Safety Violation Penalty Estimator
Estimate potential OSHA civil penalties for workplace safety violations based on violation classification, gravity, size of employer, and compliance history. Figures reflect 2024 OSHA penalty maximums adjusted annually for inflation.
Formula
Penalty = Base Penalty × (1 − Size Reduction) × (1 − Good-Faith Reduction) × (1 + History Surcharge)
Where:
• Base Penalty = Maximum Statutory Penalty × (Gravity / 10)
• Maximum Statutory Penalty (2024): Serious / Other-Than-Serious / Failure-to-Abate = $16,131 per violation; Willful or Repeated = $161,323 per violation
• Size Reduction: ≤10 employees → 60%; 11–25 → 40%; 26–100 → 20%; 101–250 → 10%; >250 → 0% (not applied to Willful/Repeated)
• Good-Faith Reduction: Documented program → 25%; Partial effort → 10%; None → 0% (not applied to Willful/Repeated)
• History Surcharge: 1–2 prior violations → +10%; 3–5 → +20%; >5 → +30%
• Failure to Abate: Per-violation penalty × number of days unabated
• Final penalty is clamped to the applicable statutory maximum.
Assumptions & References
- Penalty maximums reflect 2024 OSHA civil penalty levels as adjusted under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (effective January 15, 2024).
- Gravity-based penalty percentages follow OSHA's Field Operations Manual (FOM), CPL 02-00-160, Chapter 6.
- Size reductions apply only to employers with ≤250 employees and are not available for Willful or Repeated violations per OSHA policy.
- Good-faith reductions of up to 25% are available for Serious and Other-Than-Serious violations where the employer has a documented, active safety and health program.
- History surcharges reflect OSHA's practice of increasing penalties for employers with prior violations within the preceding three years.
- States operating their own OSHA-approved State Plans may have different penalty structures; this estimator reflects Federal OSHA rules.
- Informal settlement agreements typically reduce proposed penalties by 30–50%; this tool estimates the proposed penalty before negotiation.
- This tool does not account for multi-instance citations, egregious willful violations, or criminal referrals under 29 U.S.C. § 666(e).
- Reference: OSHA Penalty Policy – osha.gov/penalties