Do you know which standards the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cites most often? Do you know which ones it enforces so vigorously that it issues instance-by-instance citations?
At the National Safety Council’s (NSC) Safety Congress & Expo in New Orleans last week, OSHA’s Region 6 (Dallas) administrator, Eric Harbin, announced the agency’s Top 10 Most Cited standards for fiscal year (FY) 2023, which ended September 30. Five were construction industry standards: fall protection, ladders, scaffolding, fall protection training, and eye and face protection. OSHA’s construction industry fall protection standard has been the agency’s most frequently cited standard for 13 straight years.
However, 5 of the top 10 are general industry standards, while none of the agency’s longshoring, maritime, or shipyard standards cracked the top 10.
The agency’s second, fifth, sixth, seventh, and tenth most frequently cited standards in FY 2023 were:
- Hazard Communication (29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §1910.1200), cited 3,213 times;
- Powered Industrial Trucks (§1910.178), cited 2,561 times;
- Lockout/Tagout (§1910.147), cited 2,554 times;
- Respiratory Protection (§1910.134), cited 2,481 times; and
- Machine Guarding (§1910.212), cited 1,644 times.
Earlier this year, OSHA issued new enforcement guidance allowing “instance-by-instance” citations for “high-gravity,” serious violations of several agency standards. Those standards include violations of the lockout/tagout, machine guarding, and respiratory protection standards, as well as its general industry permit-required confined space standard and construction industry standards for fall protection and trenching.
The new enforcement policy became effective March 27. Instance-by-instance citation enables OSHA to levy higher-dollar proposed penalties. In a separate memorandum aimed at strengthening the deterrent effect of the agency’s enforcement, OSHA reminded regional administrators and area office directors not to group violations but instead to cite them separately.
The agency’s lockout/tagout, machine guarding, and respiratory protection standards are among the agency’s most cited standards and standards selected for higher-dollar instance-by-instance penalties.
The lockout/tagout and machine guarding standards also are the focus of OSHA’s Amputations in Manufacturing Industries National Emphasis Program (NEP). There also are industry-specific regional emphasis programs (REPs) and local emphasis programs (LEPs) that include lockout/tagout and machine guarding inspections and enforcement, such as the:
- Auto parts manufacturing REP at the Atlanta East; Atlanta West; Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama; and Jackson, Mississippi, area offices;
- Food manufacturing REP and wood pallet manufacturing LEP in Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin;
- Meat processing LEP out of the Omaha, Nebraska, area office; and
- Region 8 wood manufacturing and processing REP and the beverage manufacturing LEP at the Denver and Englewood, Colorado; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Billings, Montana; and Bismarck, North Dakota, area offices.
OSHA’s enforcement
Over the past few months, there have been several highly publicized cases of OSHA enforcement of the lockout/tagout, machine guarding, and respiratory protection standards, often with high-dollar penalties.
This summer, OSHA hit an Illinois pizza manufacturer with $2.8 million in fines and placed the employer in its severe violator enforcement program (SVEP) after a 29-year-old sanitation worker died while cleaning a conveyor. OSHA inspectors found deficient lockout/tagout procedures at the facility—the company failed to establish and use proper procedures for controlling hazardous energy, provide locks to employees, and train employees in a language they understood on how to lock out equipment such as dough mixers, ovens, sauce depositors, toppings, and crust spiral devices. The agency also cited the employer for a lack of adequate machine guards on dough mixers and sprocket wheels and chains.
Hostess Brands found itself facing $298,010 in fines this summer following a worker’s amputation injury at its Chicago facility. The agency’s investigation found that the company failed to shut down and lock out equipment during maintenance to prevent it from unexpectedly restarting. Inspectors also determined that Hostess failed to ensure that shafts, sprockets, and moving parts on equipment such as coolers, dough mixers, icing and wrapping stations, and box stoppers had required machine guarding in place to protect workers from contact with pinch points and moving parts.
This past month, OSHA cited a Beaumont, Texas, tank service provider for failing to provide workers with appropriate respirators, manage a required respiratory protection program that provided workers with medical evaluations before respirator use, and conduct respirator fit testing. Two employees cleaning a tanker truck and two responding firefighters suffered hydrogen sulfide exposure. The agency proposed $399,349 in penalties for the respiratory protection violations, along with cited violations of the air contaminants and formaldehyde standards.
OSHA recently cited a Newnan, Georgia-based precast concrete productsmanufacturer for lockout/tagout and permit-controlled confined space violations after a concrete mixer restarted while a teen worker tried to clean inside the machine. The 19-year-old worker suffered fatal injuries, and the agency proposed fines totaling $245,546.
The agency cited a national car wash chain for lockout/tagout and electrical safety violations after employees at a Beechwood, Ohio, location complained of electrical shocks suffered over a 14-month period.
OSHA proposed penalties totaling $256,707, finding that the car wash failed to:
- Use lockout procedures to control potentially hazardous energy sources for those working in the car wash tunnel amid automatically controlled equipment, highly pressurized water, and heated blowers.
