According to SAIF Corporation, hazardous conditions alone account for only about 3 percent of all workplace accidents. Yet, most of the time we look primarily for unsafe conditions when conducting a walkaround inspection. OSHA inspections are geared toward unsafe conditions also. It's very possible that your company could conduct an inspection on Tuesday, and a fatality occur on Wednesday as a result of unsafe work practices that were not uncovered during the inspection the day before. These include work procedures that increase the likelihood of an injury.
Most hazardous practices take the form of unsafe shortcuts to accomplish a task.
Bottom-line, we're talking about employee behavior. Employees make choices every day. They may choose to work safely, or they may choose to ignore safety. An employee may even work in a work culture that encourages unsafe shortcuts. An unsafe work practice would occur when a worker bypasses those procedures, or uses tags when locks are required.