OSHA FOIA Request Form: Fees, Waivers, and Appeals

To file an OSHA FOIA request, submit it through the Department of Labor’s Public Access Link portal at dol.secureocp.com, or email it to foiarequests@dol.gov. Describe the records you want precisely — the business name, worksite address, date range, and, if you have it, the inspection activity number — and specify that the request goes to OSHA. How useful the response is, and how fast it arrives, depends almost entirely on how precisely you frame the request.

Check OSHA’s Free Databases Before You File

A lot of what people file FOIA requests for is already public. OSHA’s Establishment Search database, at osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.html, lets you look up any employer by name and pull up inspection activity numbers, violations cited, and penalty amounts going back years. If you just need to know whether a company was inspected and what came of it, start there.

OSHA also publishes its Field Operations Manual, Technical Manual, interpretation letters, recordkeeping guidelines, and enforcement directives through DOL’s FOIA Library.¹ All free to download. A formal request only makes sense when you need something that hasn’t been published — a specific inspection file, photographs, witness statements, air-monitoring data, or internal correspondence about a particular case.

What You Can Ask For

Inspection files are the most common request. They typically contain compliance officer notes, photographs, sampling results, and documents the inspector collected on site. You can also request citation histories for a specific employer, though much of that is in the Establishment Search database already.²

Investigation records from workplace fatalities or catastrophes are another frequent target, and those files often include witness interviews and evidence gathered to determine whether safety regulations were violated. Internal policy memoranda and guidance documents showing how OSHA interprets its own rules are also subject to disclosure.² Expect redactions in any of these; the common exemptions are covered further down.

How to Describe the Records

Under 29 C.F.R. § 70.19, you must describe the records in enough detail that agency staff can find them with a reasonable amount of effort. The regulation lists the useful identifiers: subject, date or approximate date, title, case or file number, and the office that created the record.³

For an OSHA inspection request specifically, include:

The exact legal name of the business that was inspected.
The worksite location. City and state at minimum; the street address if the company has multiple locations.
The inspection activity number, if you can get it from the Establishment Search database. This one field speeds the search up more than any other.
A specific date range, such as “inspections conducted between March and June 2024.” Open-ended requests covering years of records get flagged as overly broad.
The document types you actually want. The full inspection file, the citation and notification of penalty, air-monitoring results, photographs, training records. Narrower scope means faster processing and lower fees.

You also have to give a mailing address for correspondence. A phone number and email aren’t required, but they help if OSHA needs to clarify something.³

Where to Send It

Three submission channels, and the choice matters for speed.

The Public Access Link portal at dol.secureocp.com is what DOL recommends. Create a free account, follow the required fields, and you’ll get a tracking number at submission.⁴

Email is the second option. Send to foiarequests@dol.gov. That is the only email address DOL accepts for FOIA requests; anything sent to a regional office email or other DOL inbox will not be processed. Note in the message that the request is directed to OSHA.³

Mail and fax also work but are slower to enter the queue. The mailing address is Office of the Solicitor, Division of Management and Administrative Legal Services, 200 Constitution Ave NW, Room N-2420, Washington, DC 20210. Fax goes to 202-693-5389, attention FOIA Staff.⁴

If you aren’t sure which DOL component holds the records, send it to the Solicitor’s office or to foiarequests@dol.gov and DOL will route it. The 20-day response clock won’t start until the correct component receives it, which can add up to 10 working days.³

Fees and Waivers

What you pay depends on how DOL categorizes you as a requester, under 29 C.F.R. § 70.40:

Commercial requesters pay search time, review, and duplication.
Educational institutions and news media pay only duplication, with the first 100 pages free. No search fees.
Everyone else pays search and duplication, but the first two hours of search time and first 100 pages are free.

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Search fees are $20 per hour for clerical staff and $40 per hour for professional or supervisory staff.⁶ Paper duplication is $0.15 per page. Electronic records on discs or other media are charged at the direct cost of the medium plus operator time.⁵ If your total comes to under $5, DOL waives it — billing would cost more than they’d collect.

You can also ask DOL to waive fees entirely. Two conditions have to be met: the records would meaningfully contribute to public understanding of government operations, and your request isn’t primarily for commercial gain. Journalists and researchers usually have the strongest case. DOL weighs whether the information is already public, whether you have the expertise and platform to share it broadly, and how much the disclosure would advance public knowledge.⁷ Include the waiver request in your original submission and explain specifically how the records will be used.

