OSHA's Top 10 Most Cited Construction Violations in 2024

Chris Fredette
4 hours ago
3 min read

This is Part 5 of Construction Safety in Focus, TriCore Safety's National Safety Month series for June 2026. Each week this month we're covering the hazards, habits, and hard truths that define safety on construction sites today.

Every fall, OSHA releases its list of the most frequently cited standards from the previous fiscal year. Every year, the construction industry dominates the top of that list. And every year, the number one violation is the same one it has been for over a decade: fall protection.

This list matters because it tells you exactly where OSHA inspectors are finding failures on real job sites. It's not theoretical. These are the violations that showed up during actual inspections, at companies of all sizes, across every type of construction work. If your site has any of these gaps, you are not an outlier. You are in the majority.

OSHA's Top 10 Most Cited Standards in Construction, FY2024

Fall Protection, General Requirements (1926.501): 7,271 citations
Hazard Communication (1910.1200): 2,888 citations
Lockout/Tagout, Control of Hazardous Energy (1910.147): 2,554 citations
Ladders, Construction (1926.1053): 2,486 citations
Respiratory Protection (1910.134): 2,143 citations
Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178): 2,108 citations
Fall Protection Training Requirements (1926.503): 1,873 citations
Scaffolding (1926.451): 1,643 citations
Eye and Face Protection (1926.102): 1,528 citations
Machine Guarding (1910.212): 1,514 citations

Fall Protection: The Citation That Never Goes Away

Fall protection has topped this list for over a decade. That's not a coincidence. It reflects something structural about how the construction industry approaches fall hazards, which is reactively and inconsistently.

The standard requires protection at six feet in construction and four feet in general industry. The most common failures OSHA finds are missing guardrails at leading edges, inadequate personal fall arrest systems, and no protection at floor holes and wall openings. These aren't obscure requirements. They're the basics. And they're failing on thousands of sites every year.

It is worth noting that fall protection training (1926.503) appears separately at number seven. When both standards are combined, falls account for two of the top ten spots, which reflects how deeply this hazard category is embedded in the industry's compliance failures.

Lockout/Tagout: The Standard That Saves Lives When People Actually Use It

Lockout/tagout violations show up at number three, and they're particularly serious because the incidents that follow LOTO failures tend to be catastrophic. Caught-in/between fatalities are heavily linked to energy control failures. A worker services equipment they believe is de-energized. It isn't. The consequences are usually fatal or permanently disabling.

Most LOTO violations come down to two things: no written program, or a written program that workers haven't been trained on and don't actually follow. Having the binder on the shelf doesn't count.

Ladders: Underestimated on Every Site

Ladders are the most commonly used access equipment on construction sites and one of the most frequently misused. Number four on the citation list reflects what you see on any active site: ladders not extending three feet above the landing, ladders used at the wrong angle, damaged ladders still in service, and workers carrying materials while climbing.

Ladder incidents account for a significant portion of fall fatalities. They're also almost entirely preventable with basic inspection habits and proper training. The fact that ladders rank this high every year is a training and supervision problem, not an equipment problem.

What the List Actually Tells You

Look at the top 10 and a pattern emerges. These aren't unusual or highly technical standards. They cover the fundamentals: fall protection, hazard communication, energy control, access equipment, PPE. These are the requirements that have been in place for decades. The fact that they still dominate the citation list tells you that knowledge of the standard isn't the problem. Execution is.

For contractors and site owners, this list is a self-audit checklist. If you don't have a documented fall protection plan, a functioning LOTO program, a ladder inspection protocol, and current hazcom training, you are not just at risk of an OSHA citation. You are at risk of the incident that would have triggered the inspection.

Key Takeaways

Fall protection has been the number one OSHA citation in construction for over a decade
The top 10 are all fundamentals, not obscure technical requirements
LOTO failures are directly linked to caught-in/between fatalities, the most severe of the Fatal Four
Ladder violations are a training and supervision problem, not an equipment problem
Use this list as a self-audit. If your site has gaps in these areas, you don't need an OSHA inspection to tell you

This is Part 5 of the Construction Safety in Focus series. Next up: Mental Health in Construction, the hazard nobody talks about. Read the full series at tricoresafety.com/blog.