Free US calculator
OSHA Penalty Exposure Calculator
Estimate annual OSHA penalty exposure from what federal OSHA's citations in your industry actually cost in fiscal 2025, with the worst case at the 2026 inflation-adjusted maxima and your citation-type mix. Then test your own assumption for how much a documented inspection and maintenance programme would prevent.
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Where equipment records meet OSHA's most cited standards
- Digital pre-starts put the equipment check on record. Fall protection, ladders, scaffolding and machine guarding have been on every final OSHA Top 10 list since fiscal 2015. Ladders, scaffolds and guards are equipment: a scan-and-go pre-start records the check against the asset, with photos, before it is used. Pre-start inspections →
- Lockout/tagout and electrical citations track to maintenance practice. Keep each machine's LOTO procedure and its periodic inspection on the asset's record, and complete the inspection on mobile with photos and a signature. OSHA's standard requires that inspection at least once a year. LOTO templates → Lockout/tagout citation data →
- Records support the "good faith" reduction. OSHA's Field Operations Manual allows up to 25% off penalties for good faith. It normally requires a written safety and health management system, and names documented training sessions and safety meeting minutes as the kind of evidence it accepts. Dated, photographed inspection records against each asset are part of that evidence.
- Service by the meter, not the calendar. When a meter reading shows an asset has reached its service interval, MapTrack raises the work order, and an asset with overdue maintenance is flagged when someone tries to check it out. Meter-based maintenance →
Frequently asked questions
What are the current OSHA penalty maxima?
OSHA penalties are adjusted annually for inflation under 29 CFR §1903.15. As at January 2026 the published maxima are $16,550 per serious or other-than-serious violation, $16,550 per day for failure to abate, and $165,514 per violation for willful or repeated violations. The 2026 indexation did not occur: the government shutdown stopped the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishing the October 2025 CPI-U figure the statute requires, so 2025 levels carried over. State-plan jurisdictions (Cal/OSHA, NC OSH, Michigan MIOSHA and others) may adopt different maxima but most align closely. Verify the current schedule on osha.gov before using these figures for budget commitments.
How does this calculator estimate exposure?
Three parts. (1) Expected citations a year, from a MapTrack planning assumption of citations per 100 workers for your industry: adjust the result to your own inspection history. (2) Expected exposure prices those citations at what federal OSHA's citations in your industry actually cost in fiscal 2025: current penalties divided by citations for the industry's NAICS sector, from OSHA's Industry Profile tool, so settlements and OSHA's own reductions are already included (US$3,955 across all industries). (3) The worst case prices every expected citation at its 2026 statutory maximum, using your citation mix, with OSHA's size reduction as an option.
Which penalty reductions does OSHA allow?
OSHA's Field Operations Manual (chapter 6) allows three. Size, by the employer's maximum employees nationwide in the previous 12 months: 1 to 25, up to 70%; 26 to 100, 30%; 101 to 250, 10%; 251 or more, none. Good faith, up to 25%, which normally requires a written safety and health management system (15% where it has only incidental deficiencies). History, 20%, for employers inspected in the previous five years without serious citations, or never inspected. Good faith is never given for repeated or wilful violations or high-gravity serious ones, and repeated violations are reduced only for size. The calculator's checkbox applies the size reduction to the worst case.
Do digital inspections and asset records reduce OSHA citations?
No published study puts a number on it, which is why the calculator leaves the share of citations prevented to you. What OSHA does publish: its Field Operations Manual allows up to 25% off penalties for good faith, and names documented training sessions and safety meeting minutes as the kind of evidence it accepts. OSHA's 2000 review of its lockout/tagout standard reported lockout-related deaths in the United Auto Workers' database falling by 20% a year from 1989 to 1997, after the standard took effect. And much of what OSHA cites is about equipment: MapTrack's analysis of OSHA's preliminary fiscal 2026 Top 10 puts 43.5% of its violations under five equipment standards.
Is this calculator legal advice?
No. It estimates statistical exposure for budgeting and risk-review purposes only. Actual penalties depend on the facts of each inspection, gravity-based penalty calculations under the OSHA Field Operations Manual, and review commission outcomes. For specific advice, engage an OSHA-specialist attorney or certified safety professional.
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