Introduction

An OSHA citation is a formal notice issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) when a contractor is found to have violated workplace safety or health regulations. It identifies the specific violation, describes the hazard, classifies its severity, and sets a deadline for correction. The citation may include proposed penalties or fines as well.

What are the types of OSHA citations?

• Serious: Issued when there is a substantial probability of death or serious harm, and the contractor knew or should have known about the hazard.
• Other-than-Serious: Relates to safety and health violations that would not directly cause death or serious injury but are still closely related to safety.
• Willful: Issued when the contractor knowingly fails to comply with legal requirements or acts with plain indifference to employee safety.
• Repeat: Given if a contractor is cited for a substantially similar condition to a previous violation within the past five years.
• Failure to Abate: Issued if the employer fails to fix the hazard by the initial correction deadline.

How are OSHA citations applied to a profile?

Highwire will regularly check OSHA’s database for citations reported against enrolled companies. Any citations that occurred within the last three years are applied to contractor Safety profiles and impact Safety scores. OSHA citations are input by the date opened.

*Please note: deleted citations are not entered into contractor profiles.

Click HERE to access the OSHA Establishment search engine.

How do OSHA citations affect a Safety score?

• Serious: 3 points deducted for each violation
• Willful: 5 points deducted for each violation
• Failure to Abate: 5 points deducted for each violation
• Repeat: 5 points deducted for each violation

*Please note: Regarding OSHA citation data, the maximum deduction from the total score is 10 points. OSHA citation scoring is shown in the “OSHA Experience” row of the safety score breakdown:

Where are the OSHA citations listed on my profile?

If your company has any citations from the past three years, they will be listed at the bottom of your Home page:

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