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OSHA penalty amounts are indexed to inflation and new levels for civil fines are announced in January each year. Penalties for 2025 were just announced with a maximum of $165,514 for specific violations! Congress gave OSHA the authority to fine employers for violating safety standards. From 1990 to 2015, penalties were capped at $7,000 per serious, other-than-serious, or posting violations, and $70,000 for willful or repeat violations. With inflation declining, maximum OSHA penalty amounts increased roughly 3% over last year or about $500 to a maximum of $165,514 for the most severe and repeated violations! OSHA: Created in 1970 to

Understanding OSHA's Penalty Adjustments Until five years ago, OSHA had not raised their penalty amounts since 1990. Now, with the Inflation Adjustment Act, OSHA is required to annually adjust penalty amounts by January 15th. Fines increased by approximately 80% on August 1, 2016 and are adjusted annually moving forward. This year the penalty increase became effective on January 15, 2020. The good news is that the maximum penalty amounts did not increase drastically overall. Serious, other-than-serious, and failure to abate violations saw only a $234.00 penalty maximum increase.  Willful and repeat violations experienced a higher increase at $2,339.00. The table below displays the current penalty amounts for 2020. Please note that some