CitationFixHow OSHA reduces penalties in 2026
Updated 2026-11-15 · Sources linked below · Not legal advice
Short answer: OSHA reduces penalties for size (70% for 1–25 employees, 30% for 26–100, 10% for 101–250), history (20%), good faith (15% or 25%) and Quick-Fix (15%), applied one after another to a gravity-based penalty. These are the rules in Chapter 6 of OSHA's Field Operations Manual as revised July 14, 2025, with the 2026 dollar amounts unchanged from 2025.
Step 1: the gravity-based penalty (2026)
| Severity | Probability | GBP | Gravity |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Greater | $16,550 | High |
| Medium | Greater | $14,187 | Moderate |
| Low | Greater | $11,823 | Moderate |
| High | Lesser | $11,823 | Moderate |
| Medium | Lesser | $9,457 | Moderate |
| Low | Lesser | $7,093 | Low |
Source: OSHA memo, 2026 Annual Adjustments to OSHA Civil Penalties (May 21, 2026). Maximums: $16,550 serious or other-than-serious; $165,514 willful or repeated. Minimums: $1,085 serious, $4,256 repeat, $11,823 willful.
Step 2: the reduction factors
- Size (Table 6-2): 1–25 employees 70%; 26–100 30%; 101–250 10%; 251 or more none. Size is the most employees at any one time in the previous 12 months at all workplaces nationwide. Serious willful items use Table 6-4 (80% for 20 or fewer, down to 10% for 101–250).
- History: 20% off if you were never inspected by federal OSHA or a State Plan, or if inspections in the past five years found compliance or only other-than-serious violations. 20% is added if a high-gravity serious citation became final in the past five years. Items later withdrawn or reduced to other-than-serious in settlement don't count against you.
- Good faith: 25% for a written, effective safety and health management system (leadership and worker participation, hazard identification, hazard prevention, training, program evaluation); 15% for a documented, effective system with incidental deficiencies. Employers with 1–25 employees can get credit for an effective unwritten program in exceptional or appropriate cases.
- Quick-Fix: 15% for hazards permanently corrected during the walkaround, or within 5 days (up to 15 with notice when parts must be ordered), with documentation sent to OSHA.
Limits
- High-gravity serious items: size and history only.
- Willful items: size and history only.
- Repeated items: size only.
- No good faith if the inspection found a willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violation, if there's no safety program, or if the employer failed to report a fatality, hospitalization, amputation or eye loss.
- No Quick-Fix for high-gravity, willful, repeat or failure-to-abate items, items related to a fatality or serious injury, or blatant violations.
Step 3: apply them in order
Factors are applied serially in this order: size, good faith, history, Quick-Fix (FOM Chapter 6, III.B.5). They are not added together.
Example: 14 employees, never inspected, documented safety program with minor gaps, moderate-gravity serious item at $9,457.
$9,457 × 0.30 (size 70%) = $2,837 → × 0.85 (good faith 15%) = $2,412 → × 0.80 (history 20%) = $1,929. If OSHA proposed $2,270, it left out the good-faith factor; that's $341 to raise at the informal conference.
The lowest possible serious penalty works the same way: $7,093 × 0.30 × 0.75 × 0.80 × 0.85 = $1,085, the policy minimum.
Beyond the factors
At an informal conference the Area Director can also negotiate penalties, reclassify items and withdraw items based on the evidence, abatement and safety-program improvements (FOM Chapter 8). There's no published formula for those changes, so treat any promised percentage with suspicion.
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