Fall Protection Citation Prevention

Don't Fall Behind on Fall Protection

Each year, EC&M publishes a gallery that looks at "The Top 10 OSHA Violations." In the latest gallery, Fall Protection — General Requirements was the most frequently cited workplace safety standard for the 14th year in a row. On the bright side, there was a decrease in overall citations from 2023 to 2024 by nearly 1,000 for a total of 6,307 violations in 2024. Still, there's room for significant improvement.

One of our most popular newsletters is "Safety Matters," which delivers the latest trends and information on electrical safety, and provides reference and training material to be used in the field. A frequent contributor to these newsletters is Mark Lamendola, an electrical engineer and subject matter expert in maintenance management and safety. To shine a light on the importance of fall protection, Mark recently wrote a series titled "Fall Protection Citation Prevention."

Mark notes that, in 2022, "the training requirements for fall protection took 8th place. Ladders and scaffolding took 4th and 5th place, respectively. So, of the top 10 OSHA citation categories, four are related to 'death by sudden deceleration against the ground.' These rankings indicate a widespread apathy to the likelihood of a fall from elevation and the often tragic consequences of being unprepared when it happens."

A fall can happen to anyone. Being prepared and taking steps to mitigate the risk is crucial when working in the field. To reiterate the importance of fall protection mitigation strategies, we have collected the entire 10-part series "Fall Protection Citation Prevention" by Mark Lamendola for this EC&M e-book. By putting this valuable information together into one handy volume, we hope this will be a valuable resource for anyone working at heights of 6 ft or greater. Whether you're a novice or a veteran, using this e-book as a reference will help you prevent falls and keep your job-site safer.