The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the federal agency responsible for setting and enforcing workplace safety standards in the United States. Created by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, OSHA operates under the Department of Labor and covers roughly 130 million workers across 8 million workplaces. For injured workers, OSHA is less directly relevant than state workers compensation boards — OSHA doesn’t administer benefit payments — but OSHA citations, inspections, and whistleblower protections regularly shape how workers comp claims are decided.

What OSHA does

OSHA has four core functions. It sets workplace safety standards (the rules employers must follow), publishes those standards in the Code of Federal Regulations, conducts inspections (either triggered by complaints or programmed for high-hazard industries), and issues citations and penalties for violations. The agency also administers whistleblower protection under more than 20 federal statutes, including Section 11(c) of the OSH Act that protects workers who report safety concerns. OSHA does not directly pay benefits to injured workers; benefits come from state workers compensation systems.

The inspection process

OSHA inspects roughly 30,000 to 35,000 workplaces per year, a fraction of the 8+ million covered workplaces. Inspections are prioritized: imminent danger complaints trigger immediate inspection; complaints involving serious hazards produce inspections within one to four weeks; programmed inspections target industries with historically high injury rates (construction, manufacturing, healthcare). Workers have the right to participate in inspections, request private interviews with the inspector, and receive copies of citations issued.

Citations and penalties

OSHA issues citations at four severity levels: other-than-serious ($16,131 max per violation in 2026), serious ($16,131 max), willful or repeated ($161,323 max), and failure-to-abate ($16,131 per day continued). The penalty structure is adjusted annually for inflation. Employers can contest citations administratively; unresolved contests go to an Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission for formal adjudication. Final citations enter the employer's OSHA record and can trigger reinspection if patterns emerge.

State-plan states

Approximately half of US states run OSHA-approved state plans that cover private-sector workplaces. State plans must meet or exceed federal OSHA standards; some go substantially further. California's Cal/OSHA, Washington's Department of Labor and Industries, Oregon OSHA, and others operate independently of federal OSHA. Workers in state-plan states file complaints with the state agency, not federal OSHA. The states retain their own inspectors, penalty structures, and enforcement priorities.

Whistleblower protection

Section 11(c) of the OSH Act prohibits retaliation against workers who file OSHA complaints, request inspections, refuse dangerous work under specific conditions, or otherwise exercise OSH Act rights. The protection is strong in theory but has a notoriously short 30-day filing deadline. Workers who experience retaliation (firing, demotion, hours reduction) must file a Section 11(c) complaint with OSHA within 30 days of the retaliatory act. OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program can order reinstatement, back pay, and other remedies.

Related reading

For how to file an OSHA complaint and the retaliation protection available, see our OSHA Violations practice page. For the top-cited violations that produce most workplace injuries, read top OSHA violations. For how OSHA citations intersect with workers comp claims, see employer neglect and workers comp. The official OSHA website is the authoritative reference.