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CSG Law Alert: What Are the Top 10 OSHA Violations of 2025 and What Steps Can Employers Take to Avoid OSHA’s Wrath?

Recently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published the top 10 violations in 2025. This list is a reminder that risks in the workplace remain constant but are also preventable. Fall protection leads the list for the 15th consecutive year.

1. 1. 1. Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501): 5,914 violations
      2. Hazard Communication (1910.1200): 2,546 violations
      3. Ladders (1926.1053): 2,405 violations
      4. Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout) (1910.147): 2,177 violations
      5. Respiratory Protection (1910.134): 1,953 violations
      6. Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503): 1,907 violations
      7. Scaffolding (1926.451): 1,905 violations
      8. Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178): 1,826 violations
      9. Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection (1926.102): 1,665 violations
      10. Machine Guarding (1910.212): 1,239 violations

This list highlights the ongoing challenges that employers face regarding workplace safety. Employers must prioritize training, hazard identification, and safety standards compliance to reduce these violations and to help ensure worker’s protection. Proactively addressing these common workplace hazards will lead to a safer workplace environment, fewer and lower assessed penalties for non-compliance and healthier employees.

Consequences of Failing to Prevent Workplace Hazards

In addition to lost worktime, and the potential tragedies related to OSHA violations, violating workplace safety standards can lead to penalties which vary based on the severity of the violation. Penalties are typically $16,550 per violation for serious and other-than-serious violations. A violation that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but is not serious in nature, is classified as “other-than-serious.” A serious violation occurs “when the workplace hazard could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm…” If OSHA finds that an employer has failed to abate by an abatement deadline specified in a notice from OSHA, the employer will be subject to an additional $16,550 per day until the issue is fixed.

Willful and/or repeated violations are subject to $165,514 per violation which is almost 10 times the amount that would normally be assessed for a serious violation. A willful violation of OSHA regulations occurs when an employer “either knowingly failed to comply with a legal requirement (purposeful disregard) or acted with plain indifference to employee safety.” A repeated violation occurs when OSHA discovers a violation, and the employer has been cited previously.

Practical Steps Employers Can Take

We recommend the following steps to avoid workplace safety incidents, or to prevent them from reoccurring.

• Conduct regular safety audits – before OSHA appears and conducts their own inspection/audit
• Invest in worker comprehensive training and retraining – assists in keeping safety protocols at the top of everyone’s mind
• Improve communication programs – ensures all workers understands risks and responsibilities
• Use OSHA professionals – to strengthen prevention and training; assist in providing all relevant and updated OSHA standards
• Thorough Documentation – make sure to thoroughly document all incidents and employee training
• Proper maintenance of all equipment
• Create strong safety culture for reporting incidents and safety issues without fear

For more information about OSHA violations, please contact the author of this alert or the Environmental Group at CSG Law.

Michael J. Naughton