Employers with workplace safety and health violations have more ways to reduce their penalties following the U.S. Department of Labor’s July 14, 2025 revision to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Field Operations Manual.
The changes, which include increasing the number of small employers that are eligible for reduced penalties, incentivizing quick fixes and providing credit for a clean compliance history, decrease the burden such penalties can impose, particularly for small businesses.
More Employers Qualify for Reduced Penalties
Previously, employers with 10 or fewer workers qualified for a 70% reduction in the penalty assessed for violations. That reduction has been expanded to employers with 25 or fewer employees. This change is meant to soften the blow to small employers, to which OSHA penalties can pose significant financial hardship. According to the DOL, this change in policy is meant to offer these small businesses an opportunity to use that saved money towards abatement and future compliance.
The Quick-Fix Discount
The revised policy also offers a 15% penalty reduction for all employers who immediately attempt to “address or correct” a hazard. This new policy, known as “Quick-Fix,” requires violations that can be remedied immediately to be addressed in the presence of the OSHA Compliance and Safety Health Officer on site. Employers have five days to address more complex abatements and up to 10 additional days (15 total) where extenuating circumstances exist. Under no circumstances will an employer have more than 15 days to abate and get the Quick-Fix credit.
Credit for a Clean Record
Additionally, the new policy expands penalty reductions for employers that do not have a history of serious, willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. Employers are now eligible for a 20% penalty reduction if they can meet the following criteria: they have never been inspected by OSHA or an analogue state OSHA plan, or they have been inspected within the previous five years but have no serious, willful, or failure-to-abate violations.
The date of this revision in policy is critical — all penalties assessed prior to July 14, 2025 remain in effect. This policy is not retroactive. However, an eligible employer that has an open investigation as of July 14 that results in future penalties may avail itself of the penalty reductions.
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