OSHA and Cal/OSHA Penalties in 2026: Fine Amounts and How to Reduce Them

Every few weeks a contractor slides a citation packet across the table and asks me the same two questions: how bad is this, and can we get it down? After fifteen years of consulting for California construction companies, I can usually answer both before I finish my coffee. The penalty math is public. The reduction levers are public too. Most contractors have never read either.

This post covers the current federal OSHA fine amounts for 2026, the Cal/OSHA penalty structure that actually applies to most California contractors, and the specific adjustments that determine whether a serious citation costs you $4,000 or $25,000.

What are the federal OSHA fines for 2026?

Federal OSHA adjusts its maximum civil penalties for inflation each year. Per the amounts posted on osha.gov for citations assessed after January 15, 2026, the maximums are:

• Serious, other-than-serious, and posting violations: $16,550 per violation
• Failure to abate: $16,550 per day beyond the abatement date
• Willful or repeated violations: $165,514 per violation

Two things about those numbers. First, they are maximums, not automatic amounts. Federal OSHA applies gravity and employer-size reductions before a penalty lands on paper. Second, if you build in California, these federal numbers mostly matter as a benchmark. California runs its own state plan, and private construction here is cited by Cal/OSHA under its own penalty regulation.

How much are Cal/OSHA penalties in 2026?

Cal/OSHA penalties come from Title 8, Section 336 of the California Code of Regulations. The amounts in the regulation as currently published on the DIR website (last amended effective January 1, 2025) are:

• Regulatory violations: up to $16,285 each, with a $500 minimum proposed penalty in most cases
• General violations: up to $16,285 each
• Serious violations: up to $25,000 each, with an initial base penalty of $18,000
• Willful violations: the proposed penalty multiplied by five, with a floor of $11,632 and a cap of $162,851
• Repeat violations: the proposed penalty multiplied by two, four, or ten depending on how many times you have repeated it, capped at $162,851
• Failure to abate: a daily penalty of up to $15,000 for each day the violation continues past the abatement date
• Failure to report a serious injury, illness, or death: a minimum penalty of $5,000 under Section 342(a)

Cal/OSHA adjusts the regulatory and general maximums annually under Labor Code sections 6427 and 6431, so always confirm the figures printed on your specific citation. The structure, though, has stayed consistent for years, and the structure is where the money is.

How does Cal/OSHA calculate the penalty on a citation?

Cal/OSHA does not pick a number out of the air. Section 336 walks the inspector through a formula.

For a serious violation, the calculation starts at an $18,000 base because of the gravity involved. The inspector then adjusts for extent (how widespread the condition was) and likelihood (how probable an injury was), each moving the number 25 percent up or down. That produces the gravity-based penalty.

From there, three employer adjustments apply:

1. Size. A company with 10 or fewer employees gets 40 percent off. The discount shrinks as headcount grows and disappears above 100 employees.
2. Good faith. Up to 30 percent off for employers who show a real commitment to safety.
3. History. Up to 10 percent off for a clean compliance record.

Then comes the abatement credit: fix the hazard during the inspection or within the abatement period and document it properly, and most serious and general penalties drop another 50 percent.

Stack those together and a $18,000 base can become a penalty under $4,000 for a small contractor with a solid program. The same violation at a company with no operative Injury and Illness Prevention Program loses the good faith and history adjustments entirely under Section 336(d)(8). Your IIPP is not paperwork, it is a penalty multiplier working for you or against you. I covered what Cal/OSHA expects that document to contain in my post on IIPP requirements for construction companies.

One hard limit: when a serious violation caused a death or serious injury, the only reduction available is size. Everything else is off the table, and the penalty runs to the $25,000 cap far more often.

If you would rather have the program built before the citation arrives, that is the core of my fractional EHS service. You can also book a call or reach me at 949-954-6581 and I will tell you straight whether your current setup would earn the adjustments.

How can you reduce an OSHA or Cal/OSHA penalty?

Here is what I actually do when a client hands me a citation:

• Abate fast and prove it. The 50 percent abatement credit for serious violations requires either fixing the hazard during the inspection or submitting a signed abatement statement with supporting evidence within 10 working days after the abatement date. Photos, invoices, and training rosters count. Missing that window throws money away.
• Request an informal conference. The Cal/OSHA district manager can amend classifications and penalties before anything gets litigated. Come with documentation, not arguments.
• Appeal on classification, not pride. Knocking a serious down to general changes both the current penalty and your exposure later. The appeal deadline is 15 working days from receipt of the citation, and it is unforgiving.
• Kill the repeat before it exists. Repeat multipliers of two, four, and ten times are where citations get catastrophic. A $5,000 serious you shrug off becomes the anchor for a $50,000 repeat three years later.
• Never sign a false abatement declaration. Section 336 strips almost every reduction when a reinspection shows you claimed a fix you did not make. I have watched that mistake cost more than the original citation.

Should you appeal a Cal/OSHA citation?

Sometimes. An appeal makes sense when the classification is wrong, the employer knowledge element of a serious violation is weak, or a repeat characterization would poison future bids and insurance renewals. An appeal makes less sense when the violation is documented, the penalty already reflects the adjustments, and legal fees would exceed the savings.

The moment to start thinking about this is during the inspection itself, because the evidence collected that day decides the appeal. I walked through the whole process, from the opening conference to document requests, in my guide on what to expect during a Cal/OSHA inspection.

The cheapest citation is the one that never gets written. If you want someone who has sat through these inspections building your program, auditing your sites, and standing next to your superintendent when the compliance officer shows up, look at my fractional EHS page or book a call at 949-954-6581.

Frequently asked questions

Are OSHA fines assessed per employee or per violation?

Per violation, but one hazard can generate multiple violations, and Cal/OSHA can cite instance by instance in some cases. Ten workers without fall protection can be written far more expensively than one line item.

What is the penalty for not reporting a serious injury to Cal/OSHA?

A minimum of $5,000 under Section 342(a). You must report a serious injury, illness, or death to Cal/OSHA immediately, which the Division interprets as within 8 hours. This penalty applies even when the underlying incident produces no other citations.

Do new businesses get any break on Cal/OSHA penalties?

A narrow one. Section 336(d)(10) waives civil penalties for regulatory or general IIPP violations during a new employer's first year in business, if the employer made a good faith compliance effort. It does not cover serious violations.

Can a penalty go up after an appeal?

The Appeals Board can raise, lower, or affirm penalties, and reclassification is possible in either direction. This is one reason I push informal conferences first, where the downside risk is smaller.

Are federal OSHA fines or Cal/OSHA fines higher in 2026?

The federal maximum for a serious violation ($16,550) is lower than Cal/OSHA's serious maximum ($25,000), while the federal willful and repeat cap ($165,514) runs slightly above the Cal/OSHA cap in the currently published regulation ($162,851). For California construction, the Cal/OSHA numbers are the ones on your citation.