnn Dankert and John Newquist, regarding the OSHA Top Ten. This can be found in the latest issue of the NSC publication, Safety & Health Magazine, in an article written by Kevin Druley and published as “10 Insights into OSHA’s Top 10” on November 22, 2020.
Key to the contributions by both NSC safety experts is their guidance to employers in Illinois, Indiana, and across the country: employers are to consider the “Top Ten List” as a “good starting point” to protecting workers from dangerous hazards on the job site.
Today’s workers should expect their work place to be safe from harm and this may require employers to do more than merely try to skate past commonly known safety violations.
From this safety expert analysis comes several points of interest for workers who are, or who may be, injured on the job. Every employee on a job site in Indiana and Illinois deserves to work in an environment where he or she is protected from harm. Accordingly, both state and federal laws have recognized this in the various personal injury and workers’ compensation legal duties that have been placed upon employers.
Sadly, all too often companies put profits before people and leave workers at risk of harm or injury simply because management and/or supervisors fail to respect their legal duty of care and safety.
Consider the following:
Falls Are Often Deadly While Fall Protection Regulation Has Been Cited Most for Past Nine Years
For the past nine (9) years, one single federal safety regulation has been the most common safety standard appearing on the OSHA Top Ten List; this is the general requirements regulation for fall protection found in 29 CFR 1926.501.
As we have warned before, falls on the job site are one of the most dangerous types of accidents that can happen. Falls are often fatal to employees on the job. See:
- Fatal Falls on the Job and the Employers Failure to Protect Worker From Fall Risk
- Fatal Rooftop Falls: Record-Breaking Number of Deadly Falls from Roof
- Deadly Construction Accidents: Falls Remain a Leading Cause of Death for Construction Workers
- Construction Worker Deaths: Almost Half of All Construction Fatalities Caused by Falls.
Arguably, the general safety regulation for Employee Fall Protection is the most common safety violation in this country for the past decade. This is true despite the widespread recognition that the risk of falling on the worksite involves a danger of serious injury or death.
From the NSC Safety experts come various reasons for why employers are failing to keep workers safe from falls on the job by compliance with 29 CFR 1926.501. They include the fact that there are several parts to the regulation which involve time and money and “maybe … they’re trying to do safety on the side.”
Safety Training for Workers Costs Money: Untrained Worker at Risk of Harm
No one can expect an employer to be everywhere on the work site at every moment to monitor safety hazards and deflect workers from danger before an injury happens. While the employer has a stringent duty of care and safety, this must extend past reasonable and prudent efforts to keep workers safe on the site to making sure that each and every employee is educated on the dangers that can present themselves in that particular work environment.
Training workers on the hazards involved in their daily work site and job duties is a vital and necessary component of the employer’s duty of care. However, many of the OSHA Top Ten citations correspond to inadequate or nonexistent worker training.
As the NSC experts point out, this may be due to economic factors. “Time is money,” explains the safety expert. Training may be one of the first things cut from the budget by corporate management focusing on the business bottom line.
The result: workers with inadequate safety training are endangered by the failure of employers to educate them on proper safety on the job site.
Construction Audits Reveal Common Dangers to Workers on the Job
Another danger revealed in the review of the OSHA Top Ten Citation Lists by NSC safety experts involves industrial audits undertaken in the construction industry. From these audits, it is revealed that time and again construction workers are placed in danger of fatal injury because:
- Overhead live power lines are not being kept at least ten (10) feet away from construction workers and their equipment; and
- Guardrail systems on the sides of elevator shafts are not being used by work crews.
Justice for Industry Workers Injured on the Job in Indiana and Illinois
Each year, the same federal regulations appear in the list of the most common safety regulations that have been violated by employers in this country. This year, as we await the tally for the 2020 OSHA Top Ten List, the analysis provided by Illinois’ National Safety Council serves to provide an additional warning to workers and those concerned about the dangers they face on the job site.
Sadly, workers in Indiana and Illinois go to work each day on sites where there is not enough care taken by their employers to keep them safe from harm while on the job. Despite being very aware of job site dangers through things like the OSHA Top Ten List and NSC warnings, companies decide to put profit first and risk the death or serious injury of someone employed on their site.
When a worker is severely injured or killed on a job site in Indiana or Illinois, there are laws on the books to help that worker and his loved ones seek justice in the aftermath of the accident. Each case must be given individual respect and consideration to determine who shares legal responsibility for the breach of a duty of care that has resulted in the worker’s harm.
For more on workers hurt or killed on the job, read:
- Worker Fatalities: What are the Most Dangerous Jobs in 2019?
- Ironworkers in Indiana and Illinois: High Risk of Serious or Fatal Injuries on the Job
- Danger of More Fatal Truck Crashes Caused by New 2020 Hours-Of-Service Rules
- Workers Are No Safer From Fatal On the Job Work Injuries This Year: 12 Workers Die Each Day Working On The Job.
Workers face unique risks and dangers today, during the COVID pandemic. Hazards on the job site can be even more prevalent as economic pressure may increase due to the Coronavirus. Please be careful out there!