- Remove lockout/tagout kits from their boxes.
- Train employees on energy control procedures and applying lockout devices on track and tunnel equipment.
A steam explosion at a Bedford, Ohio, foundry caused a maintenance supervisor’s death and injured 15 other employees. OSHA inspectors found the company didn’t ensure required lockout/tagout procedures were followed during an inspection of the foundry’s furnace. The agency cited the company for six serious violations and proposed penalties totaling $62,500.
OSHA cited a Texas engine components manufacturer for repeat machine guarding violations and serious electrical safety, recordkeeping, and respiratory protection violations, proposing penalties that totaled $298,250. Inspectors found unguarded projected shaft ends, belts, and pulleys on a horizontal lathe.
‘Control of hazardous energy’ compliance
Under OSHA’s “control of hazardous energy,” or lockout/tagout, standard, you must ensure workers are protected from amputation, burn, and electrocution hazards, as well as crushed, cut, fractured, or lacerated body parts caused by machinery that wasn’t properly shut down during inspection, service, or maintenance. Compliance with the standard must include developing formal practices and procedures for disabling equipment or machinery during servicing or maintenance.
You must provide training for the employees who work in an area where machines need to be de-energized before cleaning and maintenance or anywhere lockout/tagout procedures are used.
You must ensure your employees understand the purpose and use of the energy control procedures. They also need to understand and follow the lockout/tagout standard’s prohibition against restarting or reenergizing machines or equipment that has been locked or tagged out.
You also must ensure contract or temporary employees are trained to recognize the hazards of energized machinery and the need for de-energization before cleaning and maintenance. They must understand that only authorized personnel may remove locks or tags and restart machinery.
Those authorized to lock out machines or equipment for service or maintenance must have additional training in lockout/tagout procedures. Their training must include:
- Recognizing sources of hazardous energy in the workplace,
- The type and magnitude of energy found in your facility, and
- The means and methods of isolating and/or controlling energy as part of your facility’s lockout/tagout procedures.
You also need to maintain their proficiency in your facility’s lockout/tagout procedures by providing regular retraining.
If machinery or equipment in your facility can’t be locked out, you need to develop, implement, and enforce an effective tagout program. Your employees need training on your program’s specific procedures for tagout systems, as well as the limitations of those systems.
When you acquire or overhaul equipment or machinery in your facility, you must ensure that equipment or machinery can be locked out. You need to retrain all your employees when new sources of hazardous energy are installed in your facility or updated lockout/tagout procedures are introduced.
You also must ensure your employees only use the lockout/tagout devices authorized for the specific equipment and machinery in your facility. Your lockout/tagout devices must be durable, standardized, and substantial, and they must identify the individual who has locked out or tagged out a machine or piece of equipment.
Your machine guarding compliance
Compliance with the machine guarding standard protects operators and other employees from hazards created by flying chips and sparks, nip points, and rotating parts.
The types of machine guarding in your facility might include barrier guards, light curtains that shut off machinery, and two-hand operating devices. Machine guards should be attached to a facility’s machinery whenever possible. When guards can’t be attached directly to a machine, guarding attached elsewhere should guard workers from nip points or rotating parts.
A machine must be constructed or guarded to prevent an operator from having any body part in the danger zone while performing machine operations.
The area where work is performed is called the “point of operation.” Your machine must be equipped with point-of-operation guarding for guillotine cutters, jointers, milling machines, portable power saws and other power tools, power presses, rollers that finish or smooth materials (“calenders”), and shears and alligator shears.
If your operators must use special hand tools for placing and removing material from the point of operation, those tools must enable the operator to handle material easily without placing a hand inside a danger zone.
Revolving barrels, containers, and drums must be guarded by an enclosure that interlocks with the drive mechanism so the barrel, container, or drum can’t revolve unless the guard enclosure is in place. Machine blades also must be guarded, and the guard must not have openings larger than one-half inch. Machinery must be securely anchored to prevent the machine from moving or “walking.”
Respiratory protection
Requirements of OSHA’s respiratory protection standard include having a written respiratory protection program, medical evaluation for respirator use, initial and annual fit testing, respirator cleaning and disinfection, recordkeeping, and training.
Types of respirators include the following:
- Filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), like N95s or P100s;
- Elastomeric half-mask respirators and elastomeric full-facepiece respirators;
- Powered air-purifying respirators;
- Supplied-air respirators; and
- Self-contained breathing apparatuses and combination supplied-air/self-contained apparatuses.
During an inspection for respiratory protection compliance, an agency compliance safety and health officer (CSHO) will check whether your program meets all the standard’s requirements, including respirator selection; equipment cleaning, maintenance, and repair; medical evaluation and respirator fit testing; and training. OSHA may cite you for the lack of a written program, as well as any missing program elements.
To avoid costly OSHA fines, stay informed on the agency’s most cited standards and its enforcement policies and directives.