The OSHA general industry standards in 29 CFR 1910 are the federal workplace safety rules that apply to most American employers outside construction, maritime, and agriculture. They cover walking surfaces, exit routes, personal protective equipment, chemical labeling, machine guarding, electrical safety, lockout/tagout, noise, respirators, and hundreds of other hazards. Getting them wrong is expensive: as of the adjustment effective after January 15, 2025, OSHA can fine an employer up to $16,550 per serious violation and up to $165,514 for willful or repeated ones.1Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties
Who Part 1910 Applies To
If your workplace isn’t covered by a more specific set of OSHA rules, Part 1910 governs. OSHA keeps separate regulations for construction (Part 1926), maritime (Parts 1915–1918), and agriculture (Part 1928). Employers in manufacturing, healthcare, retail, warehousing, offices, and most service industries fall squarely under Part 1910.2eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.5 – Applicability of Standards
Even when no numbered standard addresses a particular hazard, employers still owe a duty of care. The General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, requires every employer to keep the workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm.3Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSH Act of 1970 – Section 5, Duties To sustain a General Duty Clause citation, OSHA must show four things: a hazard existed, the employer or its industry recognized the hazard, the hazard was likely to cause death or serious injury, and a feasible way to eliminate or reduce it was available.
Where OSHA Finds the Most Violations
OSHA publishes a top-10 list of most frequently cited standards each fiscal year. For fiscal year 2024, the general industry standards on that list were:4Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards
- Hazard Communication (1910.1200), ranked second overall
- Respiratory Protection (1910.134), fourth
- Lockout/Tagout (1910.147), fifth
- Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178), sixth
- Machine Guarding (1910.212), tenth
If your workplace involves chemicals, respirators, powered equipment, or machines with moving parts, these are the areas most likely to generate a citation.
Walking-Working Surfaces and Fall Protection
Subpart D addresses the surfaces employees walk and work on. Under 1910.22, every floor, passageway, storeroom, and service area must be kept clean, orderly, and sanitary, and walking-working surfaces must support the maximum intended load.5eCFR. 29 CFR Part 1910 Subpart D – Walking-Working Surfaces Employers must inspect them regularly and correct hazardous conditions before allowing employees back on.
Fall protection kicks in at a lower height than many employers expect. In general industry, any unprotected edge 4 feet or more above a lower level requires fall protection.6Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.28 – Duty to Have Fall Protection and Falling Object Protection That threshold applies to platforms, loading docks, mezzanines, and any other elevated walking surface. Guardrails are the most common answer. The top rail must be 42 inches high, plus or minus 3 inches, with midrails or equivalent intermediate protection, and must withstand at least 200 pounds of force applied outward or downward.7Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.29 – Fall Protection Systems and Falling Object Protection Criteria and Practices Personal fall arrest systems and safety nets are alternatives where guardrails aren’t feasible.
Exit Routes and Emergency Planning
Subpart E covers how workers get out of a building when something goes wrong. Every workplace must have at least two exit routes so that if one is blocked, workers can still evacuate. Exit routes must be permanent parts of the building, kept free of materials and equipment at all times, and employees must be able to open exit doors from inside without keys or special tools.8eCFR. 29 CFR Part 1910 Subpart E – Exit Routes and Emergency Planning
Employers with more than 10 employees must maintain a written emergency action plan detailing evacuation procedures and how to report fires or other emergencies. Employers with 10 or fewer workers can communicate the plan orally. The same 10-employee threshold governs the fire prevention plan under 1910.39, which must list major fire hazards, describe proper handling and storage of flammable materials, identify ignition sources and controls, and name the employees responsible for maintaining fire-prevention equipment.9Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.39 – Fire Prevention Plans
Medical Services and First Aid
Under 1910.151, employers must ensure that medical personnel are readily available for advice on workplace health issues. If no hospital, clinic, or infirmary is close to the worksite, at least one person trained in first aid must be on-site at all times, along with adequate first aid supplies.10eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.151 – Medical Services and First Aid Where workers may be exposed to corrosive materials, the employer must provide eyewash stations and drench showers within the immediate work area for emergency use.
