Manufacturing $6,092 per Inspection: Top US Industry OSHA Penalty Rates

Findings

Manufacturing tops the list at $6,092 average penalty per inspection

Manufacturing (NAICS sector 31-33, the combined durable- and non-durable-goods supersector) covers 45,665 employers, linked to 115,522 inspections, 355,720 violations, and $703,716,444 in total penalties. This segment registers $6,092 average penalty per inspection from OSHA enforcement actions, about 47 percent of the $1.49 billion in total OSHA penalties across the full dataset. OSHA Enforcement Data, Integrated Management Information System Manufacturing sector profile breaks out the full employer list behind this total.

Across the 235,985 employers in the dataset, serious violations cluster within Manufacturing, which carries the highest penalty intensity of any sector. OSHA Enforcement Data, Integrated Management Information System High-hazard worksites in this sector draw repeated inspections over multiple years, which compounds both inspection volume and penalty totals relative to lower-hazard sectors.

Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, and Transportation complete a mid-tier cluster

Wholesale Trade covers 6,960 employers, 13,424 inspections, and $62,801,630 in total penalties, an average of $4,678 per inspection. OSHA Enforcement Data, Integrated Management Information System Inspection volumes reflect supply-chain exposure, and the per-inspection average is computed by dividing the sector's total penalties by its inspection count.

Retail Trade covers 12,990 employers, 10,487 inspections, and averages $3,566 penalty per inspection. OSHA Enforcement Data, Integrated Management Information System This rate positions Retail Trade within a cluster of commerce-oriented sectors where citations tie to handling and storage hazards.

Transportation and Warehousing covers 10,024 employers, 18,434 inspections, and $60,729,970 in penalties, averaging $3,294 per inspection. OSHA Enforcement Data, Integrated Management Information System This sector's inspection volume is cross-linked to NAICS mappings from US Census Bureau standards. US Census Bureau, NAICS Sector Classification Mid-tier positioning emerges from balanced volumes of 32,127 violations, comparable to Construction's rate despite Construction's much larger inspection count.

Across all employers in the dataset, 103,770 carry at least one serious violation, roughly 44 percent of the 235,985 total. OSHA Enforcement Data, Integrated Management Information System

Construction ranks moderate at $3,361 per inspection despite 123,350 total inspections

Construction covers 61,413 employers, 123,350 inspections, 204,107 violations, and $414,572,024 in penalties at $3,361 average per inspection. OSHA Enforcement Data, Integrated Management Information System This total-penalties figure leads every sector despite a moderate per-inspection rate, driven by sheer inspection volume.

Construction's 204,107 violations sit well below Manufacturing's 355,720, but its $414,572,024 in penalties across 123,350 inspections still leads every sector by total-dollar volume, working out to about $3,361 per inspection, below Manufacturing's $6,092 despite the high violation count, because construction inspections are more numerous and spread across many small worksites. Construction sector profile breaks these figures out by state and by employer.

Construction's $3,361 rate contrasts with $6,092 in combined Manufacturing, yet its $414,572,024 total penalty sum still leads the dataset. US Census Bureau, NAICS Sector Classification DOL Wage and Hour Division data covers separate wage-theft enforcement rather than OSHA safety penalties. DOL Wage and Hour Division, WHD Compliance Action Data

Coverage and limitations

This analysis draws on OSHA Enforcement Data from the Integrated Management Information System, covering 235,985 employers with a qualifying enforcement history across 32 NAICS sectors. OSHA Enforcement Data, Integrated Management Information System This is a snapshot of historical inspections, violations, and penalties rather than a real-time feed, since upstream agency releases follow a quarterly extract cadence. Revisions in later IMIS extracts can correct citation amounts after an appeal resolves; this dataset preserves figures as released rather than retroactively adjusting them.

Coverage centers on employers that OSHA has actually inspected, so it does not represent workplace safety broadly, only enforcement outcomes among inspected sites. 103,770 employers (44 percent of those tracked) carry at least one serious violation. OSHA Enforcement Data, Integrated Management Information System NAICS sector assignments come from US Census Bureau classifications. US Census Bureau, NAICS Sector Classification Small employers below OSHA's inspection-reporting thresholds, and those never inspected, are not represented here.

DOL Wage and Hour Division data covers a separate enforcement track, wage-theft back-wages rather than OSHA safety penalties, and is not combined with the OSHA figures above. DOL Wage and Hour Division, WHD Compliance Action Data See the data methodology page for how each source is normalized.

Geographic coverage excludes territories outside the 50 states, focusing on the continental OSHA jurisdiction. Cross-check current figures via industry sector profiles or employer search, since this analysis reflects a point-in-time vintage rather than a live feed.

Coverage thins in lower-volume sectors, sparse inspection counts there limit how confidently per-sector averages can be compared. OSHA Enforcement Data, Integrated Management Information System Public-records terminology like "willful violation" or "repeat citation" is used here as OSHA itself defines those terms.

In summary: Manufacturing's combined $6,092 average penalty per inspection leads US sectors, followed by Wholesale Trade at $4,678, Retail Trade at $3,566, and Transportation at $3,294. Construction's inspection volume drives the largest total penalty sum ($414,572,024) despite a lower $3,361 per-inspection rate. Across the full dataset of 235,985 employers, 44 percent carry at least one serious violation. Employer directory lets you look up individual employers behind these sector totals.