Fall Protection—General Requirements continues to be the most frequently cited safety standard for 15 consecutive years.
OSHA recently revealed its top 10 most frequently cited standards in the 2025 fiscal year using preliminary data. This information is valuable for businesses of all kinds, as it helps them identify common exposures that affect their workforce and gives them the information they need to plan their compliance programs.
For 2025, the top 10 most cited standards were as follows:
- Fall protection—General requirements (1926.501): 5,914 total violations
- Hazard communication (1910.1200): 2,546 total violations
- Ladders (1926.1053): 2,405 total violations
- Control of Hazardous Energy—Lockout/tagout (1910.147): 2,177 total violations
- Respiratory protection (1910.134): 1,953 total violations
- Fall protection—Training requirements (1926.503): 1,907 violations
- Scaffolding (1926.451): 1,905 total violations
- Powered industrial trucks (1910.178): 1,826 total violations
- Personal protective and life-saving equipment—Eye and face protection (1926.102): 1,665 total violations
- Machine guarding (1910.212): 1,239 total violations
Several standards changed positions from fiscal year 2024. For instance, “Respiratory protection” moved down from number four to number five, and “Scaffolding” violations moved up from number eight to number seven. “Fall protection—General requirements” remained OSHA’s most frequently cited standard for the 15th consecutive fiscal year.
Each day, workers suffer preventable injuries, illnesses, and deaths related to the hazards addressed in these standards. OSHA publishes this list to alert employers about these commonly cited standards so they can take steps to find and fix recognized hazards addressed in these and other standards before OSHA intervenes.
Keep in mind that this data is preliminary and may be subject to change.
