Workplace Safety Violations: OSHA Categories, Penalties, and Citations

OSHA penalties and fines for workplace safety violations currently run from nothing at all for a de minimis paperwork issue up to $165,514 for a single willful or repeated violation, with most citations landing somewhere in between based on how dangerous the hazard was and what the employer knew.¹ In the worst cases, a willful violation that kills a worker can also bring criminal charges and jail time.

The Six Violation Categories

Every OSHA citation is tied to a classification, and the classification sets the penalty range. The categories come from Section 17 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, codified at 29 U.S.C. § 666.²

Willful. The employer deliberately ignored a known safety requirement or showed plain indifference to worker safety. This is the most severe civil category and the only one that can trigger criminal charges when a worker dies.
Serious. A hazard exists that could probably cause death or serious physical harm, and the employer knew or should have known about it. Most citations issued after inspections fall here.
Other-than-serious. A real violation, but one unlikely to cause death or serious injury. Missing safety postings and incomplete injury logs are typical examples.
Repeated. OSHA previously cited the same employer for a substantially similar hazard. The agency checks the employer’s citation history to decide whether a new violation qualifies.
Failure to abate. The employer did not fix a previously cited hazard by the correction deadline, and daily penalties stack until it is resolved.
De minimis. A technical violation with no real impact on worker safety. No citation, no fine.

A single inspection can produce citations across several categories at once. One visit might yield a serious citation for an unguarded machine, an other-than-serious citation for incomplete training records, and a failure-to-abate citation for ignoring an earlier ventilation order.

Current Maximum Penalty Amounts

OSHA adjusts its ceilings every January under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act. As of the most recent adjustment, the caps are:¹

Serious or other-than-serious: up to $16,550 per violation.
Willful or repeated: up to $165,514 per violation.
Failure to abate: up to $16,550 per day past the correction deadline.

Willful violations also carry a statutory minimum, so an employer cannot negotiate below that floor even with strong mitigating factors.² The failure-to-abate structure is the one that catches employers off guard. A $16,550-per-day charge tops $82,000 in a single work week, which is why most cited employers treat abatement deadlines as the highest priority in the file.

How OSHA Calculates the Actual Fine

Those ceiling numbers are not starting points. OSHA’s Field Operations Manual tells inspectors to build a gravity-based penalty first, then run it through three adjustment factors before it becomes the number on the citation.³

Employer size. Companies with 1 to 25 employees can receive up to a 70 percent reduction. Employers with 26 to 100 employees can get up to 30 percent off, and those with 101 to 250 up to 10 percent. Employers with more than 250 employees receive no size reduction.
Good faith. An employer with a documented, effective safety program can earn up to a 25 percent reduction. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees that haven’t put the program in writing can still qualify if the system actually works.
Violation history. A clean inspection record over the past five years earns a 20 percent reduction. Employers with serious high-gravity citations that became final orders within the past five years face a 20 percent increase.

These adjustments compound. A 10-employee company with a real safety program and a clean history could see a serious penalty fall from $16,550 to a few thousand dollars. The reductions only apply where the employer can show genuine compliance efforts, though. Ignoring a known hazard for months does not earn much good-faith credit.

Criminal Penalties When a Worker Dies

Most OSHA cases are civil matters resolved through fines and abatement orders. Criminal exposure enters the picture when a willful violation causes an employee’s death. Under 29 U.S.C. § 666(e), a first conviction can bring a fine of up to $10,000 and up to six months in prison. A second conviction doubles both: up to $20,000 in fines and up to one year of imprisonment.²

Those statutory maximums look modest next to other federal criminal penalties, and they are. Congress has not raised them since 1970. Federal prosecutors sometimes pursue cases under other statutes with heavier sentences when the employer’s conduct was particularly egregious. The criminal threshold requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the violation was willful and that it caused the death, which makes prosecutions rare but severe for the individuals charged.

What Happens After a Citation Arrives

The fine on the citation is not always the final number. An employer has 15 working days from the date of receipt to file a written Notice of Intent to Contest. Missing that deadline turns the citation into a final order that no court or agency can review.⁴ Requesting an informal conference does not pause the 15-day clock.

In the meantime, the citation itself has to be posted at or near the location where the violation occurred, so affected workers can see it. It stays up for at least three working days or until the hazard is corrected, whichever is longer. Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays do not count toward the three-day minimum.⁵ Taking down or hiding a posted citation is itself a violation.

Informal Settlement

Before the 15 days run out, an employer can meet with the OSHA Area Director for an informal conference to negotiate. The Area Director has authority to reclassify violations, adjust abatement deadlines, and reduce or withdraw penalties when the evidence supports it. Any deal must be signed by both sides before the contest period ends, and signing an informal settlement means giving up the right to contest the citations covered by it.⁴

Formal Contest

Filing the Notice of Intent to Contest sends the case to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an independent federal agency separate from OSHA that functions like a court. Administrative law judges preside, and employers can represent themselves, hire an attorney, or use a non-attorney representative. Employees and unions also have standing to contest abatement deadlines they believe are too long.⁶

State OSHA Plans May Set Different Numbers

Not every state relies on federal OSHA. Twenty-two states run their own safety programs covering both private-sector and government workers, and seven more operate plans that cover only state and local government employees. Each state plan must be at least as effective as the federal program, but some set stricter standards or higher penalties.⁷ Where a state plan exists, its agency handles the citations and fines instead of federal OSHA. The classification framework tracks the federal one, but the dollar amounts and enforcement priorities can be different. Check OSHA’s state plan directory to see which agency has jurisdiction where you work.

1
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 666 – Civil and Criminal Penalties
3
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Field Operations Manual – Chapter 6
4
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Field Operations Manual – Chapter 8 Settlements
5
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Federal Employer Rights and Responsibilities Following an OSHA Inspection
6
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Guide to Review Commission Procedures
7
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. State Plans