What an OSHA citation means and how a contest works

OSHA (and the state agencies that run OSHA-approved plans) inspect workplaces for several reasons: a fatality or serious injury report, a complaint, a referral from another agency, a follow-up on an earlier inspection, or a programmed inspection targeting an industry or hazard. The inspection file records the type and whether the inspection was complete, partial or records-only, and whether it was a safety or health inspection.

Citations

If the compliance officer finds a condition that does not meet a standard, OSHA may issue a citation naming the standard (for example 1910.147, the control of hazardous energy), a classification and a proposed penalty. The classifications in the record are OSHA's: serious (a substantial probability of death or serious harm that the employer knew or should have known about), willful (intentional disregard or plain indifference), repeat (a substantially similar violation cited before), other-than-serious, and failure to abate. The General Duty Clause, section 5(a)(1) of the Act, is cited when there is a recognised hazard but no specific standard.

Penalties

The record carries an initial penalty and a current penalty. Penalties are reduced for size, good faith and history, and are often further reduced in an informal conference or settlement; the current figure is what stands at the data date. A penalty is not a finding that anyone was hurt.

Contest and final order

An employer has 15 working days from receipt of a citation to file a notice of contest with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (or the state equivalent). A citation with a contest date in the record is contested; the citation, its classification or its penalty may later be affirmed, modified or vacated. When the contest period passes without a contest, or the Commission decides, the citation carries a final order date. This site shows both dates' effects as status labels and repeats OSHA's caveat on every page: citations may be contested, and the status shown reflects the record at the data date.

Reading the counts

Inspection counts reflect OSHA's programme as much as the employer: construction and manufacturing establishments are inspected far more often than offices, and a fatality or a complaint triggers an inspection regardless of the employer's history. Comparisons on this site are per inspection within the same industry and state for that reason.