Jobsites are often bustling with rushed timelines, multiple crews working, and hazardous heights. The hectic sites can create a recipe for overlooking safety rules and mindless actions, especially when hopping on a ladder or scaling a scaffold.
With falls being a leading cause of injury and death in construction, fall prevention violations steadily hit the top of the OSHA violations each year.
The top violations of 2024 include:
- Fall Protection (General Requirements) with 6,307 violations
- Hazard Communication with 2,888
- Ladders with 2,573
- Respiratory Protection with 2,470
- Lockout/Tagout with 2,443
- Powered Industrial Trucks with 2,248
- Fall Protection (Training Requirements) with 2,050
- Scaffolding with 1,873
- Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment (Eye and Face Protection) with 1,814
- Machine Guarding with 1,541
Starting January 15, OSHA’s maximum penalties for violations will increase from $16,131 per violation to $16,550 for each serious and other-than-serious violation, as well as each day an employer fails to fix a previously cited violation.
The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will also increase from $161,323 per violation to $165,514 per violation, OSHA announced.
Tied to the annual cost-of-living increases across the federal government and inflation, the penalty hikes represent an annual increase of around 2.6% from 2024 to 2025, a slight decrease from the 3.2% increase OSHA announced from 2023 to 2024.
OSHA provides free materials for presentations and safety stand-downs and a Fall Protection Toolkit is also available as a part of the NAHB's safety resources.
