What Happens If You Violate OSHA?: Fines & Penalties

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As we all know, OSHA fines and penalties are a worst-case scenario to be avoided at all costs for most employers.

No one likes to think about the big, bad “what if”s of the world.”

With that being said, if the worst does happen and an employee does get inspected and cited, the employer has a choice to either pay the citation without objection or contest the citation if they believe the claim is inappropriate or unfairly calculated.

How much is an OSHA fine? The average OSHA inspection will result in $30,000 – $80,000 in fines, but often exceeds $100,000 or more in many cases.

Having said that, it’s important to understand what factors play into the cost calculation.

OSHA violations cost fluctuates based on the seriousness of the situation, the employer’s reputation when it comes to health and safety, and other relevant factors, specific citation penalties are assigned.

Let’s dive into a few specific factors that play a role in how fines are doled out.

How Much Are OSHA Fines?

Serious and Other Than Serious: Maximum of $13,653 per violation. Serious are the most common violations cited by OSHA
Repeat and Willful: Maximum of $136,563 per violation.

Gravity of the Situation
The gravity of the situation is a prime factor in determining specific penalties for OSHA violations cases. The OSHA Field Operations Manual (“FOM” for short), defines “gravity” as “the severity of injury that could result from the alleged violation combined with the probability that an injury will occur”. The FOM also breaks down “severity” into tiers ranging from “minimal” to “high”. Depending on how severe an injury an employee could potentially get, the probability of an accident is then taken into account when determining the specific penalty to be handed down.

As one OSHA inspector explained to me, if the hazard could result in a “recordable injury” then the violation would likely result in at least a “Serious” violation, if not “Willful.”

Employer Reputation
At the end of the day, workplace safety is the primary goal of not only OSHA, but conscientious employers everywhere. In fact, OSHA actually targets workplaces that have consistently high injury and illness rates (ie: high TRIR and or DART scores). OSHA takes safety violations very seriously, and penalizes underachieving employers with the hopes that their financial punishment will discourage others from behaving similarly. Those in leadership roles who do not take health and safety seriously pose a huge risk to not only profitability, but lasting employee attitudes and overall company reputation. Employers who have received multiple violations are subject to increased fines (sometimes even multiplied ten times the normal amount) – this is a great incentive to contest fines that you truly believe were unduly calculated. Failure to do so might result in a less-than-legitimate “repeat offender” label.

OSHA inspectors can also gauge a company’s reputation by the attitude of senior management observed during the enforcement process.

Company Size
OSHA fine amounts also depend on the size of your company. Smaller employers generally receive smaller fines, it’s as simple as that. If you run a smaller business, check out our eBook detailing the Top 5 EHS Mistakes Made by Small Companies.

While any business owner would agree that having your business slapped with fines is never an ideal situation, refusal to pay is an avenue that employers do not want to consider going down.

What happens if you don’t pay OSHA fines?

There are definitely some things you need to take into consideration before deciding to ignore OSHA penalties.

If fatalities are involved as a result of negligence, company higher-ups like presidents and owners can have fines handed down to them personally, separated completely from the financial damage already inflicted on their businesses – in some cases these can go into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and even jail time. There is no situation where violators who do not pay their fines are not held accountable in some serious way. Avoid a complicated, drawn-out legal battle by making absolutely sure that you have a clear understanding of all OSHA rules and regulations as they pertain to your specific industry and company safety standards.

It’s also a good idea to prepare a company plan for how to manage a potential OSHA inspection.

Seriously, just pay your fines.

At the end of the day, there is no clear-cut answer to the question of how OSHA calculates penalties.

Multiple factors figure into these decisions, but the best way to avoid hefty OSHA fines is to simply take the initiative to make safety a real priority at your company before they have any reason to come knocking. As inconvenient as a fine is, OSHA criminal penalties are also a serious risk for employers that do not prioritize a company culture built around preventative safety policies.

For more information on how to proceed with planning and implementing a safety program at your workplace, be sure to visit https://txgcsafetyconsulting.com/

Call 512-457-0374 or Click Here

To Schedule Your Free Consultation

By Russell Carr|2022-03-21T13:02:52-05:00February 4th, 2021|Good To Know|Comments Off

About the Author: Russell Carr

How A Sales Guy Transformed Into An Environmental, Health & Safety Expert & Advocate For Small Businesses I've spent my entire 30+ year career working within the manufacturing and “industrial services” sectors. The first 15 years of my career focused on sales of hazardous materials related products and services to the manufacturing sector, then for the last 16+ years transitioned into entrepreneurship, founding 3 small industrial services related contracting businesses. As you’ll see below, running these companies eventually lead me to found yet a 4th business, but more on that in a minute…. Here’s a brief description of the first 3 companies: Berg Environmental Services, Inc.: hazardous waste disposal & transportation services, founded in August of 2003 3rd party wind energy operations & maintenance services provider to utility scale wind farms throughout the US, founded in September 2007 3rd party oil & gas exploration & production services provider, founded in August of 2011 Each of these companies operated in extremely dangerous working conditions and exposed my employees to a wide range of serious health & safety hazards on a daily basis. To complicate matters, 2 of the companies also exposed the environment to significant potential harm. In other words, I learned very early the critical importance of managing environmental, health and safety issues so as to ensure the safety of our employees and the environment, as well as minimizing related risks. But I also learned how incredibly difficult and challenging this endeavor can be due to the wide range of complicated and continually changing environmental, health and safety rules and regulations that impacted the companies. To summarize the challenges: First I had to determine which regulations applied to each company, then I had to build compliance programs to meet those regulations, and finally I had to ensure that the programs were being managed and followed by our staff on a daily basis. All while trying to run and grow 3 profitable businesses…. It was overwhelming and I always struggled to keep up. To make matters worse, throughout this time I also witnessed the devastating price that companies, management and ownership can pay for failing to manage EHS compliance. This included seeing one of my hazardous waste management clients get sent to jail over environmental issues, another client’s management team threatened with jail time, a direct competitor get fined $378,000 by OSHA fine after an employee was nearly killed, and many others face major fines and penalties. Full disclosure, one of my companies got fined by OSHA at one point, & another was cited by TCEQ, so I know how it feels. In summary, I learned first hand how incredibly difficult it is for small companies to manage EHS compliance due to a common lack of the critical expertise, time and resources that are needed to keep up, and how this situation then ends up exposing them to these potentially catastrophic risks that can literally destroy lives and businesses. This later inspired me to found my 4th company, Berg Compliance Solutions in 2012, which is dedicated to helping other small businesses, and business owners, to manage EHS compliance and risk. Education BA, Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder, December, 1990. Summary of Professional Experience & Qualifications: 30+ years serving the manufacturing & industrial services sectors 30+ years of sales and marketing experience 16+ years as small business owner & entrepreneur: Founded and operated 4 small businesses since 2003. Environmental, Health & Safety Compliance & Program Related: 19 plus years of hazardous waste management including EPA, TCEQ & RCRA regulations 8 years of DOT/FMCSA compliance experience, including hazardous materials transportation 8 years of combined experience implementing and managing OSHA health and safety compliance programs for 2 high risk energy services businesses Successfully implemented and gained ISO 9001 Quality Management Certification and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety Advisory Service) Certification for wind energy maintenance business. Regulatory Enforcement Related Experience: Served as expert witness in criminal environmental compliance enforcement cases Superfund-CERCLA OSHA enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in following industries: industrial services, manufacturing & construction. TCEQ enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in manufacturing.

What Happens If You Violate OSHA?: Fines & Penalties