In 2025, improper fall protection was once again the most-cited violation of OSHA jobsite rules. A failure to protect against falls also featured prominently in three other violations in the top 10.
Top OSHA violations for fiscal year 2025
- Fall protection - General requirements: 5,914 total violations
- Hazard communication: 2,546
- Ladders: 2,405
- Control of hazardous energy - Lockout/tagout: 2,177
- Respiratory protection: 1,953
- Fall protection - Training requirements: 1,907
- Scaffolding: 1,905
- Powered industrial trucks: 1,826
- Personal protective and life-saving equipment - Eye and face protection: 1,665
- Machine guarding: 1,239
OSHA violations carry a financial penalty that must be paid by the assessed company. In 2025, those penalties were $16,550 for each violation, as well as each day an employer fails to abate a previously cited violation. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations is $165,514 per violation.
Penalty amounts are typically adjusted each year for inflation. But OSHA announced last week that there will be no inflation adjustment for 2026, blaming the six-week federal government shutdown last fall.
“The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) did not publish its October 2025 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) data due to a lapse in funding,” OSHA wrote in a Federal Register notice. “Because the relevant law requires that annual penalty adjustments be based specifically on October CPI-U data—with no alternative calculation allowed—the 2026 adjustment is cancelled entirely.”
OSHA did note that it will review the inflation normally when determining 2027 penalties.