OSHA’s 2026 Top 10 Violations: What the Preliminary Numbers Show

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) preliminary list of the Top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety standards for Fiscal Year 2026 is now available. It offers an early look at the hazards OSHA cited most often during inspections this year.

Key Findings

• OSHA reported 17,701 citations across its preliminary FY 2026 Top 10, nearly 25% fewer than in FY 2025.
• “Fall Protection - General Requirements” remained No. 1 with 4,041 citations. “Fall Protection - Training Requirements” ranked eighth with 1,273.
• OSHA hasn’t provided the inspection volume or reporting cutoff, so final numbers may rise.

“Fall Protection – General Requirements” (1926.501) remains No. 1 with 4,041 violations. That’s 1,873 fewer than last year. Across all 10 categories, citations fell from 23,537 to 17,701, a decline of nearly 25%.

The drop is notable and may be encouraging. Still, citation totals are only one part of the picture. They can be affected by the number and types of inspections OSHA conducts, the industries inspected, and when the data is collected.

The National Safety Council (NSC) stresses the 2026 figures as preliminary. Its release doesn’t include the number of inspections or a reporting cutoff date, so the totals are best viewed as an early snapshot rather than a final measure of workplace safety. Preliminary figures can also change as more information becomes available. In 2015, for example, OSHA first announced 6,721 violations under “Fall Protection – General Requirements,” but the final count rose to 7,402.

The 2026 list remains a useful guide. It shows where employers and workers continue to face common safety challenges. To understand what the lower totals mean, however, it helps to look at what the Top 10 measures, how the rankings compare with past years, and what the preliminary figures can’t yet tell us.

What the OSHA 2026 Top 10 Violations for 2026 Show

The preliminary Top 10 includes standards from both construction and general industry. Standards beginning with 1926 generally apply to construction, while standards beginning with 1910 generally apply to other workplaces.

* OSHA lists “Hazard Communication” as 1910.1200.

Fall-related hazards—though not all labeled under “fall protection”—remain prominent throughout the list. “Fall Protection – General Requirements” (No. 1) received more than twice as many citations as any other category. “Scaffolding,” related to work at height, ranks No. 4. “Fall Protection – Training Requirements” (No. 8) also appears in the Top 10.

Together, these categories show that preventing falls involves more than selecting equipment. Employers must also consider access, training, planning, and how workers use fall protection throughout the day.

How to Read the Lower Citation Totals

Every category on the preliminary 2026 list has fewer citations than it did in 2025. That makes the overall decline worth watching, but citation totals aren’t the same as injury rates or a national measure of workplace safety.

The Top 10 reflects OSHA enforcement activity. It identifies the standards cited most often during inspections. It doesn’t show how many inspections OSHA completed, how many workplaces or workers those inspections covered, or how many injuries and deaths involved each hazard.

Several factors could influence the lower totals. Employers may be improving compliance. OSHA may have completed fewer inspections, focused on different industries, or used an earlier cutoff for the preliminary data. The available figures don’t provide enough detail to separate those possibilities.

For now, the clearest conclusion is that OSHA reported fewer citations within the preliminary Top 10 data. The list still helps employers identify common compliance challenges, but more information is needed before the decline can be treated as evidence of broader safety improvement.

Why Fall Protection Remains No. 1

Reported citations for “Fall Protection – General Requirements” (1926.501) declined from 6,307 in 2024 to 5,914 in 2025 and a preliminary 4,041 in 2026. Even at the lower count, it received more than twice as many citations as the second-ranked category.

One reason is the broad range of work covered by 1926.501. The standard addresses fall protection around unprotected sides and edges, holes, roofs, ramps, excavations, and other walking and working surfaces. These conditions appear across many construction projects and trades.

Training also remains part of the picture. “Fall Protection – Training Requirements” (1926.503) ranked No. 8 with 1,273 citations. The standard requires employers to train workers who may be exposed to fall hazards so they can recognize those hazards and understand the procedures used to reduce them.

Together, the two fall-protection categories (1926.501 and 1926.503) accounted for 5,314 of the 17,701 citations in the Top 10, or about 30%. That doesn’t mean falls caused 30% of workplace injuries or deaths. It means requirements explicitly related to fall protection represent a big share of the standards cited most often.

How Safety Managers Can Use the OSHA Top 10

The Top 10 works best as a starting point for workplace review, not as a performance grade. A lower national citation count doesn’t necessarily mean a hazard has become less important at a specific workplace.

Safety managers can use the list to ask three practical questions:

• Do these hazards exist in our work?
• Are the right controls in place and working as intended?
• Do workers know how to use those controls and respond in an emergency?

These questions support OSHA’s recommended approach to hazard identification and assessment. That approach includes inspecting workplaces regularly, reviewing changes in equipment and operations, listening to workers, and looking for new or recurring hazards.

For fall protection, a review may include work areas, anchor points, exposed edges, openings, available clearance, equipment, training, and rescue plans. It should also confirm that existing controls still fit the work and continue to provide protection.

Rank alone shouldn’t determine which hazards receive attention first. A standard listed at No. 10 nationally could represent the most serious risk at a particular workplace. OSHA recommends considering the possible severity of an incident, how likely it is to occur, and how many workers could be exposed when setting priorities.

The goal is to use the list as a prompt for finding and controlling hazards before they contribute to an inspection finding, close call, or injury.

Turning the Top 10 Into Action

The preliminary decline may become more meaningful when OSHA releases complete 2026 data. For now, the lower totals are an encouraging development that will need more context.

The same 10 standards returned from the previous year, and fall protection continues to lead by a wide margin. That consistency makes the OSHA Top 10 violations useful even before the final citation totals are available.

Employers don’t need to wait for more data to review the hazards on the list. They can use it to start conversations with workers, inspect changing work areas, confirm that controls remain effective, and identify where training or planning may need attention.

Fewer citations would be welcome. The greater value of the Top 10, however, is its ability to help workplaces turn national enforcement trends into practical steps that support safer work.