Violations were up, as well as serious violations, for most of the 25 top “most cited” Title 8 standards in 2017, according to data released by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. There are thousands of regulations making up Title 8. Few are ever cited as you can see by the charts herewith.

Many of the most-appealed standards showed increased in violations last year, as well.

Most of the most-cited standards were the same as 2016, with a couple of notable exceptions: Process safety management (General Industry Safety Orders §5189) appears on the new list, as does tree work (GISO §3421). DOSH’s PSM Unit has been conducting expanded inspections in refineries, leading to the increase in violations.

Tree work, which is a regular source of workplace fatalities in California, also has come seriously onto Cal/OSHA’s radar. The other standards appearing on the 2017 list that were not on it the previous year were Use, Care and Protection of Abrasive Wheels (GISO §3577) and Metal Scaffolds, Construction Safety Orders §1644.

The top 17 of the most-cited list are the same as 2016, with some moving up or down the list. The top three, as has been the case for several years, are the Injury and Illness Prevention Program standards, both general industry and construction and the heat illness prevention regulation.

Cited violations of the IIPP standard were up 7%, while those cited as serious were up 36%. Construction IIPP violations were up slightly, but serious violations were down slightly.

Heat illness violations also increased slightly, but serious violations of the standard, GISO §3395, were up 19%. The top 25 violations with the highest percentage of serious violations was the standard on the safe use of abrasive wheels, at about 69%. Other violations with high percentages of serious violations include the personal fall arrest standard, CSO §1670, at 67%; metal scaffolds, at 63%; and emergency eyewash and shower equipment, at almost 50%.

The most-appealed violation was GISO §4184, point of operation guarding. The 114 cited violations were appealed three quarters of the time in 2017. The only three violations that appeared on both the most-cited and most-appealed lists were the lockout/tagout standard, GISO §3314; failure to timely report work-connected fatalities and serious injuries (§342(a)); and portable ladders, GISO §3276.

New to the most-appealed list for 2017 were foot protection (GISO §3385); lockout/tagout; personal fall arrest systems (CSO §1670); and portable ladders.