OSHA Inspections and Citations in 2016
Federal and state-plan OSHA inspections, citations and penalties recorded in 2016.
OSHA and state-plan agencies opened 81,796 inspections in 2016, 5.4% fewer than in 2015, and issued 168,299 citation items carrying $229,454,082 in current penalties. California recorded the most inspections (8,611), followed by Michigan and Washington. Hazard Communication (1910.1200) was the most cited standard, with 11,411 citations. Planned inspections were the most common type (31,950), followed by complaint inspections (19,687).
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 | 11,411 | $4,619,580 |
| 2 | 1926.501Fall Protection - Duty to Have Fall Protection | 9,714 | $28,815,549 |
| 3 | 1910.134Respiratory Protection | 6,240 | $2,946,324 |
| 4 | 1926.451Scaffolding - General Requirements | 5,208 | $9,033,708 |
| 5 | 1910.147The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) | 5,188 | $16,722,412 |
| 6 | 1910.305Wiring methods, components, and equipment for general use | 4,739 | $3,251,615 |
| 7 | 1910.303 | 4,171 | $4,172,504 |
| 8 | 1910.178Powered Industrial Trucks | 4,043 | $5,560,336 |
| 9 | 1926.1053Ladders (Construction) | 3,627 | $5,515,765 |
| 10 | 1910.212General Requirements for All Machines (Machine Guarding) | 3,598 | $10,980,760 |
Federal standards combine all of their subsections.
See the top 50 standards cited in 2016 →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 2016
Severe injury reports
Employer reports of an amputation, in-patient hospitalization or loss of an eye, by event date. Federal OSHA jurisdiction only; incidents in State Plan states are not included, per OSHA. Source: osha.gov.
Injury and illness summaries (Form 300A)
Calendar year 2016 data as submitted by employers. Only establishments meeting OSHA's industry and size criteria submit. Source: osha.gov.
Inspections opened per year, 1970 to 2026
Questions about 2016
How many OSHA inspections were opened in 2016?
81,796 federal and state-plan inspections were opened in 2016.
Which OSHA standard was cited most in 2016?
Hazard Communication (1910.1200), with 11,411 citation items issued in 2016.
Which state had the most OSHA inspections in 2016?
California, with 8,611 inspections opened, followed by Michigan (4,729).
How does 2016 compare with 2015?
Inspections opened went from 86,427 to 81,796 (-5.4%). Citation items issued went from 175,550 to 168,299 (-4.1%).
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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.