Personal Protective Equipment
Subpart I establishes when and how employers must provide PPE. The starting point is a formal hazard assessment: the employer evaluates the workplace to determine what hazards are present and selects PPE that protects against those specific risks.11eCFR. 29 CFR Part 1910 Subpart I – Personal Protective Equipment The assessment must be documented, the employer pays for the equipment in nearly all circumstances, and the gear must be kept in sanitary and reliable condition.
Workers exposed to flying particles, molten metal, or chemical splashes need eye and face protection under 1910.133. Employees working where objects might fall on their heads need hard hats under 1910.135.12Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.135 – Head Protection Hand protection is required under 1910.138 whenever workers face hazards like chemical burns, severe cuts, or harmful temperature extremes.13Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.138 – Hand Protection
Respiratory Protection
Respiratory protection under 1910.134 is one of the most cited standards for good reason: it is complex and easy to get wrong. Any workplace where respirators are needed must have a written respiratory protection program covering respirator selection, medical evaluations, fit testing, proper use, and training.14eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.134 – Respiratory Protection Before an employee wears a tight-fitting respirator on the job, a licensed healthcare professional must clear them medically, and the employer must conduct a fit test. Fit testing must be repeated at least annually and whenever the employee switches to a different respirator model or size.
Hearing Conservation
When employees are exposed to noise levels at or above an 8-hour time-weighted average of 85 decibels, the employer must implement a hearing conservation program.15Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.95 – Occupational Noise Exposure That 85-decibel action level is lower than many people assume. A busy factory floor or a commercial kitchen with blenders and dishwashers running simultaneously can reach it. The program must include noise monitoring, baseline and annual audiometric testing for exposed employees, and access to hearing protection at no cost.
Hazard Communication and Chemical Exposure
The Hazard Communication Standard, 1910.1200, is OSHA’s second most cited regulation overall. It requires employers to identify every hazardous chemical in the workplace and communicate the risks to employees.16eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.1200 – Hazard Communication The employer must maintain a written hazard communication program and a list of all hazardous chemicals on-site.
Every chemical container must carry a label with the product identifier, a signal word (“Danger” or “Warning”), pictograms representing the hazard type, and hazard and precautionary statements. Alongside labels, employers must keep Safety Data Sheets for each hazardous chemical. Each SDS follows a standardized 16-section format covering identification, first-aid measures, fire-fighting measures, handling and storage, exposure controls, toxicological information, disposal, and more, and must be accessible to employees during every work shift.
Training is required when an employee first starts a job involving chemical exposure and whenever a new chemical hazard is introduced. It must cover the location of SDSs, how to read labels, and how to detect the presence or release of chemicals in the work area. OSHA updated this standard in 2024 to align with a newer revision of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, with certain compliance dates extended into 2026.
Subpart Z sets permissible exposure limits (PELs) for hundreds of toxic substances, including lead, asbestos, and formaldehyde.17eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.1000 – Air Contaminants These limits cap how much of a substance employees can be exposed to over an 8-hour shift. Exceeding a PEL is a violation, and if the overexposure is knowing or intentional, the employer faces willful violation penalties up to $165,514.
Healthcare workers, first responders, and others with occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials fall under the Bloodborne Pathogens standard, 1910.1030. Employers must develop a written Exposure Control Plan that identifies which job classifications involve exposure, spells out methods of compliance, and explains the procedure for evaluating exposure incidents.18eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.1030 – Bloodborne Pathogens The plan must be reviewed and updated at least annually, and the review must document the employer’s consideration of safer medical devices designed to reduce needlestick and sharps injuries. Employers must also solicit input from frontline healthcare workers on device selection.
Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)
Lockout/tagout under 1910.147 ranks among the top five most cited OSHA standards every year, and violations here tend to be serious because the hazard, unexpected startup of a machine, can kill instantly. The regulation requires employers to establish a written energy control program covering procedures, training, and periodic inspections for any servicing or maintenance where a machine could unexpectedly power on or release stored energy.19Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.147 – The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)
The core sequence involves six steps: identify the energy sources, shut down the machine using normal procedures, isolate every energy source, apply lockout or tagout devices to each isolation point, release or restrain any stored energy, and verify the machine is fully deenergized before beginning work. Locks are always preferred over tags. If a machine’s energy isolating device can accept a lock, the employer must use one. Tags alone are permitted only when a lock physically cannot be applied, and additional protective measures must compensate for the reduced protection.
