OSHA Inspections and Citations in 1989
Federal and state-plan OSHA inspections, citations and penalties recorded in 1989.
OSHA and state-plan agencies opened 123,225 inspections in 1989, 1.8% fewer than in 1988, and issued 378,853 citation items carrying $50,681,671 in current penalties. New York recorded the most inspections (12,198), followed by Indiana and Texas. Hazard Communication (1910.1200) was the most cited standard, with 36,686 citations. Planned inspections were the most common type (67,943), followed by complaint inspections (19,948).
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 | 1910.1200Hazard Communication | 36,686 | $3,077,315 |
| 2 | 1926.59Hazard Communication | 32,150 | $1,049,070 |
| 3 | 1910.219Mechanical Power-Transmission Apparatus | 10,594 | $1,368,215 |
| 4 | 1926.451Scaffolding - General Requirements | 10,209 | $2,588,069 |
| 5 | 1926.404Electrical - Wiring Design and Protection (Construction) | 9,825 | $1,256,442 |
| 6 | 1910.305Wiring methods, components, and equipment for general use | 9,820 | $560,136 |
| 7 | 1926.500Scope, application, and definitions applicable to this subpart | 8,863 | $2,130,323 |
| 8 | 1910.215Abrasive Wheel Machinery | 8,229 | $549,095 |
| 9 | 1910.212General Requirements for All Machines (Machine Guarding) | 7,857 | $1,601,576 |
| 10 | 1910.134Respiratory Protection | 7,436 | $540,249 |
Federal standards combine all of their subsections.
See the top 50 standards cited in 1989 →Inspections opened by type
Type labels as defined in DOL's OSHA enforcement data.
Inspections opened by state
12 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 1989
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 1989
How many OSHA inspections were opened in 1989?
123,225 federal and state-plan inspections were opened in 1989.
Which OSHA standard was cited most in 1989?
Hazard Communication (1910.1200), with 36,686 citation items issued in 1989.
Which state had the most OSHA inspections in 1989?
New York, with 12,198 inspections opened, followed by Indiana (7,207).
How does 1989 compare with 1988?
Inspections opened went from 125,535 to 123,225 (-1.8%). Citation items issued went from 320,630 to 378,853 (+18.2%).
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All years
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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.