The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which is dedicated to protecting workers from unsafe conditions on the job. However, despite OSHA’s rules, many employers get caught every year with unsafe conditions on their job sites. Here are some of the most common OSHA violations found in workplaces across the United States:
Fall Protection
The perennial chart-topper on OSHA’s list of common violations, this encompasses violations related to guard rails, safety nets, and anything else used to prevent harm from falling. This regulation requires all surfaces that people walk on be strong and stable enough to safely hold a person’s weight and requires any unprotected sides or edges to have guard rails or safety nets. Though most commonly an issue at construction sites, there are plenty of other places where workers may potentially be forced to walk on a precarious or unstable surface, or where an unprotected ledge might lead to an unfortunate fall.
Hazard Communication
There are a shocking number of occupations that work with hazardous chemicals and materials on a daily basis. These include toxic gasses or liquids, flammable or explosive materials, biohazardous waste, and even potentially radioactive materials. While working with these hazards isn’t always avoidable, it is required that they be appropriately labeled, and that employees be adequately trained for handling these myriad hazardous substances.
Machine Guarding
We have come a long way since the days when people would regularly lose life and limb while working in factories, because of new safety mechanisms to prevent unfortunate injuries. By law, these mechanisms- including barrier guards, two-hand tripping devices, electronic safety devices, among others- need to be installed to prevent harm from rotating parts, nip points, and flying sparks or chips. Unfortunately, some employers either don’t take the time or resources to install these protections, or worse, deliberately disable them to speed up work, potentially resulting in serious injury.
Respiratory/Eye and Face Protection
Every employer is supposed to make sure their employees have adequate protection for their eyes and faces, as well as for their respiratory system, whenever working with hazards that have a high likelihood of harming their eyes or faces, or when working with materials that would be unsafe to inhale. These include face masks, goggles, and any other measure appropriate for what they’re working with. However, not every employer furnishes their employees with adequate protection, or is sufficiently stringent about ensuring their employees are wearing that protection on the job.
Control of Hazardous Energy
Many jobs require working with machines that store, produce or channel large amounts of electrical energy, enough to cause serious physical injury to anyone who touches it. Any such devices are legally required to have so-called “lockout” systems to prevent unfortunate electrocutions or burns, or when that’s not possible, to have “tagout” systems that minimize the risk of unintentional contact. Unfortunately, there are many employers who do not have these systems in place, resulting in unnecessary injury to employees.
If you’ve been injured on the job as a result of an OSHA violation, contact the Law Office of Andrew Ross Sack. He has the knowledge and skills you need to protect your rights and achieve the relief you deserve. Give him a call at (516) 526-3319, or visit his contact page.
