To look up OSHA violations by company, go to OSHA’s Establishment Search at osha.gov, enter the business name, and pull its inspection history. The tool is free, needs no account, covers federal OSHA inspections going back decades, and updates daily. Each result shows the citations issued, the standards violated, the violation type, and the proposed penalty.
Running the Search
Open the Establishment Search page. You can search on the company name alone or combine fields to narrow things down.
- Establishment name. Use as few words as needed to identify the business uniquely. “ABC” returns every company with “ABC” in its name, so be specific enough to find what you want without being so precise that a slight spelling variation causes you to miss it.
- State. This is where the inspection happened, not where the company is headquartered. You can pick federal inspections, state-plan inspections, or both.
- OSHA office. Available if you already know which area office handled the case.
- Inspection date range. Defaults to five years. You can stretch it up to ten years from the end date. To find a specific date, enter just the start date and leave the end date blank.
- Case status. The default returns only closed cases with a final order entered. You can switch to open cases, but those records change as the case moves.
Results list each inspection with its opening date, the responsible OSHA area office, and an activity number. Click the activity number to open the full inspection detail: every citation issued, the specific standard violated, the violation type, and the initial proposed penalty.
Reading the Results
Case status tells you how far along enforcement has gone. A closed case means OSHA or the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has finalized it, so what you see reflects the final outcome. An open case is still being processed, and citations could be added, modified, or withdrawn before it concludes. A pending case is waiting for action by OSHA or the Review Commission.
This distinction matters more than it looks. If you’re vetting a company before taking a job or hiring a contractor, closed cases are the reliable data. Open-case entries tell you an inspection happened, but the details may shift. That is why the database defaults to closed cases.
What the Violation Categories Mean
Each citation is classified. The category reflects both the seriousness of the hazard and what the employer knew.
- Serious. A hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm, and the employer knew or reasonably should have known about it. The most common citation type.
- Willful. The employer deliberately ignored an OSHA requirement or showed plain indifference to worker safety. The most severe finding OSHA can make about an employer’s conduct, and it carries the steepest fines.
- Repeat. The employer was previously cited for the same or a substantially similar hazard, and the earlier citation became a final order. The lookback runs five years from either the final order date or the final abatement date of the prior citation, whichever is later.
- Other-than-serious. A safety-related violation unlikely to result in death or serious physical harm.
- Failure to abate. The employer failed to fix a previously cited hazard by OSHA’s deadline. Penalties here accumulate daily, which can make these citations far more expensive than per-violation figures suggest.
What the Penalty Numbers Mean
The category sets the ceiling. OSHA adjusts these maximums annually for inflation. As of January 2025:
- Serious, other-than-serious, or posting requirement: up to $16,550 per violation.
- Willful or repeat: up to $165,514 per violation.
- Failure to abate: up to $16,550 per day past the abatement deadline, generally capped at 30 days.
These are maximums, not automatic assessments. OSHA can reduce proposed penalties for the employer’s size, compliance history, and good-faith correction efforts. For willful violations, employers with 10 or fewer workers can get an 80% size-based reduction; companies with more than 250 employees get no size reduction. Willful violations that cause an employee’s death can also trigger criminal prosecution: a first conviction carries up to six months in prison and a $10,000 fine, and a second doubles both to one year and $20,000.
Check the Severe Violator List
Companies with the worst track records land on OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program list, and the list is public. OSHA maintains downloadable tracking logs for both federal and state-plan SVEP cases on its enforcement page. Appearance on the list points to a pattern of dangerous conditions rather than an isolated citation.
An inspection triggers SVEP placement when it meets at least one criterion:
- Fatality or catastrophe. OSHA finds at least one willful or repeat violation, or issues a failure-to-abate notice, tied to an employee death or an incident hospitalizing three or more workers.
- Non-fatality. OSHA finds at least two willful or repeat violations, or failure-to-abate notices, or any combination, based on high-gravity serious violations.
- Egregious enforcement. Any case where OSHA applies per-instance citations automatically qualifies.
SVEP companies face follow-up inspections and heightened scrutiny for years. The program no longer limits its non-fatality criterion to specific high-emphasis hazards, so any type of workplace danger can lead to placement if the pattern is severe enough.
When the Federal Database Won’t Have It
Not every state falls under federal OSHA. Twenty-two states and Puerto Rico run their own OSHA-approved safety programs covering both private-sector and government workers. Another seven jurisdictions run state plans covering only state and local government employees. In state-plan states, inspection records may not appear in the federal database at all.
If the company you’re researching operates in a state-plan state such as California, Michigan, or Virginia, check that state’s safety agency site for its records. OSHA’s State Plans page lists every approved state program and links to the state’s website. The federal Establishment Search does let you filter by state-plan inspections in some cases, but coverage varies, and the state agency’s own database is more complete.
Getting the Full Case File Through FOIA
The online database gives you citations, penalties, and violation types. The full inspection case file contains more: the compliance officer’s narrative report, violation worksheets, photographs, settlement agreements, and sometimes management witness statements. To get those records, file a Freedom of Information Act request.
For employers under federal OSHA jurisdiction, email foiarequests@dol.gov. Include the inspection number (from the Establishment Search), the city and state where the inspection took place, the employer’s name, and the approximate date of the incident. Specify which records you want. If you don’t need commercial, confidential, or privileged business records, say so; it can reduce processing time and fees.
For employers in state-plan states, submit the request directly to the state agency. Each state runs its own public records process, and response times vary widely.
Whistleblower retaliation complaints filed under Section 11(c) of the OSH Act follow different rules. During an active investigation, complaint details aren’t released. Once a case is closed, records may be available through FOIA, but they’ll be redacted under FOIA and Privacy Act exemptions.
Cross-Checks Worth Running
OSHA publishes a Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards list showing which rules are violated most often across all industries. Fall protection, hazard communication, and ladder safety consistently appear near the top. Comparing a company’s citations against that list tells you whether the violations are the garden-variety kind entire industries struggle with or something more unusual.
OSHA also publishes high-penalty cases and fatality inspection data on its enforcement data page. Cross-referencing your Establishment Search results with the SVEP log and the fatality data gives you a fuller picture than any single search on its own.