kvlak limn
Occupational Safety & Health Enforcement July 3, 2026

What OSHA Knows
About Your Employer

Every serious workplace injury an American employer is caught for lands in a federal file: the inspection, the cited standard, the proposed penalty, the body count. Most citations are mundane - a missing guardrail, an unlabeled drum. A few name companies you shop at. This is a reading of which rules get broken most, which industries actually kill their workers, the employers that keep getting caught, and how thin the line of inspectors between them and the rest of us really is.

The Toll

I. Fatal Work Injuries, 2014-2023

Every bar is a year of American workers who left for a shift and did not come home. The count has climbed with the workforce - 5,486 in 2022, the most since 2007 - with one sharp exception: 2020, when the pandemic emptied job sites as much as it filled morgues. These are counts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tallies every fatal work injury regardless of which agency polices it; OSHA's own jurisdiction is a large slice, not the whole.

0 1,400 2,700 4,100 5,500 4,821 2014 3.4 per 100k workers 4,836 2015 3.4 per 100k workers 5,190 2016 3.6 per 100k workers 5,147 2017 3.5 per 100k workers 5,250 2018 3.5 per 100k workers 5,333 2019 3.5 per 100k workers 4,764 2020 3.4 per 100k workers 5,190 2021 3.6 per 100k workers 5,486 2022 3.7 per 100k workers 5,283 2023 3.5 per 100k workers '14'15'16'17'18'19'20'21'22'23
Fatal work injuries (count) · 2022 peak · 2020 pandemic low · rate held near 3.5/100k - the toll rose roughly with employment
All years, counts and rates
YearFatal injuriesRate /100k FTE
2014 4,821 3.4
2015 4,836 3.4
2016 5,190 3.6
2017 5,147 3.5
2018 5,250 3.5
2019 5,333 3.5
2020 4,764 3.4
2021 5,190 3.6
2022 5,486 3.7
2023 5,283 3.5

Deadliest Work

II. Fatality Rate by Sector & Occupation

Raw death counts follow the biggest workforces; rates show where the job itself is dangerous. Measured per 100,000 workers against a national average of 3.5, the pattern is stark: you are roughly six times likelier to die farming, fishing, or logging than the typical American worker - and nearly thirty times likelier cutting timber than sitting at this screen.

By industry sector

bar = deaths per 100,000 workers · the hairline marks the 3.5 national average · right column is the sector's total fatalities

Highest-rate occupations

  1. 01 Logging workers 98.9 52 died
  2. 02 Fishing & hunting workers 86.9 19 died
  3. 03 Roofers 51.8 113 died
  4. 04 Refuse & recyclable material collectors 41.4 41 died
  5. 05 Aircraft pilots & flight engineers 31.3 62 died
  6. 06 Driver/sales workers & truck drivers 26.8 984 died
  7. 07 Structural iron & steel workers 19.8 9 died
OSHA's "Focus Four" - the hazards behind most construction deaths
Falls 39.2% of construction deaths Struck-by Caught-in / between Electrocution

Construction records more total fatalities than any other sector (1,075 in 2023). Falls to a lower level alone account for the largest single share; the other three of the Focus Four make up most of the rest.

What Gets Cited

III. Ten Most-Cited Standards, FY2023

OSHA writes thousands of citations a year, but they cluster. The same ten standards top the list annually - and one has led every year for more than a decade: 29 CFR 1926.501, the requirement to protect construction workers from falls. Read this as the anatomy of the ordinary violation: not exotic catastrophes, but missing guardrails, unlabeled chemicals, and unguarded machines.

bar length = violations issued in FY2023 · "construction" vs "general industry" is the standard's regulatory home, not a color

Landmark Cases

IV. Enforcement That Made History

A handful of inspections rewrote what a workplace death costs a company - and what OSHA is willing to do about it. These are documented from OSHA and Labor Department news releases and federal investigators; the penalty is the number OSHA proposed, which negotiation often trims. Each card names its source.

March 23, 2005 Texas City, TX 15 killed 180 injured $87M prop.

