OSHA Fine Calculator

How OSHA penalties are calculated

Federal OSHA sets maximum penalties by violation type, adjusted for inflation every January: roughly $16,500+ for serious and other-than-serious violations, about $165,000+ for willful or repeat violations, and the serious-level maximum per day for failure to abate past the deadline. The area office starts from a gravity-based penalty (how severe and how probable the harm), then applies reductions from the Field Operations Manual:

• Company size — up to 70% off for employers with 10 or fewer employees
• Good faith — up to 25% off for a documented, working safety program (not available on willful or repeat citations)
• History — 10% off with no citations in the past five years

That's exactly what this calculator models. Note the flip side: a citation history removes reductions and turns the next violation into a “repeat” at ten times the money — which is how a $16,000 problem quietly becomes a six-figure one.

The cheapest fine is the one you never get

Most citations come from hazards a supervisor could have spotted the same morning — a missing guardrail, a worker without fall protection, an uncovered floor hole. Site Safety AI turns that morning walk into a 30-second scan: point your phone at the work area and it flags the violations an inspector would, before the inspector does.