Last year, “fall protection general requirements” earned more OSHA citations than any other category. At 5,424 violations, it far outstripped No. 2 — hazard communication at 3,199 violations. It is separate from scaffolding (2,538), ladders (2,129), and fall protection training (1,621).
The OSHA fall protection regulations are in 29CFR 1926, Subpart M. The focus here is 1926.501, which takes up less than a full page.
One of the most common violations is failing to provide proper PPE. Another is you can’t have unprotected sides or edges on a surface that is 6 ft. or more above a lower level [1926.501(b)(1)]. There is nothing difficult about complying with 126.501.
The violations occur, and the resulting dangers exist, often because conformance is “nobody’s job,” so nobody takes ownership. This may be because there is an enforcement mindset instead of a conformance mindset. You can fix both problems by providing at least one person in each crew with the training, responsibility, and authority to ensure Subpart M is correctly followed. This need not be the supervisor, but it needs to be someone.
