OSHA’s 2025 Top Violations: What the Numbers Reveal for Masonry and Construction

Words: Greg Brown
Photos: Malta Dynamics

Each year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) publishes its list of the most frequently cited workplace safety standards based on federal inspection data. The purpose is simple: show employers where hazards are consistently being found so they can correct them before an inspector ever steps onto a jobsite.

The preliminary list for fiscal year 2025 confirms what many contractors already sense in the field: certain risks refuse to go away. And many of them live squarely inside the world of construction and masonry.

OSHA’s Top 10 most frequently cited standards for 2025 are:

  • Fall Protection – General Requirements (29 CFR 1926.501)
  • Hazard Communication (29 CFR 1910.1200)
  • Ladders (29 CFR 1926.1053)
  • Control of Hazardous Energy / Lockout-Tagout (29 CFR 1910.147)
  • Respiratory Protection (29 CFR 1910.134)
  • Fall Protection – Training Requirements (29 CFR 1926.503)
  • Scaffolding (29 CFR 1926.451)
  • Powered Industrial Trucks (29 CFR 1910.178)
  • Eye and Face Protection (29 CFR 1926.102)
  • Machine Guarding (29 CFR 1910.212)


What’s notable isn’t just what appears on the list; it’s how little it changes year to year.

Fall protection once again leads all categories, marking the fifteenth consecutive year it has topped OSHA’s enforcement data. Even more telling, fall protection training appears separately in the top ten. In other words, OSHA continues to find both missing systems and missing knowledge. The issue isn’t confined to equipment; it’s also how crews are prepared to recognize and manage fall hazards.

For masonry contractors, that trend is hardly abstract. Elevated walls, scaffold platforms, leading edges, roof transitions, and material staging near drop-offs are daily realities. The data suggests that these familiar conditions remain the most consistent source of regulatory exposure across the country.



Ladders and scaffolding also remain high on the list. These are not exotic hazards, they are the basic access tools used on nearly every masonry job. OSHA’s continued focus here reflects persistent problems with setup, stability, access, guardrails, and competent-person oversight. The work may be routine, but the risks are not.

Several of the most-cited standards fall into what OSHA considers “programmatic” requirements: Hazard Communication, Respiratory Protection, and Lockout/Tagout. These are not single-point fixes. They require written programs, training, documentation, and follow-through. On masonry jobsites, this can mean managing chemical products like sealants and cleaners, addressing silica exposure during cutting or grinding, and ensuring powered equipment is properly controlled during maintenance or repair.”

Eye and face protection rounds out the construction-heavy portion of the list. Chipping, grinding, sawing, and cutting are core masonry tasks. The fact that this standard continues to rank among OSHA’s most cited reflects how often basic PPE breaks down in real-world conditions, whether due to availability, comfort, or simple habit.



What OSHA’s data does not show are one-off anomalies. These are patterns observed across tens of thousands of inspections. The same hazards appear again and again in every region of the country, across projects large and small. That consistency suggests these risks are embedded in workflow, culture, and routine, not just in isolated mistakes.

OSHA itself describes the Top 10 list as a tool for employers to recognize and correct hazards before an inspection occurs. For masonry contractors, that makes the list more than a compliance reference, it becomes a mirror. It reflects where the industry’s everyday work still collides with regulation, injury potential, and enforcement.

The value of the data is not in alarm, but in clarity. Falls, access equipment, dust, chemicals, powered tools, and training gaps remain the most common points of failure. They are also the most predictable.



And predictability is an opportunity.

When hazards are this consistent, they can be engineered into planning, training, and workflow. The numbers make one thing clear: safety performance in masonry is not about rare events. It is about managing the same conditions, on the same tasks, day after day, with systems that hold up when routine sets in.


___

Malta Dynamics is proud to be a partner of the MCAA and its member contractors. Masonry is demanding, technical, and essential—and the people who perform it deserve systems that protect them at the same level of professionalism they bring to the work.

If you’re unsure whether you have the right equipment for your hazards, wondering how prepared you are for an audit, or simply want a second set of eyes on your safety approach, we’re always happy to have a conversation. And when a challenge falls outside our lane, we’re just as glad to point you toward specialized safety resources that can help.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s predictability, on your schedule, on your jobsites, and in how your crews go home at the end of every day. You can call our team at (toll free #) or me directly at 740-525-8731.


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