OSHA Inspections: What to Expect
OSHA compliance safety and health officers (CSHOs) inspect workplaces, usually without advance notice. Here is how it works and what your role is.
- Construction
- General Industry
Photo: OSHA compliance officer walking a jobsite with a supervisor and worker representative
Why OSHA inspects
In order of priority:
- Imminent danger situations
- Severe injuries and illnesses: fatalities, hospitalizations, amputations, eye losses
- Worker complaints
- Referrals from other agencies, organizations or the media
- Targeted inspections for high-hazard industries or emphasis programs (for example falls, trenching, silica, heat)
- Follow-up inspections to check that violations were fixed
Steps of an inspection
- Credentials: the inspector shows official identification. Ask to see it.
- Opening conference: the inspector explains why they are there and the scope of the inspection.
- Walkaround: the inspector tours the site, looks for hazards, may take photos, measurements and samples, and interviews workers.
- Closing conference: the inspector discusses the findings.
- Citations: OSHA has up to six months to issue citations and penalties. The employer can contest them within 15 working days.
Your role as a worker
- Workers have the right to have a representative accompany the inspector.
- You can talk to the inspector privately, and you should answer honestly.
- Point out hazards you know about.
- You cannot be punished for participating. See Whistleblower Protection.
Violation types and penalties
| Type | What it means |
|---|---|
| Serious | Substantial probability of death or serious harm, and the employer knew or should have known |
| Other-than-serious | Directly related to safety but unlikely to cause death or serious harm |
| Willful | The employer knowingly violated the law or showed plain indifference |
| Repeated | Same or similar violation cited within the past five years |
| Failure to abate | A cited hazard was not fixed by the deadline |
Maximum penalties are adjusted for inflation every year. Serious violations can cost over $16,000 each, and willful or repeated violations more than $160,000 each. Willful violations that cause a death can be criminal.
Standards & references
- OSHA: Enforcement
- OSHA: Current penalty amounts
- 29 CFR 1903: Inspections, citations and proposed penalties
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