Every U.S. worker has the right to a safe work environment, free from risks that could cause workplace accidents and injuries. That is why the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is dedicated to enforcing workplace safety regulations and penalizing the employers who fail to abide by them.
OSHA also reports on the violations that are the most prevalent among U.S. employers, and it has recently released information regarding the top 10 safety violations for 2015.
According to preliminary data, the top safety violations among U.S. employers so far in 2015 include:
- Failing to provide fall protections – more than 6,700
- Failing to use proper hazard communications – nearly 5,200
- Unsafe scaffolding/failing to abide by OSHA scaffolding regulations – nearly 4,300
- Failing to provide respiratory protections – more than 3,300
- Failing to use proper lockout/tagout procedures – more than 3,000
- Violations related to powered industrial trucks – more than 2,700
- Ladder violations – nearly 2,500
- Electrical /improper wiring methods – more than 2,400
- Failing to provide proper machine guarding – nearly 2,300
- Electrical /failing to comply with general OSHA electrical requirements – nearly 2,000
Additional OSHA Workplace Accident & Injury Statistics
While the above violations list provides some insight regarding common ways U.S. employers fail to do their part to keep workers safe, the following statistics present a picture of how often the above – and other – violations are harming workers:
- In 2014, nearly 4,700 workers in the U.S. were killed in fatal work accidents. That is the equivalent of about 90 workers dying per week – or at least 13 being killed in fatal work accidents every day.
- About 1 in every 6 workers killed in the U.S. in 2014 was a Latino or Hispanic worker. In fact, each week in 2014, an average of 15 Latino workers were killed in fatal work accidents.
- Contractors represented about 17 percent of workers killed in 2014.
- In 2014, about 1 in every 5 fatal work accidents occurred at a construction site.
- Falls, electrocutions and being hit by an object are the leading causes of fatal construction site accidents.
What do you think about the top violations for 2015 and/or the above statistics? Comment on our Facebook & Google+ pages.
Contact a Portland Workers Compensation Lawyer at the Savage Law Firm
Have you been hurt at work or diagnosed with an occupational disease? If so, you can rely on a Portland workers compensation lawyer at the Savage Law Firm for experienced help and aggressive legal advocacy. For more than three decades, our lawyers have been devoted to providing each of our clients with personal attention, respect and the highest quality legal services.
To learn more about our legal services and what we can do for you, call us at 503-222-0200 (in Portland) or at 206-957-7272 (in Seattle). You can also email us using the form on this page. We represent clients in communities in both Oregon and Washington from our offices in Portland and Seattle.
