OSHA Citations
OSHA citations may be issued following an inspection or investigation of a workplace, or as the result of a complaint or referral.
When OSHA investigates accidents, they generally write citations addressing four general violation categories:
- Inadequate supervision: The employer fails to adequately supervise employees.
- Inadequate education/training: The employer fails to adequately train employees.
- Inadequate accountability: The employer fails to enforce compliance with safety rules and policies.
- Inadequate resources: The employer fails to provide adequate resources such as tools, equipment, facilities.
According to OSHA fatality accident investigation reports, most injuries occur in these four citation categories. Consequently, safety committees need to look at them as the "Big 4" system weaknesses and focus on them in safety inspections and accident analyses. Heads-up: The category that is analyzed most closely by OSHA is, you guessed it, inadequate education/training.
Effective safety management is an organizational skill. It does not allow system weaknesses to exist in the workplace. The employer can develop safety management systems that address the vast majority of hazardous conditions and unsafe work practices. There is always a way to fix the system to reduce hazards and exposures to an acceptable level.
In June 2020, a serious incident occurred at a manufacturing facility in Ohio involving a batch operator and a concrete mixer. The operator was injured while attempting to manually close a pneumatic discharge door after the handle of the exhaust valve - intended to disable the door during maintenance - had broken off and had not been repaired. The door closed unexpectedly, causing a fatal head injury. The operator was hospitalized and passed away five days later.
Following a federal investigation, the company was cited for a workplace safety violation, fined $500,000 - the maximum allowed—and placed on two years of probation with a mandated Safety Compliance Plan.
This case highlights how systemic weaknesses can lead to serious outcomes. OSHA investigations often focus on four key categories when identifying root causes of incidents:
- Equipment conditions were not properly monitored or addressed before use.
- Employees may not have been fully trained on how to respond when a key safety component was non-functional.
- There was no immediate follow-up or enforcement to ensure the broken valve was reported and corrected.
- Replacement parts or repair support for the exhaust valve may not have been readily available.
Safety committees play a key role in recognizing and correcting these system-level gaps. An effective safety management system looks beyond individual errors and focuses on strengthening training, oversight, accountability, and resourcing.
By reviewing incidents like this through the lens of the “Big 4” violation categories, safety committees can more effectively prevent future harm and ensure workplace systems are functioning as they should.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
5-2. Which inspection violation category will OSHA likely evaluate most closely?
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