OSHA violations in the workplace and their impact on business
Providing a safe working environment is the responsibility of every company. When workers are not trained properly or they are not experts or they act carelessly, this causes major accidents and injuries. Safety regulations should be inherited that will help the company to avoid injuries and accidents.
Ensure that the employees working in the company are aware of OSHA standards so that they can follow them and avoid injuries. This is one of the major things to focus on and the best part to avoid violations. Provide OSHA 10 & 30 hour training to all the employees while using equipment and safety procedures. This will help your company to cost delays and to avoid seeing dangerous situations such as injuries o major accidents.
What are OSHA violations?
OSHA’s regulations are designed in a way that is protecting employees from injuries. This agency is responsible for safety, fines, citations, and compliance with violations. OSHA not only matters if any accident occurs but also they are responsible for complying costs and production delays.
A violation occurs when the employee and the employer ignore and never perform work practices. If OSHA sees this case of OSHA violations and fines your company and gives you the citations.
Common OSHA violations
In this blog, we will be covering common OSHA violations. This OSHA top violation is not just the list instead it is the blueprint for keeping workers safe. Below is the top OSHA violations list and we will provide a closer look at each violation and how to avoid them.
1. Fall protection
OSHA safety standards related to fall protection include safety tips for cleaning spills and the use of fall prevention equipment. Every year 300,000 people got injured due to falls in the work area. This mostly happens on construction sites. The risk of falling and slipping is what every business has to take it seriously.
2. Hazard communication
OSHA recordkeeping companies have many hazard communication plans that help them keep everyone accountable and safe. An OSHA compliance plan consists of 4 parts that include appropriate labels, written programs, datasheets for material safety, and comprehensive communication training. These 4 parts help employees to be clear about the chemical hazards.
3. Scaffolding
Scaffolding is very important equipment that is used on construction sites. This helps workers in repairing, building and cleaning specific structures. These are the necessary equipment that helps workers to make the project successful but these can also put the employee’s life at risk of falling or slipping. For this OSHA safety best practices should be used to avoid violations.
4. Machine Guarding
Machines should be guarded properly because they will put workers in harm. This can also have injured the employees by sparks, moving parts, or flying pieces. Make sure that machine should have safety guards to avoid such causes. Proper machines and their guarding reduce severe injuries from blades, sparks, and moving parts. Employees should be trained in the safety precautions that include machine inspections and putting guards in fixed places.
5. Face and eye protection
Employees have to come in contact with environmental, chemical, and radiological hazards and for that face and eye protection is necessary. Workers should go through the OSHA safety program to ensure their safety and health. The OSHA safety training should have the proper details on equipment when it is necessary when to use it, its care and maintenance, and its disposal. If the employees are not well trained, then it will cause severe face and eye injuries such as blindness and even death.
6. Respiratory protection
Due to COVID-19, many employers were cited for falling through the respiratory protection program while using PPE for workers. According to OSHA's respiratory protection, many problems occur when workers breathe air contaminants found in smoke fog, ducts, vapors, and sprays. To stay away from these injuries and violations employers should provide employees with good personal protective equipment for the job.
7. PIT (Powered Industrial Trucks)
Due to the powered industrial trucks much common violation includes failures that help in providing equipment-specific training for powered industrial trucks. Authorized and safe use vehicle modification adds many other common issues under the industrial trucks violations.
Top 5 OSHA forklift violations
Below are the Top 5 OSHA forklift violations:
1. Unsafe operations
Driving too fast and with loads and not following safety is the reason for the OSHA citations.
2. Fails to provide training
Every forklift trainer should get the perfect training. They should require training when they are given the task to operate the loads or if any change in the industry has been created.
3. Missing certificate
All forklift employees must have OSHA approved certificate to work in the organization.
4. Failure to remove unsafe trucks
Be aware of the unsafe truck or truck in need of repair. These must be taken out of the service for safe operating conditions.
5. No pre-operation inspections
Use the forklift inspection checklist to make sure the safety of the operation and to help in detecting minor issues.
How to report OSHA violations?
Employees have the right to file health and safety complaints under the OSHA inspection of the workplace. If the employee or anyone believes that there are serious issues and hazard, or the employer see that the employee is not following OSHA standards then immediately file the complaint after noticing these. OSHA violations reporting and Complain can be reported online, by email, will call on the OSHA office or 800-321-6742 (OSHA), or visit to the nearest OSHA office to file the complaint.
Conclusion
It is very important to educate the OSHA’s requirements to maintain a safe workplace for employees and to avoid injuries and accidents. OSHA's mission is to make the environment safe and healthful by enforcing standards to avoid violations. Make sure to familiarize your employees and yourself with the OSHA standards as a precaution practice. Above is the list of most happening cited OSHA violations in the workplace and by avoiding them you can make a successful and safe environment for the employees.
