Update: Read the newest Top 10 list plus highest penalties, top 10 by region, and a Q&A with OSHA's Patrick Kapust in the December 2022 issue of Safety+Health

Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501) has been OSHA’s most frequently cited standard for the past 11 fiscal years, and the other standards that make up the agency’s “Top 10” list have largely remained unchanged.

Although the data may seem stagnant, Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, reminds safety professionals that the figures reinforce the importance of staying vigilant about worker safety and health. This especially rings true now, amid the evolving – and, perhaps, waning – COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ll continue to adapt to workplace scenarios in order to meet our mission, by developing our programs and initiatives either through National Emphasis Programs or directives or memos,” Kapust said.

“We’ll adapt,” he repeated.

Here, Safety+Health presents Top 10 data for FY 2021 (which concluded Sept. 30), the "penalty box" of the year’s largest fines and an exclusive interview with Kapust, who presented the data virtually in October during the NSC Safety Congress & Expo.

Most cited violations, fiscal year 2021

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*Tables based on OSHA Information System data from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. Data is current as of Nov 8.

Top 10 "serious" violations, fiscal year 2021

OSHA defines a “serious” violation as “one in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result, and the employer knew or should have known of the hazard.”

Top 10 "willful" violations, fiscal year 2021

OSHA defines a “willful” violation as one “committed with an intentional disregard of or plain indifference to the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and requirements.”

Tables are based on OSHA Information System data from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. Data is current as of Nov 8.