BP Products North America

$87.4M proposed in 2009 - a record - settled at $50.6M

A hydrocarbon vapor cloud ignited during a unit startup, killing 15 workers and injuring roughly 180. OSHA's initial $21M fine in 2005 was then the largest in its history. In 2009 OSHA proposed a further $87.4M for hazards left uncorrected - the largest proposed penalty OSHA had ever issued - which BP settled for $50.6M, the biggest penalty the agency has actually collected.

Cited under - Process Safety Management, 29 CFR 1910.119
Source: OSHA / DOL news releases (2005, 2009, 2010); U.S. Chemical Safety Board
February 7, 2008 Port Wentworth, GA 14 killed 36 injured $8.7M prop.

Imperial Sugar Company

$8.7M proposed across two plants; settled at $6.05M

Accumulated sugar dust exploded at the Port Wentworth refinery, killing 14 and burning dozens. OSHA cited both this plant and Imperial's Gramercy, Louisiana site for combustible-dust hazards. The disaster helped drive OSHA's national emphasis program on combustible dust.

Cited under - Combustible dust / housekeeping, 29 CFR 1910.22 & 1910.272
Source: OSHA / DOL news releases (2008, 2010); U.S. Chemical Safety Board
March 6, 2007 Tulsa, OK 1 killed $2.8M

Cintas Corporation

$2.78M - then the largest OSHA fine in the service sector

Eleazar Torres-Gomez was pulled into an operating industrial dryer while clearing a jam on a laundry conveyor. OSHA issued 46 violations and a $2.78M penalty - at the time the largest it had ever levied in the service industry.

Cited under - Lockout / Tagout & machine guarding, 29 CFR 1910.147
Source: OSHA / DOL news release (2007)
January - February 2023 Six fulfillment centers (FL, IL, NY, CO, ID) $107K

Amazon.com Services

~$107K across six sites - small dollars, loud signal

OSHA cited six Amazon warehouses for exposing workers to ergonomic and struck-by hazards. Because there is no specific federal ergonomics standard, the citations ran under the catch-all General Duty Clause and the fines were tiny by statute. A 2024 corporate-wide settlement later extended safeguards across Amazon's network.

Cited under - General Duty Clause, OSH Act 5(a)(1)
Source: OSHA / DOL news releases (Jan 18 & Feb 1, 2023)

Repeat Offenders

V. Caught, and Caught Again

A single citation can be an accident of a bad day. A pattern across dozens of sites is a business decision. OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program exists for employers who keep drawing willful and repeat citations for the same hazards. Two of the most-documented cases follow - one a household name, one you have probably never heard of but whose pipe is likely under your street.

Dollar General (Dolgencorp LLC)

Discount retail
willfulrepeatsevere violator
More than $26M in proposed penalties since 2017 penalties
180+ inspections record

The most-cited retailer in the country. OSHA has repeatedly found blocked emergency exits, obstructed electrical panels and fire extinguishers, and unstable stacks of merchandise - the hazards that trap workers when a store catches fire. Dollar General sits in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program; a separate July 2024 settlement ($12M plus a corporate safety overhaul) does not count toward the cumulative proposed total above.

Source: OSHA / DOL news releases (2023, 2024)

McWane, Inc.

Cast-iron pipe foundries
willfulrepeatcriminal
400+ OSHA violations, 1995-2003 penalties
9 worker deaths; ~4,600 injuries record

Profiled in the 2003 New York Times and PBS Frontline investigation 'A Dangerous Business,' McWane's foundries recorded nine worker deaths, roughly 4,600 injuries, and more than 400 OSHA violations over eight years - more than all its major competitors combined - alongside federal environmental and criminal charges.

Source: New York Times / PBS Frontline, 'A Dangerous Business' (2003)

The Odds of a Visit

VI. How Thin the Line Is

Enforcement only works if there is a plausible chance of getting caught. Roughly 130 million workers at more than 8 million worksites fall under OSHA's jurisdiction - patrolled by fewer inspectors than a mid-sized police department. The math is the whole story.

186 years

At its 2024 staffing, federal OSHA would need about 186 years to inspect every workplace under its jurisdiction just once - a lifetime and then some between visits. AFL-CIO, "Death on the Job," 2024 edition.

