OSHA or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is responsible for investigating safety violations at work places. While anyone can report a violation, OSHA often gets involved after a work related injury.

Toward the end of last year, OSHA published a list of the 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations for 2025. Here is the list:

  1. Fall protection violations with almost 6,000 occurrences. The number one violator was roofing companies. That is a huge problem because a fall off a roof can be deadly.
  2. Hazard communications. This refers to companies not having written safety plans or not effectively training workers.
  3. Ladders. They were not specific, but this likely refers to improper methods of using a ladder. This was cited over 2,400 times.
  4. Controlling hazardous materials. Meaning not properly handling them.
  5. Respiratory protection. Forcing workers to be around dangerous chemicals without proper masking.
  6. Fall protection training requirements. Not educating and training workers on how to prevent fall injuries from occurring in the first place.
  7. Scaffolding. It still shocks me how often we see cases of injured workers from scaffolding that was not put up properly.
  8. Powered industrial trucks. Again they were not specific, but I assume this refers to injuries from using the trucks.
  9. Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment, Eye and Face Protection. Similar to respiratory equipment, not providing these basic materials can cause major harm.
  10. Machine guards. Having workers use machines that don’t have proper safety precautions. This can lead to major injuries like de-gloving or even death.

These are all very frustrating cases to be a part of. That is because you can not sue your employer for negligence, but this report shows that employer negligence is a huge contributing factor toward work injuries happening in Illinois and beyond.

This is why we encourage people to anonymously call OSHA, when they comfortably can, BEFORE an accident happens. Every week we get a call from an injured worker who tells us that their employer either created the problem or has known about it for some time. While a work comp claim will help you get healthy and compensate you for your injury, it will not punish the employer and will not make them change their bad ways. OSHA can do that.

There is even a state agency called Illinois OSHA that regulates Illinois employers. This is for state of Illinois and Government workers only. So if you are not having any luck with the Federal OSHA, contacting the state of Illinois one may do the trick. Private sector workers have to go through Federal OSHA.

If you have any questions about a work injury, please do not hesitate to reach out any time for a free case review.