OSHA Inspections and Citations in 1996
Federal and state-plan OSHA inspections, citations and penalties recorded in 1996.
OSHA and state-plan agencies opened 92,361 inspections in 1996, 4.6% fewer than in 1995, and issued 240,045 citation items carrying $86,977,634 in current penalties. California recorded the most inspections (10,561), followed by Michigan and Washington. Hazard Communication (1910.1200) was the most cited standard, with 14,706 citations. Planned inspections were the most common type (46,987), followed by complaint inspections (20,299).
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 | 14,706 | $1,449,115 |
| 2 | 1910.305Wiring methods, components, and equipment for general use | 8,847 | $1,224,998 |
| 3 | 1910.147The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) | 6,250 | $4,309,349 |
| 4 | 1926.451Scaffolding - General Requirements | 5,984 | $3,770,288 |
| 5 | 1910.303 | 5,904 | $1,284,998 |
| 6 | 1910.132General requirements | 4,809 | $948,125 |
| 7 | 1910.157Portable Fire Extinguishers | 4,729 | $305,509 |
| 8 | 1910.212General Requirements for All Machines (Machine Guarding) | 4,448 | $3,161,425 |
| 9 | 1910.219Mechanical Power-Transmission Apparatus | 4,412 | $1,472,236 |
| 10 | 1926.501Fall Protection - Duty to Have Fall Protection | 4,373 | $4,135,469 |
Federal standards combine all of their subsections.
See the top 50 standards cited in 1996 →Inspections opened by type
Type labels as defined in DOL's OSHA enforcement data.
Inspections opened by state
3 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 1996
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 1996
How many OSHA inspections were opened in 1996?
92,361 federal and state-plan inspections were opened in 1996.
Which OSHA standard was cited most in 1996?
Hazard Communication (1910.1200), with 14,706 citation items issued in 1996.
Which state had the most OSHA inspections in 1996?
California, with 10,561 inspections opened, followed by Michigan (7,818).
How does 1996 compare with 1995?
Inspections opened went from 96,848 to 92,361 (-4.6%). Citation items issued went from 283,150 to 240,045 (-15.2%).
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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.