OSHA Inspections and Citations in 1981
Federal and state-plan OSHA inspections, citations and penalties recorded in 1981.
OSHA and state-plan agencies opened 59,183 inspections in 1981, 13.3% fewer than in 1980, and issued 132,588 citation items carrying $6,402,773 in current penalties. Texas recorded the most inspections (5,724), followed by New York and Illinois. Mechanical Power-Transmission Apparatus (1910.219) was the most cited standard, with 8,345 citations. Planned inspections were the most common type (37,814), followed by complaint inspections (12,250).
Inspections and states count by year opened. Citations, penalties and standards count by year issued. Do not add the two groups together.
Most cited standards
| # | Standard | Citations | Penalties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1910.219Mechanical Power-Transmission Apparatus | 8,345 | $404,901 |
| 2 | 1910.212General Requirements for All Machines (Machine Guarding) | 5,765 | $492,152 |
| 3 | 1910.215Abrasive Wheel Machinery | 4,761 | $95,278 |
| 4 | 1910.309 | 4,757 | $176,803 |
| 5 | 1926.500Scope, application, and definitions applicable to this subpart | 4,753 | $441,401 |
| 6 | 1926.400Introduction (Electrical - Construction) | 4,661 | $221,835 |
| 7 | 1910.134Respiratory Protection | 4,551 | $141,683 |
| 8 | 1910.1025Lead | 4,227 | $261,674 |
| 9 | 1910.217Mechanical Power Presses | 3,401 | $226,610 |
| 10 | 1903.2Posting of Notices; Availability of the Act, Regulations and Applicable Standards | 3,397 | $6,265 |
Federal standards combine all of their subsections.
See the top 50 standards cited in 1981 →Inspections opened by type
Type labels as defined in DOL's OSHA enforcement data.
Inspections opened by state
16 inspections with other or missing state codes are not listed.
State Plan: OSHA-approved plan covering private and public employers. Public only: State Plan for state and local government workers only. No plan: federal OSHA has jurisdiction over private sector workplaces. Source: osha.gov/stateplans.
Other OSHA records for 1981
Severe injury reports
OSHA's severe injury reporting requirement began on January 1, 2015.
Injury and illness summaries (Form 300A)
OSHA has collected Form 300A summary data since 2016.
Inspections opened per year, 1970 to 2026
Questions about 1981
How many OSHA inspections were opened in 1981?
59,183 federal and state-plan inspections were opened in 1981.
Which OSHA standard was cited most in 1981?
Mechanical Power-Transmission Apparatus (1910.219), with 8,345 citation items issued in 1981.
Which state had the most OSHA inspections in 1981?
Texas, with 5,724 inspections opened, followed by New York (5,652).
How does 1981 compare with 1980?
Inspections opened went from 68,233 to 59,183 (-13.3%). Citation items issued went from 159,303 to 132,588 (-16.8%).
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Data Source and Methodology
DOL source dataData on this page comes from the U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA enforcement database, accessed via the DOL public data API. Errors in data processing or establishment grouping are possible. Penalty amounts are the latest on record and may differ from the initial assessment or the final amount after informal conference, settlement or judicial review. Company pages group records by employer name, city and state as OSHA reported them, not by legal entity (methodology). Found an error? Report it. This product uses the DOL Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the DOL. For official and authoritative records, visit osha.gov.
SafetyRecord also offers this data as an API and bulk files, with inspections grouped by establishment and a record of how citations change after OSHA publishes them: Data & API.