How to Find OSHA Training Clients from Citations

The training standards cited most

Citation items under the parts of each standard that require training. Inspections counts each employer inspection once per topic. Serious or worse is the share of items cited as serious, repeat or willful.

Source: OSHAlert's copy of the public U.S. Department of Labor OSHA enforcement data. Citations issued June 1 to August 30, 2026 (13 weeks), queried October 24, 2026. Counts only items cited under federal standard numbers, and leaves out California, Washington, Oregon, Michigan and Minnesota, whose state programs cite many items under their own codes. In the rest of the country, 1,798 of 6,550 cited inspections (27.5%) had at least one training item listed here, about 138 a week.

Inspections with training citations, by state

The 12 states with the most cited inspections that included a training item. Share is the part of all cited inspections in that state with at least one training item. The top topic is the training standard cited at the most inspections there.

Same data, dates and exclusions as above. By industry: construction had 962 inspections with a training item (30% of its cited inspections, 608 of them for fall protection training), manufacturing 397 (28%, forklift and hazard communication first), warehousing and transportation 53 (26%, forklift first) and healthcare 31 (28%, bloodborne pathogens first).

The method, step by step

1. 1. Pick the classes you teach and the places you can reach

   Match the table to your catalog. A trainer who teaches fall protection and scaffold classes in Chicago can expect about 12 Illinois inspections a week with a training item, and fall protection training was cited at about half of them. A forklift trainer should look at manufacturing, warehousing and wholesale, where forklift training was the most cited training topic.

   If you train on site, set a drive radius. If you teach online or in open-enrollment classes, a whole state or region works.

2. 2. Find the cited employer and read the items

   Look up the inspection on OSHA's free Establishment Search or on an OSHAlert record page. Write down the standard on each item, whether it is serious or repeat, and the abatement date. A training item cites the training paragraph of a standard: 1926.503 for fall protection, 1910.1200(h) for hazard communication, 1910.178(l) for forklifts, 1910.147(c)(7) for lockout/tagout.

   Read the other items too. A roofer cited under 1926.501 for missing guardrails and under 1926.503 for training needs both the fix and the class. 277 inspections in our summer data had two or more different training topics cited, which is a bundle sale.

3. 3. Know what the citation asks the employer to prove

   Each standard says what the training must cover and what record to keep. Fall protection training needs a written certification record with the worker's name, the training date and the trainer's or employer's signature (1926.503(b)). Forklift operators need training, a hands-on evaluation, and a certification, with a new evaluation at least every three years (1910.178(l)). Lockout/tagout training also needs a certification with names and dates (1910.147(c)(7)(iv)). Respirator and bloodborne pathogens training must be repeated every year.

   After the abatement date the employer generally has 10 calendar days to certify to OSHA that each item was corrected, and for some items send proof such as training records (29 CFR 1903.19). Your sign-in sheets, test results and certificates are that proof.

4. 4. Call before the abatement date

   In our summer 2026 data the earliest abatement date on a training item was a median of 28 days after the citation was issued, and 54% were within 30 days. Training can usually be scheduled faster than a physical fix, so the employer is shopping now. Call in the first week.

5. 5. Find who to call

   The address on the record is often the jobsite, not the office. Find the company's website and main phone (OSHAlert adds them from Google Places when it can). At small contractors and shops ask for the owner. At larger firms ask for the safety manager, the plant or operations manager, or HR, who often books the training.

   A simple ask works: "Who is scheduling the training for the OSHA citation from the inspection at the Main Street site?"

6. 6. Offer the exact class, with the paperwork

   Do not lead with your full catalog. Offer the class the item names, at a date before the abatement date, with the records the standard asks for: signed rosters, written tests, hands-on evaluations and certificates in a form the employer can attach to its abatement certification. A fixed price per class or per crew is easier to approve than a per-seat quote with add-ons.

   An OSHA 10-hour or 30-hour Outreach card is a voluntary awareness course, and OSHA says it does not meet the training requirements of its standards. Do not sell it as the fix for a citation under 1910.178(l) or any other standard. Never suggest you work for OSHA or that training will reduce a penalty.

7. 7. Use a short, factual opener

   "Hi, this is [name] with [company], a safety training provider in Columbus. The public OSHA record shows the inspection at your [street] plant was cited on [date] for forklift operator training, with abatement due [date]. We can train and evaluate your operators on site next week and give you the certification records for your abatement letter. Would that help?"

   Name the record, the date and the standard. Leave the penalty out; they know it.

8. 8. Put them on a training calendar

   OSHA can cite a repeat violation when it finds a substantially similar hazard within five years, and repeat items carry much higher penalties. Fall protection training had 78 repeat items in our summer data, the most of any training topic. After the first class, offer the refreshers the standards already require (yearly respirator and bloodborne pathogens training, forklift evaluations every three years) and training for new hires. That turns one class into a client.

Frequently asked questions

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