No employer wants to get hit with a penalty from OSHA. And that’s even more true since 2016, when OSHA increased those penalties significantly (and OSHA adjusted those penalties for inflation as recently as January 2, 2018).
The best reason to not run afoul of OSHA and get into citations and penalties is because OSHA compliance contributes to better health and safety at work.
But, if fear of a penalty is another reason to comply, we’ve got the necessary information for you below.
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According to the OSHA Field Operations Manual (6.1), here’s the purpose of OSHA penalties:
The penalty structure in Section 17 of the OSH Act is designed primarily to provide an incentive for preventing or correcting violations voluntarily, not only to the cited employer, but to other employers. While penalties are not intended as punishment for violations, Congress has made clear that penalty amounts should be sufficient to serve as a deterrent to violations. Proposed penalties, therefore, serve the Act’s intent and criteria approved for such penalties by the Assistant Secretary effectuates this purpose.
OSHA has a series of different penalties, and each has a different dollar value. These are explained on this OSHA Penalties webpage and also in Section 6 of the OSHA Field Operations Manual (there’s more detail in the FOM). You can find additional information in Section 17 of the OSH Act.
Here are the current monetary figures for OSHA penalties. Remember the numbers below are maximum amounts and OSHA has discretion to reduce the penalty.
According to OSH 17(j) and section 6.3 of the OSHA Field Operations Manual (FOM), OSHA can consider four factors when considering penalties:
And OSHA considers the following to be “other than serious:” Minimal severity: Although such violations reflect conditions which have a direct and immediate relationship to the safety and health of employees, the most serious injury or illness that could reasonably be expected to result from an employee’s exposure would not be low-, medium-, or high-severity and would not cause death or serious physical harm.
Read FOM 6-3 for more specifics.
OSHA judges the severity of a violation using the following method (OSHA considers everything below “serious”):
The OSHA FOM explains three different penalty adjustment factors, listed below:
See FOM 6-6 for more.
OSHA’s got a Quick Fix Program that gives penalty reductions if an employer abates safety and health hazards during an OSHA inspection (technically, before the closing conference). This is fully explained in the OSHA Field Operations Manual (Sections 6-9 and 6-10–plus, see Table 6-6).
The FOM discusses repeated violations in 6-11 and willful violations in 6-12.
The FOM discusses failure to abate in 6-14.
The OSHA Field Operations Manual discusses criminal (not civic) penalties in 6-18. This is how the FOM explains that.
The Act and the U.S. Code provide for criminal penalties in the following cases:
OSHA’s Field Operations manual explains a lot of the mechanisms for how penalties are paid in Sections 6-18 to 6-25.
Because penalties often arise during an OSHA inspection (though that’s not always true), you may want to download our guide to OSHA Inspections for more information.
If you found this “OSHA Basics” article the penalties OSHA may enforce helpful, you might also want to check out some of the following articles:
And before you leave, download our free EFFECTIVE SAFETY TRAINING GUIDE, below.
Learn how to design, create, deliver, and evaluate effective EHS training by following these best practices with our free step-by-step guide.
Jeff Dalto, Senior Learning & Performance Improvement Manager
Jeff is a learning designer and performance improvement specialist with more than 20 years in learning and development, 15+ of which have been spent working in manufacturing, industrial, and architecture, engineering & construction training. Jeff has worked side-by-side with more than 50 companies as they implemented online training. Jeff is an advocate for using evidence-based training practices and is currently completing a Masters degree in Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning from Boise State University. He writes the Vector Solutions | Convergence Training blog and invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.
