How to Find Safety Consulting Clients from OSHA Citations

New OSHA citations per week, by state

The 12 states with the most inspections that got new citations. The median penalty is the middle value per inspection, so half were lower. State-plan states such as California, Michigan, Washington and Oregon cite often but with smaller penalties.

Source: OSHAlert's copy of the public U.S. Department of Labor OSHA enforcement data, federal and state-plan. Citations issued June 1 to August 30, 2026 (13 weeks), counted once per inspection. Penalties are the current amounts on those citations as of October 24, 2026. All states together: 10,005 inspections at 9,824 companies, about 770 a week, median penalty $3,643.

New OSHA citations per week, by industry

Construction is close to half of all cited inspections. Serious or worse means at least one serious, repeat or willful item, which is the usual sign that the employer has real work to do before the abatement date.

Same data and dates as above. Industry comes from the NAICS code on the inspection. Example markets from the same 13 weeks: Texas construction had 216 cited inspections (about 17 a week, median penalty $6,902), Florida construction 220 (about 17 a week, median $6,621), and Ohio manufacturing 98 (about 7.5 a week, median $8,506).

The method, step by step

1. 1. Pick one state and two or three trades

   Start where you already work and where the numbers are big enough to matter. A consultant in Houston who knows roofing and concrete can expect about 17 newly cited construction inspections a week in Texas, with a median penalty near $6,900. That is enough to call every one of them, every week.

   If your state is a state-plan state with small median penalties (Michigan, Tennessee, Oregon), sort by severity instead of penalty. A serious or repeat item still needs fixing even when the fine is small.

2. 2. Find the cited firm and read its record

   Look up the inspection on OSHA's free Establishment Search or on an OSHAlert record page. Write down four things: why the inspection was opened (an accident, a complaint, a referral or a planned visit), the standards cited, whether any item is serious, repeat or willful, and the penalty.

   These tell you what to offer. Fall protection items on a roofer point to a fall protection plan and training. Hazard communication and lockout items at a plant point to written programs. In our summer 2026 data, 31% of cited inspections were opened after an accident, a complaint or a fatality, so something already went wrong there.

3. 3. Check the abatement date

   Each citation item has an abatement date: the day the hazard must be fixed. Under 29 CFR 1903.19 the employer must then certify to OSHA that each item was corrected, generally within 10 calendar days after that date, and for some items send proof such as photos, receipts or training records.

   This is your window. In the summer 2026 data, the earliest abatement date on an inspection was a median of 24 days after the citation was issued, and 69% were within 30 days. The employer also has 15 working days from receiving the citation to contest it or ask for an informal conference. Call in the first week.

4. 4. Find who to call

   The address on the record is often the worksite, not the office. Find the company's website and main phone number (OSHAlert adds them from Google Places when it can find them). On a construction job, check whether the cited firm was the general contractor or a subcontractor on someone else's site.

   At companies under about 50 people, ask for the owner. Larger firms usually have a safety manager, an operations or plant manager, or HR handling the citation. A simple ask works: "Who is handling the OSHA citation from the inspection at the Main Street site?"

5. 5. Offer one specific fix, with a price

   Do not open with a general safety audit. Offer the thing the citation asks for: the written program that was missing, the training with signed attendance records, and the abatement certification letter with its documents, delivered before the abatement date. A fixed price for a scoped job is easier to say yes to than an hourly rate.

   If they plan to contest or attend an informal conference, you can help gather documents, but send legal questions to an OSHA defense attorney. Never suggest you work for OSHA or can make a penalty go away.

6. 6. Use a short, factual opener

   "Hi, this is [name], a safety consultant in Houston. The public OSHA record shows your crew at the [street] site was cited on [date] for fall protection, with abatement due [date]. I help contractors put the fixes and the certification paperwork together on a fixed price. Would 15 minutes this week help?"

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

7. 7. Turn the fix into a retainer

   OSHA can cite an employer for a repeat violation when it finds a substantially similar hazard within five years, and repeat items carry much higher penalties. After the abatement job, offer quarterly site visits or a training calendar so the same item never comes back. That is where a one-off job becomes a client.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages