How OSHA penalties are calculated and reduced

Federal OSHA only. Informational, not legal advice. Last reviewed: October 4, 2026

A proposed OSHA penalty is not a flat fine. OSHA starts from a gravity-based amount and adjusts it for the employer's size, good faith and history. This guide explains each step under OSHA's current policy and how a penalty can change afterwards.

This guide is general information about federal OSHA procedure. It is not legal advice. CitationPack is not a law firm and is not affiliated with OSHA.

The four factors

The OSH Act requires penalties to be assessed with due consideration of four things: the gravity of the violation, the size of the employer's business, the employer's good faith, and its history of previous violations (OSH Act § 17(j), 29 U.S.C. 666(j)). OSHA's Field Operations Manual turns those factors into the arithmetic below (FOM Chapter 6). OSHA proposes penalties; where a citation is contested, the Review Commission assesses them.

Current maximum penalties

Federal OSHA maximums for penalties assessed after January 15, 2026
Type of violation	Maximum penalty
Serious, other-than-serious, or posting requirement	$16,550 per violation
Failure to abate	$16,550 per day beyond the abatement date
Willful or repeated	$165,514 per violation

These are the amounts OSHA lists for penalties assessed after January 15, 2026 (OSHA Penalties). OSHA's May 21, 2026 memorandum explains that there was no inflation adjustment for 2026, so they are the amounts that first applied to penalties proposed after January 15, 2025 (2026 penalty memorandum; 29 CFR 1903.15(d)). A willful violation also has a minimum of $11,823, and OSHA's policy minimum for a serious violation is $1,085.

Citations issued before July 14, 2025 were calculated under earlier factors: the 70% size reduction stopped at 10 employees, with 60% for 11-25, and the history reduction was 10% (2026 penalty memorandum; OSHA, July 14, 2025). The $1,085 serious minimum applies from that date; before it the minimum was $1,221 (2025 penalty memorandum).

Step 1: the gravity-based penalty

Gravity combines two judgments: the severity of the most serious injury or illness that could reasonably result, and the probability that one would occur. For a serious violation, severity is high, medium or low, and probability is greater or lesser (FOM Chapter 6). The pair sets the gravity-based penalty:

Serious violations, 2026 amounts
Severity	Probability	Gravity-based penalty	Gravity
High	Greater	$16,550	High
Medium	Greater	$14,187	Moderate
Low	Greater	$11,823	Moderate
High	Lesser	$11,823	Moderate
Medium	Lesser	$9,457	Moderate
Low	Lesser	$7,093	Low

Source: 2026 penalty memorandum, Table 2. Other-than-serious violations are assigned only minimal severity, though the Area Director can propose up to the maximum where that is needed as a deterrent.

Step 2: the adjustments

The adjustments are applied one after another, in this order: size, good faith, history, then Quick-Fix (FOM Chapter 6).

Size. Based on the largest number of employees at all workplaces nationwide, including in State Plan states, at any one time in the previous 12 months: 1-25 employees, 70%; 26-100 employees, 30%; 101-250 employees, 10%; 251 or more employees, no reduction.
Good faith. 25% normally requires a written safety and health management system; 15% applies to a documented and effective system with only incidental deficiencies. There is none for a high-gravity serious violation; where a willful, repeated or failure-to-abate violation is found in the inspection; for abatement-verification citations under 29 CFR 1903.19; where the employer has no safety and health program or one with major deficiencies; or where it failed to report a fatality, hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye as 29 CFR 1904.39 requires.
History. Inspections by federal OSHA and by any State Plan both count. A 20% reduction for an employer never inspected, or inspected in the previous five years and found in compliance or cited only for other-than-serious violations. A 20% increase where high-gravity serious citations became final orders in the previous five years. Neither applies where serious citations that were not high gravity became final in that time, or where the only inspections are more than five years old.
Quick-Fix. 15% for an other-than-serious or low or moderate gravity serious violation that is corrected permanently during the inspection or shortly after, in no case more than 15 days after the compliance officer found it.

Example: a serious item with medium severity and lesser probability starts at $9,457. For an employer with 12 employees the size reduction brings it to $2,837; a 15% good-faith reduction to $2,412; a 20% history reduction to $1,929; and a Quick-Fix reduction to $1,640. Amounts are shown rounded to the dollar; the calculation rounds once, at the end.

Where the adjustments are limited

Repeated violations are reduced only for size, after the gravity-based penalty is multiplied: by 2 for a first repeat and 5 for a second for employers with 250 or fewer employees, or by 10 where the Area Director finds that necessary for deterrence, and by 5 and 10 for larger employers (FOM Chapter 6).
Willful violations are reduced only for size and history, on a separate size scale for serious willful violations, and never below the statutory minimum.
High-gravity serious violations are reduced only for size and history.
The Area Director can withhold the adjustments altogether, for example where the citations relate to a fatality or catastrophe, or the employer failed to report a fatality, hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye as required.

The arithmetic therefore shows how OSHA's policy works; it does not predict what a particular Area Director will propose or accept.

How a penalty can change after the citation

Before a contest is filed, the Area Director can reclassify violations and modify or withdraw penalties in an informal settlement agreement, where evidence presented at the informal conference justifies it (FOM Chapter 8). OSHA describes its settlement policy as reducing penalties for small employers and those acting in good faith (OSHA 3000). After a contest, any settlement is negotiated with OSHA's attorney, and the Review Commission can affirm, modify or vacate the citation or the proposed penalty (OSH Act § 10(c)). See what an informal conference is and how to prepare.

Public enforcement records show the penalty OSHA proposed and the penalty on record now for past cases, not the reasons a penalty changed. CitationPack publishes those figures by standard and by state. They describe other employers' cases and are not a prediction for any citation.

State Plan citations follow different rules

Everything here is the federal procedure. OSHA lists 22 State Plans that cover private-sector employers (OSHA State Plans), and says State Plans have their own penalty reduction policies and procedures and their own system for review and appeal of citations, penalties and abatement periods (State Plan FAQ). If a state agency issued the citation, follow that agency's instructions rather than this guide. CitationPack does not support State Plan citations.

When to involve counsel

How to respond to a citation can affect legal rights. Willful or repeat citations, fatality or catastrophe inspections, large penalties, and any matter that is contested or may be litigated are ones to review with qualified counsel.

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Sources

Related guides

The federal OSHA contest deadline: 15 working days. What starts the 15 working days, how they are counted, and what happens if they run out.
OSHA informal conference: what it is and how to prepare. What the meeting with the Area Director is for, what it can change, and what to bring.
What to do after receiving a federal OSHA citation. Posting, the options before the deadline, abatement certification and extension petitions.