After an OSHA citation: the 15 working days, the informal conference, abatement and the paperwork

During the inspection: what the inspector asked for

An inspection has three parts under 29 CFR 1903.7. At the opening conference the compliance officer shows credentials, explains why your site was picked and how far the inspection goes, and names the records to be reviewed (1903.7(a)). On the walk-around the officer looks at the work, takes photographs, may take samples, and talks to your workers privately (1903.7(b)). At the closing conference the officer tells you informally what apparent violations were seen, and you can bring up anything that bears on them (1903.7(e)). Nothing is a citation yet.

The records request comes at the opening conference, and for most employers it is usually the same list: the OSHA 300 log, 300A summaries and 301 reports for this year and the four before it, due within four business hours (1904.40(a)); the written programs the standards name for the hazards on site; training records for the people doing the work the officer watched; competent person designations; equipment inspection records; safety data sheets; and the JHA and the toolbox talk for the task that drew attention.

Before any of that, Part 1904: a fatality is reported to OSHA within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, an amputation or the loss of an eye within 24 hours, by phone or online (1904.39(a)). Not reporting one costs you the good-faith reduction on every penalty that follows (FOM Chapter 6). What you hand over is what the citation is written from: a program not on site, training never written down, an inspection not logged, all read as not done. Fixing something while the officer watches is noted as corrected during the inspection and counts as good faith; it does not undo the citation (1903.14(a), 1903.15(c)).

The clock: Day 0 to year 5

Working days are Monday through Friday without federal holidays; calendar days are every day.

The 15 working days: the packet, the posting, the informal conference, the notice of contest

Each item in the packet describes what the officer saw, cites the paragraph, classifies it (serious, other-than-serious, willful, repeat), proposes a penalty and sets an abatement date (1903.14(b)). Read the abatement dates first.

Post it the day it comes

Unedited, at or near each place the violation occurred, or somewhere prominent every affected employee can see (1903.16(a)), until the violation is abated or for three working days, whichever is longer, contest or no contest (1903.16(b)). Not posting is its own citation, at up to $16,550 (1903.16(d)). For serious, repeat and willful items on movable equipment, a warning tag or a copy of the citation goes on the controls (1903.19(i)).

The informal conference

A meeting with the Area Director, in person or by phone, requested and held inside the 15 working days; requesting one does not pause the clock (FOM Chapter 7). You bring the proof of what was fixed. Affected employees have the right to take part, and you post a notice of the conference beforehand. The Area Director can reclassify an item, change an abatement date, reduce or withdraw a penalty or an item when the evidence supports it, and sign an informal settlement agreement before the period expires (FOM Chapter 8). What an employer commonly walks out with is a reduction in exchange for proof the hazard is corrected and a commitment on paper: the training, the written program, sometimes a consultation visit. There is no schedule for how much; the FOM leaves it to the Area Director's judgment, tied to proof of abatement or a signed commitment to abate by the date. Whatever you sign, you post the amended citation (1903.16).

The notice of contest

If you believe an item is wrong, the contest is written, postmarked within 15 working days of receipt, addressed to the Area Director, and says which items you contest and whether you contest the citation, the penalty, the abatement date or all three (1903.17(a)). A good-faith contest suspends abatement and payment of the contested items until the case is decided; uncontested items still get fixed and paid on time. The case goes to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an independent agency outside OSHA, under its rules at 29 CFR Part 2200. Let Day 15 pass with nothing in writing and the citation is a final order no court or agency can review.

What the penalty is made of

The 2026 maximums, unchanged from 2025, are at osha.gov/penalties: $16,550 per serious, other-than-serious or posting violation, $16,550 per day past the abatement date for failure to abate, $165,514 per willful or repeat violation (1903.15(d)). Those are ceilings. The Area Director starts from a gravity-based penalty for each item and adjusts it for size, good faith and history (1903.15(b), FOM Chapter 6).

A repeat item is reduced for size only, a willful for size and history; neither gets good faith. A first repeat at an employer of 250 or fewer is multiplied by two, and a willful cannot go below its statutory minimum of $11,823. Failure to abate runs per calendar day, normally capped at 30 days.

Abatement: fixing it and proving you fixed it

Abatement means the hazard is gone or the cited standard is met. Proving it is a separate duty under 1903.19, and skipping it is how a fixed hazard turns into a second citation.

