OSHA Increases Penalties for Workplace Health and Safety Violations
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has increased the minimum and maximum civil monetary penalties (CMPs) for workplace safety violations, as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act.
To maintain the deterrent effect of CMPs and to promote compliance with the law, the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act requires an annual adjustment of CMPs to account for inflation. Each year, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) calculates an inflation multiplier, and all federal agencies are required to apply that multiplier to their CMP structures by January 15. For 2024, the OMB has calculated a multiplier of 1.03241 to reflect the cost-of-living increase over the past 12 months.
OSHA confirmed the cost-of-living increase in a final rule published in the Federal Register on January 11, 2023. The final rule is effective on January 15, 2024, and will apply to all citations issued by OSHA on or after January 16, 2024. The new penalty structure also applies to open inspections that commenced before January 16, 2024. The new CMP structure is detailed in the table below.
| Type of Violation | Penalty Minimum | Penalty Maximum |
| Serious | $1,190** per violation | $16,131 per violation |
| Other-Than-Serious | $0 per violation | $16,131 per violation |
| Willful or Repeated | $11,524* per violation | $161,323 per violation |
| Posting Requirements | $0 per violation | $16,131 per violation |
| Failure to Abate | N/A | $16,131 per day unabated beyond the abatement date [generally limited to 30 days maximum] |
* For a repeated other-than-serious violation that otherwise would have no initial penalty, a Gravity Based Penalty (GBP) of $460 shall be proposed for the first repeated violation, $1,152 for the second repeated violation, and $2,304 for a third repetition.
**This amount reflects the actual minimum penalty with all penalty reductions which rectifies error in the previous years’ serious minimum penalty posted.
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In several U.S. states, state agencies enforce the Occupational Safety and Health Act rather than OSHA, and penalties for workplace safety violations may differ in those states.