Employers must inspect the energy control program at least annually and document each inspection with the machine inspected, the date, the employees involved, and the name of the inspector. Whenever new equipment is installed or existing equipment undergoes major modification, the energy isolating devices must be designed to accept a lockout device.
Machine Guarding
Subpart O addresses machine guarding to prevent amputations, crushing injuries, and contact with flying debris. The general requirement under 1910.212 is straightforward: any machine with parts that could injure an operator must have one or more forms of guarding to keep body parts out of the danger zone during the operating cycle.20Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.212 – General Requirements for All Machines This includes point-of-operation guards, barrier guards, two-hand tripping devices, and electronic safety devices.
Specific rules exist for particular types of equipment. Abrasive wheel grinders, for example, must have safety guards and work rests adjusted to no more than one-eighth of an inch from the wheel. Failing to guard a point of operation on a power press or similar machine is one of the most common sources of high-penalty OSHA citations. Subpart P extends guarding requirements to hand and portable powered tools, and under 1910.242 employers are responsible for the safe condition of all tools used in the workplace, including tools employees bring from home.21eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.242 – Hand and Portable Powered Tools and Equipment, General
Electrical Safety
Subpart S covers electrical safety in two categories: design requirements for the electrical systems themselves, and safety-related work practices for employees who interact with those systems.
On the design side, 1910.303 requires that all electrical equipment be free from recognized hazards, properly installed according to manufacturer instructions, and suitable for the environment where it is used.22Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.303 – General Live parts operating at 50 volts or more must be guarded against accidental contact through enclosures, locked rooms, barriers, or elevation of at least 8 feet. Equipment and rooms containing exposed high-voltage components over 600 volts must be locked and marked with warning signs. Sufficient working space must be maintained around electrical panels, and that space cannot be used for storage, a violation inspectors find constantly. On the work-practices side, 1910.331 through 1910.335 require training on electrical hazards, safe work practices around energized equipment, and protective equipment like insulated tools and voltage-rated gloves where necessary.
When You Must Report an Incident to OSHA
Regardless of size or industry, every employer must report certain severe events:23Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1904.39 – Reporting Fatalities, Hospitalizations, Amputations, and Losses of an Eye
- Fatalities within 8 hours, if death occurs within 30 days of the incident
- Inpatient hospitalizations, amputations, or eye losses within 24 hours, if the event occurs within 24 hours of the incident
Reports can be made by calling the nearest OSHA area office, the national hotline at 1-800-321-6742, or through OSHA’s online reporting portal. If you learn about a reportable event after the fact, the clock starts when you become aware of it.
Penalty Amounts and the 15-Day Contest Window
OSHA adjusts its maximum penalty amounts each year for inflation. Effective after January 15, 2025, the caps are:1Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties
- Serious violation: up to $16,550 per violation
- Other-than-serious violation: up to $16,550 per violation
- Willful or repeated violation: up to $165,514 per violation
- Failure to abate: up to $16,550 per day past the deadline to fix the hazard
- Posting requirement violation: up to $16,550
These are maximums. OSHA considers the employer’s size, good faith, history, and the gravity of the hazard when calculating the actual penalty. A small employer with no prior citations and a low-severity hazard will typically pay far less than the cap. But willful violations carry a minimum penalty as well, and repeat offenders face compounding exposure because each unprotected employee or each day of noncompliance can be treated as a separate violation.
After receiving a citation, an employer has 15 working days to contest it in writing. Missing that deadline makes the citation a final order that no court or agency can review. Employers can request an informal conference with the OSHA area director before the contest deadline expires, but that conference does not extend the 15-day window. If no agreement is reached and the employer files a formal contest, the case goes to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission for adjudication.24Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSH Act of 1970
Getting a Free Check Before an Inspector Arrives
OSHA runs a free, confidential consultation program that is entirely separate from its enforcement arm. State agencies and universities staff it and send safety consultants to workplaces at no charge to help identify hazards and improve safety programs.25Occupational Safety and Health Administration. On-Site Consultation The consultations do not result in citations or penalties. According to OSHA, the program prevents over 8,700 workplace injuries annually. If you’re unsure whether your PPE program, lockout/tagout procedures, or chemical labeling practices measure up, a consultation visit is one of the lowest-risk ways to find out before an inspector shows up.