OSHA Serious Violation Penalty Estimator
Estimate potential federal OSHA penalties for serious violations using the gravity-based penalty structure from the OSHA Field Operations Manual, Chapter 6. All amounts reflect FY2025 penalty levels effective January 15, 2025.
Estimate Only
This tool provides a rough estimate based on OSHA's published gravity-based penalty structure and adjustment factors for serious violations under federal OSHA jurisdiction. It is not official OSHA guidance and should not be relied upon for legal or compliance decisions. Actual penalties depend on many factors not captured here, including the specific facts of each case, informal settlement negotiations, and OSHA Area Director discretion. See OSHA's official penalty page for current maximums and policy.
This estimator covers federal OSHA serious violations only. Willful, repeat, and other-than-serious violations each follow different OSHA rules and will be added in a future update.
Death or injuries/illnesses requiring hospitalization.
Based on factors including number of exposed employees, frequency and duration of exposure, proximity to the hazard, and use of protective equipment.
Size reduction: 70% (1-25 employees)
Gravity-Based Penalty Table (FY2025)
Source: 2025 Annual Adjustments Memo, Table 2 / FOM Chapter 6
| Severity | Greater Probability | Lesser Probability |
|---|---|---|
| High | $16,550 | $11,823 |
| Medium | $14,187 | $9,457 |
| Low | $11,823 | $7,093 |
Size Reduction Schedule
Source: FOM Chapter 6 (updated July 14, 2025). Applied first to the gravity-based penalty amount.
| Employees | Reduction |
|---|---|
| 1 to 25 | 70% |
| 26 to 100 | 30% |
| 101 to 250 | 10% |
| 251+ | 0% |
Other Violation Types (Reference Only)
These violation types are not included in this estimator because they follow different OSHA rules. Amounts shown are FY2025 maximums from OSHA's penalty page.
| Type | Range (FY2025) |
|---|---|
| Willful | $11,823 - $165,514 per violation |
| Repeat | Up to $165,514 per violation |
| Other-than-Serious | Up to $16,550 per violation (discretionary) |
| Failure to Abate | $16,550 per day beyond abatement date |
Methodology and Sources
This estimator calculates federal OSHA serious violation penalties using the gravity-based penalty (GBP) structure documented in FOM Chapter 6 (CPL 02-00-164). The GBP is determined by the severity of the potential injury or illness and the probability that such injury could occur.
Penalty maximums are adjusted annually for inflation under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The FY2025 amounts shown here took effect January 15, 2025 per OSHA's 2025 Annual Adjustments Memo.
Adjustment factors are applied serially (each reduction is applied to the running total after the previous reduction, not summed) in the order prescribed by FOM Chapter 6: size, then good faith, then history. High-gravity serious violations (high severity, greater probability) are eligible for size and history reductions only. The good-faith reduction of 25% applies when an employer has a documented, effective safety and health management system with core elements in place. The history reduction of 20% applies when an employer has not received serious, willful, repeat, or failure-to-abate citations that became final orders in the past 5 years, or has never been inspected.
This tool does not account for all factors OSHA considers, including but not limited to: egregious (instance-by-instance) citations, multi-employer worksite policies, quick-fix reductions, history increases for employers with prior high-gravity serious final orders, the 15% good-faith tier for systems with incidental deficiencies, informal settlement reductions, or state-plan-specific penalty policies. For complete guidance, consult the Field Operations Manual or contact your local OSHA Area Office.