Top 10 safety violations for 2013

Graphic Products, a provider of workplace labelling and signage, has released the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) top 10 safety violations for 2013. While these results are from the U.S. Department of Labor, Canadian companies will be interested to see how their neighbours to the south fare in terms of safety.

Because the “usual suspects” tend to populate the list every year, Graphic Products has also included ideas for bolstering safety for 2014.

“It’s clear that more work needs to be done to generate safety awareness in those categories,” the company said in press release.

Violations of each of the top 10 most cited standards for fiscal year 2013 (October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013) are:

1. Fall protection (1926.501): 8,241 violations
2. Hazard communication (1910.1200): 6,156 violations
3. Scaffolding (1926.451): 5,423 violations
4. Respiratory protection (1910.134): 3,879 violations
5. Electrical, wiring methods (1910.305): 3,452 violations
6. Powered industrial trucks (1910.178): 3,340 violations
7. Ladders (1926.1053): 3,311 violations
8. Lockout/tagout (1910.147): 3,254 violations
9. Electrical, general requirements (1910.303): 2,745 violations
10. Machine guarding (1910.212): 2,701 violations

Here are 10 ways to prevent becoming next year’s statistic, according to Graphic Products:

• Fall protection: Fall protection, according to OSHA, should be provided at elevations of four feet in general industry workplaces, five feet in shipyards, six feet in the construction industry and eight feet in long shoring operations.

• Hazard communication: The adoption of the GHS-aligned HazCom 2012 standard means a lot of big changes, so read the rule in its entirety.

• Scaffolding (construction): Workers must have proper fall protection when working on raised surfaces.

• Respiratory protection: Companies must provide appropriate respirators to employees as part of a respiratory protection program.

• Ladders: Common issues include non-parallel positioning relative to landings, too much or too little space between rungs, inadequate landing size and ladder bases more than 12 inches off the ground.

• Machine guarding: Machine guards protect workers’ limbs, skin and eyes from nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks.

• Powered industrial trucks: Ensure that forklifts and other industrial trucks are in top mechanical order. Operators must be trained and certified to operate vehicles safely.

• Electrical wiring methods: Trust wiring to licensed, bonded electricians. Use caution with extension cords.

• Lockout/tagout: Machinery or equipment can unexpectedly energize, start up or release stored energy. Use professional-grade lockout and tagout supplies.

• Electrical general requirements: Avoid consumer-rated appliances for commercial work environments.