Pennsylvania employers may be interested in a recent National Safety Council report detailing the top 10 workplace safety standards cited during the fiscal year 2014 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. According to authorities, the report contains the same violations that were on the list for fiscal year 2013, with some of them having moved up or down the list.
Based on preliminary figures, the top safety violation was fall protection, which had more than 6,100 violations nationwide, according to the NSC. Second on the list was hazard communication, which had more than 5,100 violations. The third most cited safety violation for the fiscal year was scaffolding protection, and the fourth most violated standard was respiratory protection. The fifth most frequent violation was lockout/tagout, which moved up from the eighth spot with more than 2,700 violations.
The remaining five safety standards involved, in order, powered industrial trucks, electrical and wiring methods, ladders, guards for machines and general and electrical requirements. According to officials, the figures serve as a reminder that many improvements are still needed in making workplaces safer for employees.
In Pennsylvania, employees who are injured in Workplace Accidents are entitled to insurance coverage, whether their employers have workers' compensation or a private insurance policy. Workers' compensation may provide the workers with medical benefits, payments for lost wages and benefits for temporary or permanent disability.
In some cases, however, seeking workers' compensation benefits can prove to be complicated and highly contentious if the employer provides resistance to the workers' compensation claim. For this reason, many workers retain the counsel and representation of a personal injury lawyer when they suffer injuries in a workplace accident.
Source: EHS Today, "NSC 2014: Fall Protection, Hazard Communication Repeat as OSHA's Most Frequently Cited Standards", Josh Cable, September 16, 2014
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