Top 10 OSHA Violations of 2025
Originally Published by: EHS Today — September 22, 2025
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One thing you can say about workplace safety violations: companies are very consistent in their noncompliance. Every year, OSHA releases their findings of the top 10 most frequently cited violations, and for the third year in a year, it’s the exact same violations on the list. While the rankings within the Top 10 shifted slightly over the past year, the same group of violations that made the 2024 list, and the 2023 list, appear again on the 2025 list.
10. Machine Guarding (1910.212): 1,239 violations. Ranked at # 10 in 2024; 302 fewer violations than in the previous year.
9. Personal Protective & Lifesaving Equipment: Eye and Face Protection (1926.102): 1,665 violations. Ranked at # 9 in 2024; 149 fewer violations than in the previous year.
8. Forklifts and Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178): 1,826 violations. Ranked at # 6 in 2024; 422 fewer violations than previous year.
7. Scaffolding (1926.451): 1,905 violations. Ranked at # 8 in 2024; 32 more violations than in the previous year.
6. Fall Protection–Training Requirements (1926.503): 1,907 violations. Ranked at # 7 in 2024; 143 fewer violations than in the previous year.
5. Respiratory Protection (1910.134): 1,953 violations. Ranked at # 4 in 2024; 906 fewer violations than in the previous year.
4. Lockout/Tagout (1910.147): 2,177 violations. Ranked at # 5 in 2024; 266 fewer violations than in the previous year.
3. Ladders (1926.1053): 2,405 violations. Ranked at # 3 in 2024; 573 fewer violations than in the previous year.
2. Hazard Communication (1910.1200): 2,546 violations. Ranked at # 2 in 2024; 342 fewer violations than in the previous year.
1. Fall Protection–General Requirements (1926.501): 5,914 violations. Ranked at # 1 in 2024; 393 fewer violations than in the previous year.
“While progress has been made, the consistency in citation rankings year after year signals that yesterday’s hazards are still today’s vulnerabilities,” pointed out Lorraine Martin, CEO of the National Safety Council. Martin’s remarks were made at the 2025 NSC Safety Congress & Expo in Denver, Colo. “Employers, safety professionals and communities must intensify efforts through robust training, regular hazard assessments and leadership accountability to protect workers and save lives.”
Eric Harbin, regional administrator with OSHA’s Dallas, TX, office, presented the preliminary list at the NSC Congress. The preliminary results are based on federal OSHA data; data collected from state OSHA agencies is not included in the list.
The number one violation, as it has been for many years, is again Fall Protection—General Requirements. And other violations related to construction (specifically, roofing) continue to rank high as well, such as Ladders (# 3) and Fall Protection—Training Requirements (# 6).
For comparison purposes, here are the five previous annual lists, which indicate that the wheels of safety progress sometimes turn very slowwwwwwwwwly:
Top 10 OSHA Violations of 2024
Top 10 OSHA Violations of 2023
Top 10 OSHA Violations of 2022