How Long It Takes

Federal law gives OSHA 20 working days — weekends and federal holidays excluded — to issue an initial determination after the correct component receives your request.⁸ Complex requests routinely take longer. DOL can extend the deadline by 10 additional business days when it needs to collect records from field offices, the request involves a large volume of records, or it needs to consult with another agency with a substantial interest.⁹

DOL can also pause the 20-day clock once to ask you for clarifying information or to resolve fee questions. The clock resumes when you respond. If you filed through the Public Access Link portal, you can track status there using the tracking number from submission.⁴

What OSHA Commonly Withholds

A response doesn’t mean full disclosure. OSHA regularly redacts or withholds portions of inspection files under specific FOIA exemptions. Knowing which ones tend to appear helps you set expectations and, if needed, frame an appeal.

Open investigations (Exemption 7(A)). If OSHA’s enforcement action is still pending, the file or key portions can be withheld because release could interfere with the proceeding. This is the exemption most likely to produce a full denial. Once the case closes, the records generally become available.
Trade secrets and confidential business information (Exemption 4). Manufacturing processes, chemical formulas, proprietary manuals, overhead costs, and unit prices are commonly redacted. Employers sometimes submit formal objections when they learn their records have been requested.
Personal privacy (Exemptions 6 and 7(C)). Names of employees who filed complaints, Social Security numbers, medical information, and similar personal details are routinely redacted from both law enforcement and non-law-enforcement files.
Confidential sources (Exemption 7(D)). Information that would identify someone who provided information under an expectation of confidentiality, such as a worker who reported a hazard, is protected.
Deliberative process (Exemption 5). Internal pre-decisional memos about how to handle an inspection or enforcement action can be withheld, as can attorney-client communications between OSHA and the Office of the Solicitor.

Your response letter will specify which exemptions were applied to each withheld or redacted record. That specificity matters, because it’s what you challenge on appeal.

Appealing a Denial

If your request is denied in whole or in part, you get a “no responsive records” determination you disagree with, or your fee waiver is rejected, you can file an administrative appeal with the Solicitor of Labor. You have 90 days from the date of the denial.¹⁰

The appeal has to be in writing and state your grounds for disagreement. Attaching your original request and the agency’s response speeds review, though it isn’t strictly required. Reference your assigned request number and include a mailing address and daytime phone.¹⁰

Send appeals to:

Email: foiaappeal@dol.gov
Fax: 202-693-5538
Mail: Solicitor of Labor, FOIA Appeals Unit, Division of Management and Administrative Legal Services, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave NW, Room N-2420, Washington, DC 20210

Mark the envelope and letter “Freedom of Information Act Appeal.” DOL has 20 working days to decide. If the denial is upheld, the response will explain your right to seek judicial review in federal district court.⁸

Asking for Expedited Processing

Standard FOIA processing runs first-in, first-out. Expedited status is available but only in narrow situations:

There is a threat to someone’s life or physical safety.
You are primarily engaged in disseminating information, such as a journalist, and can show an urgent need to inform the public about government activity.
An individual will suffer the loss of substantial due process rights without faster access.

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Include the expedited request with your initial FOIA submission and explain the specific basis for urgency. DOL has to decide within 10 calendar days.⁹ A denial of expedited status can be appealed through the same appeal process above.

1
U.S. Department of Labor. DOL-Wide FOIA Library
2
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Field Operations Manual – Chapter 16 – Disclosure Under the Freedom of Information Act
3
eCFR. 29 CFR 70.19 – Requirements for Making a Request
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Freedom of Information Act
5
U.S. Government Publishing Office. 29 CFR 70.40 – Charges Assessed for the Production of Records
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eCFR. 29 CFR 70.40 – Charges Assessed for the Production of Records
7
eCFR. 29 CFR 70.41 – Waiver or Reduction of Fees
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 552 – Public Information; Agency Rules, Opinions, Orders, Records, and Proceedings
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Guide to Submitting Requests Under the Freedom of Information Act
10
eCFR. 29 CFR 70.22 – Appeals From Denial of Requests