1. Certify within 10 calendar days of each abatement date. A letter to the Area Director, for each item: the date it was abated, how, and a statement that affected employees were told (1903.19(c)), with your company name and address, the inspection number, the citation and item numbers, a statement that it is accurate, and a signature (1903.19(h)). The exception is an item the officer saw fixed and marked corrected on the citation.
2. Attach documentation where the citation says so. Required for willful and repeat items and for the serious items the citation marks (1903.19(d)). Photographs of the fix, the purchase or repair record, the training roster, the written program. The word corrected by itself is not accepted (FOM Chapter 7).
3. An abatement plan if the citation gives you more than 90 days. Due within 25 calendar days of the final order date: the steps, the schedule, and how employees are protected meanwhile (1903.19(e)); then progress reports on the dates the citation sets (1903.19(f)).
4. Tell the crew. Post each document you send, or a summary, near the violation for three working days after you send it, and tell employees they can ask to see and copy it (1903.19(g)).
5. If you cannot make the date, petition before it passes. In writing to the Area Director by the close of the next working day after the abatement date: what you have done and when, how much more time you need, why, how employees are protected meanwhile, and a certification that you posted it (1903.14a(b), (c)). It stays posted 10 working days for employees to object.

The paperwork a cited employer builds now

Every citation names a paragraph, and most paragraphs name a document. The abatement for a program citation is the program; for a training citation, the training and the record of it.

• The written program the cited standard names. 1910.1200(e) for hazard communication, 1926.1153(g) for silica, 1910.147(c)(4) for lockout procedures, 1910.134(c) for respirators, 1910.146(c) or 1926.1203(d) for confined spaces, 1926.502(k) for a fall protection plan. Written to that paragraph, with your company, your sites and your people in it, dated and signed by the owner.
• The training certification for every exposed worker: name, date, subject, trainer, the language used, and the signature the standard asks for (1926.503(b) for fall protection, 1910.178(l)(6) for forklifts).
• The equipment inspection log that was missing, with dates and names: forklift, scaffold, excavation, crane.
• The JHA for the cited task, rewritten with the hazard the officer saw and the control you now use, signed by the crew that does it.
• The toolbox talk that covers the citation, given in the language the crew speaks, with the sign-in sheet, dated after the inspection. It is the document that says the hazard was explained to the people exposed to it, which the certification letter has to state.
• The competent person designation in writing: the person, the task, and what makes them competent.

Kept together under the inspection number, with the certification letter on top. A binder with the right tabs and nothing signed behind them is the one thing on this list that does not help.

The free route in Texas: OSHCON

Texas is a federal OSHA state, and the free, confidential on-site consultation for private Texas employers is OSHCON, run by the Texas Department of Insurance under 29 CFR Part 1908. Finding a hazard on a consultation visit does not lead to a citation or a penalty (1908.1(b)), and the visit file and your name are not given to OSHA for enforcement (1908.7(a)(3)). What you take on is the duty to correct the serious hazards found by the agreed dates and to post the list; if you do not, the program has to notify OSHA (1908.6(f)). A visit cannot happen while an enforcement inspection is open, and after a citation it can only cover items that are already final orders (1908.7(b)(3)), so ask before the inspector shows up. SHARP, the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program, is the next step for an employer that corrects everything and runs a full program: the site comes off OSHA's programmed inspection list for at least a year (1908.7(b)(4)).

The mistakes that turn a citation into a bigger one

• The certified letter sat on a desk, or the foreman signed for it and left it in the truck. The 15 working days ran from the signature, and the citation became a final order at the full proposed penalty.
• The citation was never posted. Separate citation, up to $16,550.
• The hazard was fixed the same afternoon and nobody sent the certification. Reminder letters, then an other-than-serious citation under 1903.19.
• The company bought a binder of programs with its name typed in and no training behind it. The Area Director asked for the training records, and there were none.
• The penalty was paid and the hazard was not fixed. Failure to abate runs up to $16,550 a day.

When to call a lawyer

The day the packet arrives, if any item is classified willful, if the inspection followed a fatality or a hospitalization, if you intend to file a notice of contest, or if the proposed penalties would put the company under. A contest filed wrong, or late, is no contest. For the ordinary serious citation with proof of abatement in hand, most employers handle the informal conference themselves; a safety consultant can help build the abatement packet, and cannot represent you.

Questions we get

Not sure how this applies to your work? Ask the 29Safety safety team in the chat, or email safetyteam@29safety.com.