1,875 safety & health inspectors, nationwide
Federal OSHA (853) State-plan programs (1,022)
130 million workers under OSHA jurisdiction
8 million+ covered worksites
29 approved state plans (22 cover private employers, 7 only public)
1,875 total inspectors, federal + state
What a violation costs today
$16,550 maximum, per serious violation
$165,514 maximum, per willful or repeat violation

Statutory maximums for 2025, indexed to inflation and carried into 2026 (no separate 2026 adjustment was issued). A single willful citation now tops out near the price of a modest car; for most of OSHA's history a worker's death drew a penalty in the low thousands. The ceiling rose sharply only after Congress lifted the caps in 2015.

Methodology

VII. What Is Real, and What Is Not
Read this first

This is a v1 curated snapshot, not a live query against the full enforcement database. Every number on this page is a real, published figure - drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, OSHA's own annual reports, and Department of Labor news releases - and each case names its source. What is not here yet is the raw, per-establishment feed that would let you look up any employer. That is the honest gap, and the project's data adapter is built as the documented drop-in point to close it.

Sources

Fatality counts and rates come from the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), the authoritative national tally. The most-cited-standards ranking is OSHA's own Top 10 list for FY2023. Individual enforcement cases and penalties come from OSHA and DOL news releases and federal investigators (including the U.S. Chemical Safety Board). Where a case was widely reported, the citation names the outlet. The eventual live feed is the DOL enforcement data catalog at enforcedata.dol.gov - the full osha_inspection, osha_violation, and osha_accident files.

A death count is not an OSHA count

The 2014-2023 fatality series counts all fatal work injuries in the United States. Many fall outside OSHA entirely: miners answer to MSHA, most transportation deaths to the DOT, and the self-employed to no one. CFOI is the correct number for "how dangerous is American work"; it is not a scorecard of OSHA's caseload. We use it because it is the most complete and least gameable measure of the toll.

Rates, not raw counts

"Deadliest Work" ranks by fatal injuries per 100,000 full-time-equivalent workers, against the 3.5 national average for 2023. Rates, not counts, are what tell you the job is dangerous: trucking records the most total deaths of any single occupation because there are millions of drivers, while logging - a few tens of thousands of workers - carries a rate nearly thirty times the national figure.

Proposed vs. final penalties

Every dollar figure in "Landmark Cases" is the penalty OSHA proposed. Settlements routinely reduce it - BP's record $87.4M became $50.6M; Imperial Sugar's $8.7M became $6.05M. Where the final number is known, we show both. Read a proposed penalty as OSHA's opening position, not the amount that changed hands.

Federal vs. state jurisdiction

There is no single "OSHA." Federal OSHA directly covers about half the country; the rest is run by 29 approved state plans (22 covering private employers, 7 only state and local government). California, Oregon, Washington, and others set their own - sometimes stricter - standards and keep their own records. National totals blend the two; a search for one employer may miss citations filed on the other side of that line.

Entity resolution - the hard part

The single biggest caveat for any per-employer analysis: one company appears under many names. Legal entity, "doing business as," per-site establishment names, franchisees, and subsidiaries all file separately - "Dollar General," "Dolgencorp LLC," and hundreds of individual store records are the same enterprise. Aggregating penalties or counts by employer requires a normalization pass that clusters these together, and it is never perfect. The published cumulative figures we cite (Dollar General's $26M+, McWane's 400+ violations) come from OSHA and investigators who did that work; a naive rollup of the raw files would undercount every large employer.

What you are not seeing

Injuries that were never reported. Hazards fixed quietly before an inspector arrived - or that no inspector will reach for 186 years. Retaliation that keeps a complaint from ever being filed. Deaths recorded under another agency's seal. This page reflects what enforcement caught and wrote down, which is a fraction of what happens on the floor.

Snapshot generated 2026-07-04. Primary sources: U.S. Department of Labor / OSHA · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (CFOI) · AFL-CIO "Death on the Job." Curated for editorial reading; verify any specific figure against the primary source before relying on it.