How Long Do Employers Get to Fix Violations?

When OSHA cites an employer, the citation includes a required abatement deadline by which the employer must correct each hazard. This analysis examines the abatement deadlines set by OSHA across 9,683,250 violations that have a recorded abatement date, and how often the completion flag is marked in OSHA records. The abatement date represents the OSHA-set deadline, not necessarily when the correction was actually completed. The marked-complete rate covers a broader set of violations than the deadline analysis (see Methodology).

9,683,250

With Recorded Deadline

Avg. OSHA-Set Deadline

7,012,349

Marked Complete

67.8%

Marked-Complete Rate

Abatement Deadline by Violation Type

Type	Count	Avg. Days	Median Days	Completed
Other-than-Serious	4,834,729	26	17	3,514,072
Serious	4,614,852	30	17	2,860,270
Repeat	188,004	31	10	109,476
Willful	37,785	83	13	21,276

Abatement Deadline Distribution

Time Range	Count	%
0-30 days	6,633,872	68.5%
31-90 days	2,660,139	27.5%
91-180 days	242,123	2.5%
181-365 days	88,808	0.9%
Over 1 year	58,308	0.6%

Completion Rates by Violation Type

Violation Type	Total	Completed	Completion Rate
Other-than-Serious	5,154,344	3,770,074	73.1%
Serious	4,921,175	3,084,173	62.7%
Repeat	215,554	129,988	60.3%
Willful	40,022	22,485	56.2%
Unclassified	8,019

Key Observations

The average abatement deadline across all violation types in this dataset is 28 days. Individual violation type averages and medians are shown in the table above.
Out of 10,339,138 total violations, 67.8% are marked complete in OSHA records. The reason the remainder lack the completion flag is not available in this dataset.
The largest share of violations falls in the "0-30 days" bracket, accounting for 68.5% of all abated violations.

Methodology

Abatement refers to the correction of a cited workplace hazard. When OSHA issues a citation, it sets a required abatement deadline by which the employer must correct the hazard. This analysis measures the number of calendar days between the issuance_date (when the citation was issued) and the abate_date (the OSHA-set abatement deadline) for each violation. The abatement date reflects the deadline set by OSHA, not necessarily when the employer completed the correction. Records where the abatement date precedes the issuance date are excluded as data anomalies. A 10-year cap filter (3,650 days) is applied to exclude extreme outliers likely caused by data entry errors. These filters apply to the abatement deadline analysis above. The abate_complete field indicates whether the employer certified that the hazard was corrected. Completion rates are calculated across all non-deleted violations that have both an issuance date and an abatement date on record, without the date-ordering or outlier filters applied to the deadline analysis above. This analysis covers all federal OSHA inspections in our database. Data sourced from the OSHA inspection and violation tables in the U.S. Department of Labor enforcement data API. Records are synced daily.

OSHA Penalty Reductions

Initial vs. latest penalty amounts on record

Inspection Outcomes by Type

Outcomes by inspection type

Data Source and Methodology

Data synced daily

Data on this page comes from the U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA enforcement database, accessed via the DOL public data API. Records are updated daily. We strive for accuracy, but errors in data processing or establishment matching are possible. Penalty amounts reflect the latest penalty amounts on record in the DOL database and may differ from initial assessments or final amounts after informal conference, settlement, or judicial review. Establishment matching is based on employer name and location as reported in inspection records; some establishments may appear under multiple name variations. If you believe any record is inaccurate, please report it and we will investigate. This product uses the DOL Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the DOL. For official and authoritative records, visit osha.gov.