OSHA Inspections and Citations
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) oversees the enforcement of workplace safety and health regulations in the United States. Due to the hazardous nature of the job, federal and state OSHA offices conduct thousands of construction site inspections each year to identify any safety and health violations. As a result of the inspections, construction firms receive thousands of citations per year, costing the industry millions of dollars.
Using OSHA enforcement data in the U.S. Department of Labor Enforcement Database, this dashboard examines inspections and citations in construction. The data is broken down by inspection scope, year, establishment size, and subsector. The Activity and Year filters update both the charts and bolded and underlined key findings. There is one chart filter, Major Subsector, that updates both the detailed subsector chart and the related bold and underlined key findings.
Following the interactive dashboard, you will find more information on the data source, definitions, chart notes, a downloadable data file, and recommended citation. This interactive data dashboard corresponds to a chapter in the upcoming PDF version of the Construction Chart Book-7th edition, which will be published this summer. Data will be updated annually as available. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected].
About the Data
Data comes from the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA Enforcement Data.
U.S. Department of Labor, 2011-2024 OSHA Enforcement Data https://enforcedata.dol.gov/views/data_summary.php.
Definitions and Chart Notes
Definitions
- Establishment size – The number of employees working for an establishment during a calendar year.
- Inspection scope – Indicates whether the inspection was complete, partial, or records only/no physical inspection. For more information see: https://www.osha.gov/data/inspection-detail-definitions.
- Complete inspection – A full inspection covering all areas, operations, conditions, or practices at the worksite.
- Partial inspection – An inspection focusing on specific potentially hazardous areas, operations, conditions, or practices at the establishment.
- Records only/no physical inspection – OSHA inspections that included a review of establishment records but no physical inspection.
Chart Notes
- The first bar chart shows the number of inspections, citations, or fall citations by inspection scope and year.
- The pie chart details the average number of inspections, citations, or fall citations by establishment size.
- The second bar chart examines the average number of inspections, citations, or fall citations by the three major subsectors.
- The fourth chart examines the detailed subsectors with the highest average number of inspections, citations, or fall citations. If citations or fall citations are shown, the chart will also show the average penalties for the top detailed subsectors.