OSHA's #1 most-cited standard, fourteen years running.

The standard's core provision, §1926.501(b)(1), is deceptively simple: employees on a walking/working surface with an unprotected side or edge 6 feet (1.8 m) or more above a lower level must be protected by guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems. The rest of the section applies that principle to specific exposures — leading edges, hoist areas, holes, formwork, ramps, excavations, dangerous equipment, wall openings, and roofing work.

The choice among guardrails, nets, and PFAS belongs to the employer, but each system carries its own performance criteria under §1926.502 — anchorage strength, guardrail heights and loads, net placement. A harness without an adequate anchorage isn't a fall arrest system; it's a citation with extra steps.

Roofing gets special attention. On low-slope roofs, §1926.501(b)(10) permits combinations that include warning line systems and safety monitoring; on steep roofs, §1926.501(b)(11) requires guardrails with toeboards, nets, or PFAS. The definitions matter — a roof's pitch determines which paragraph governs, and inspectors check.

Few provisions generate more confusion — or more Letters of Interpretation — than §1926.501(b)(13). Residential construction workers 6 feet or more above lower levels must use conventional fall protection unless the employer can demonstrate infeasibility or greater hazard, in which case a site-specific written fall protection plan under §1926.502(k) is required. Since OSHA's 2010 directive rescinded the old interim guidelines, the "residential exemption" many contractors still believe in no longer exists in the form they remember.

What counts as "residential construction"? OSHA's interpretation letters define it by construction methods and materials — wood-frame techniques — not merely by the building's use as a dwelling. Those letters attach directly to §1926.501(b)(13) in RegLogic, which is precisely the kind of context that keeps a framing contractor out of an avoidable citation.

Fall protection violations are the most visible in all of OSHA enforcement — a compliance officer can spot an unprotected edge from the street before the opening conference starts. Falls also remain the leading cause of construction fatalities, which keeps §1926.501 at the center of OSHA's national emphasis and local inspection programs. The result: 5,914 federal citations in FY2025, more than double the runner-up.

The companion training standard, §1926.503, ranked #7 the same year — meaning OSHA frequently cites the same employer twice on one jobsite: once for the missing protection, once for the training that would have prevented it.