OSHA Inspections and Citations in 2020
Federal and state-plan OSHA inspections, citations and penalties recorded in 2020.
OSHA and state-plan agencies opened 52,992 inspections in 2020, 35.2% fewer than in 2019, and issued 104,621 citation items carrying $205,960,640 in current penalties. California recorded the most inspections (6,703), followed by Washington and Michigan. Fall Protection - Duty to Have Fall Protection (1926.501) was the most cited standard, with 7,142 citations. Planned inspections were the most common type (17,767), followed by complaint inspections (11,571).
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 | 1926.501Fall Protection - Duty to Have Fall Protection | 7,142 | $30,336,387 |
| 2 | 1910.1200Hazard Communication | 6,188 | $4,255,304 |
| 3 | 1910.134Respiratory Protection | 4,329 | $4,647,098 |
| 4 | 1910.147The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) | 3,114 | $12,391,827 |
| 5 | 1926.451Scaffolding - General Requirements | 3,003 | $6,608,165 |
| 6 | 1926.1053Ladders (Construction) | 2,723 | $5,753,546 |
| 7 | 1926.503Fall Protection - Training Requirements | 2,646 | $3,031,314 |
| 8 | 1910.178Powered Industrial Trucks | 2,344 | $4,878,289 |
| 9 | 1910.305Wiring methods, components, and equipment for general use | 2,168 | $1,875,415 |
| 10 | 1910.303 | 2,033 | $2,534,661 |
Federal standards combine all of their subsections.
See the top 50 standards cited in 2020 →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 2020
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 2020 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 2020
How many OSHA inspections were opened in 2020?
52,992 federal and state-plan inspections were opened in 2020.
Which OSHA standard was cited most in 2020?
Fall Protection - Duty to Have Fall Protection (1926.501), with 7,142 citation items issued in 2020.
Which state had the most OSHA inspections in 2020?
California, with 6,703 inspections opened, followed by Washington (4,713).
How does 2020 compare with 2019?
Inspections opened went from 81,823 to 52,992 (-35.2%). Citation items issued went from 159,676 to 104,621 (-34.5%).
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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.