What is the most important thing to do on a construction site? If you are a disbursement company you may say that the most important thing a foreman can do is to keep the workers on schedule. If you are a mortgage lender you may say the same. No matter who you are there is just a single answer: Keeping the site as safe as possible. After all, no one gets paid – let alone on time – if a job is shut down for safety reasons.

Keep reading to find out what the top ten most frequently cited OSHA standards for construction for the fiscal year of 2019 were. If you looked at similar lists last year, you will see that a newcomer is on the list year while another dropped off the list. If you are in need of fund control services please contact Fund Control at 800-625-5972 for help.

1. Fall Protection

The most cited safety violation in 2018 and 2019 was lack of adequate fall protection. In fact, there were more than twice as many citations for this than for the second most cited issue. This is clearly a serious issue within the construction industry.

2. Scaffolding

The second most cited issue for the second year in the row is issues with scaffolds. This includes scaffolds that are not secure, lack of scaffolds, and all other manners of scaffold issues. There were more than 2,300 citations for scaffolding issues in the fiscal year of 2019.

3. Ladders

Once again, ladder citations were third both in 2018 and 2019. There were just over 2,100 citations for ladder issues at job sites by OSHA.

4. Fall Protection

There were 1,592 fall protection violations in 2019, which left it in fourth place for the second year in a row.

5. Eye and Face Protection

For the second year in a row, the top five are the same. Eye and face protection came up with 1,292 violations.

6. Head Protection

Technically falling under the same heading eye and face protection, head protection is part of “Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment. Last year it was the eighth-most cited issue. This year it was sixth with 737.

7. General Safety and Health Provisions

Falling from number six to number seven, this ambiguous issue led to 717 citations.

8. Lack of Specific Excavation Requirements

This was not even on the list last year but this year there were 603 citations which led to its ranking at number eight.

9. Aerial Lifts on Scaffoldings

Actually tied with number eight, there were also 603 citations for issues with aerial lifts on scaffoldings.

10. Fall Protection Systems Criteria and Practices

The tenth addition to the list involves not just ideas but actual practices.

All of the issues on this list are serious and construction companies would be wise to take them as seriously as they can.