Podcast: Key takeaways from OSHA’s list of top violations — What safety professionals must know
Philip Jacklin is the continuing education program manager for Diversified Fall Protection. In his current position, Philip trains workers nationwide on fall protection best practices and advises safety managers, EHS leaders, plant maintenance managers, and others on how to create more efficient fall protection programs. He is an AIA continuing ed provider, QSSP certified, OSHA-30 trained, and has been a partner to the fall protection industry since 2018. Philip recently spoke with Nicole Stempak, managing editor of EHS Today, about OSHA’s top 10 most cited violations for fiscal year 2024.
Below is an excerpt from the podcast:
EHST: Hey, Phillip. It's great to have you here today talking about OSHA’s top 10 violations of 2024. Before we get started, I wanted to talk about the limitations of the data itself.
PJ: In this list, I would say one of the biggest limitations is that this is federal OSHA. So, this isn't going to capture the big picture of the whole country, of a lot of state OSHA programs, states like California, Washington, Virginia, for example. That kind of data won't be in here. But I think from this, though, we can pull a general consensus of what's going on across the country.
EHST: Is there anything else that you think is important to note that this data doesn't tell us?
PJ: This is just OSHA violations, so it's hard to tell how severe these violations are. Did an OSHA agent see a near miss that could have been really tragic or is this just simply an OSHA officer seeing something and pointing it out during an audit or after an investigation? It is hard to say. Each violation is something that could have gotten somebody injured or worse. But it's just a good baseline to see what violations are common, and for other safety professionals to know what else is happening out in the field.
EHST: I think one thing that is important, and what this data doesn't tell us, is that this is only what is captured during an OSHA inspection. And this is usually when people are on their best behaviors too, right? So it only tells a small fraction of the story. And, like you said, only in those states that have federal OSHA. So keeping that in mind, it's still helpful. What can this list tell safety professionals?
PJ: It can tell them what other people are having issues with at other organizations. A really important thing in the safety industry is to know that you're probably not alone if you're having issues with fall protection, for example. Don't think it's woe is me. It's because I'm a bad safety manager. I have a bad program. This is a very common problem, and it's very difficult to find compliance in a lot of these things. So, I think that's one of the biggest takeaways other safety professionals could take from this list.
EHST: This is an annual list, so what has changed from fiscal year 2023 to 2024 this year?