OSHA Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling has announced that businesses employing up to 25 employees will receive a penalty reduction of 70%. This reduction was previously limited to businesses with 10 or fewer employees.

OSHA previously gave a 60% reduction for employers with 11-25 employees.

“Small employers who are working in good faith to comply with complex federal laws should not face the same penalties as large employers with abundant resources,” said Sonderling.

Additional changes:

• A 15% reduction for employers of any size that immediately take steps to address or correct a hazard, the so-called quick fix.

Former OSHA deputy Jordan Barab pointed out in his Confined Space newsletter that the Quick Fix already exists, but the definition of “immediately” has been expanded from “during the inspection or the same day,” to up to 15 days if the “immediate” fixes “require more complex abatement actions such as purchase of materials, fabrication of parts, training, etc.”

Both versions still require the employer to “prevent employee exposure to the hazard until the condition is abated to receive Quick-Fix credit.”

The Quick Fix is not available for high gravity serious,” “willful,” “repeated,” or “failure-to-abate” violations, nor violations “related either to a fatal injury or illness, or to any incidents resulting in serious injuries to employees.”  Blatant violations that can be easily corrected (putting on a hard hat) are also not included.

• A 20% reduction for employers with no recent serious violations. This includes businesses never inspected by OSHA (federal or state), and those that have been inspected in the previous five years and had no serious, willful, or failure-to-abate violations. 

Previously, OSHA  if an employer had been inspected during the previous five years and had been found to be in compliance with OSHA standards or were not issued serious violations, they could receive a 10% penalty reduction.

Barab pointed out that the agency deleted this paragraph from the original Field Operations Manual:

“When an employer with 1-10 and 11-25 employees has one or more serious violations of high gravity or a number of serious violations of moderate gravity that demonstrates a lack of concern for, or indifference to, employee safety and health, the CSHO may recommend that only a partial reduction in penalty shall be permitted for size.” (Gravity is a combination of the severity of the injury or illness which could result from the alleged violation, and the probability that an injury or illness could occur as a result of the alleged violation.)

Barab asks: “So does this mean that small employers with high gravity or multiple serious violations of moderate gravity are now also eligible for the full reduction?”

The new policies are effective immediately.

Penalties issued before July 14, 2025, will remain under the previous penalty structure. Open investigations in which penalties have not yet been issued are covered by the new guidance.

OSHA retains the right to withhold penalty reductions where they are not warranted due to the nature of the violations. 

If President Trump succeeds in his proposal to cut OSHA enforcement staff by 13% and cut the number of inspections by almost 30%, Barab contends “the average employer is likely to go many, many years — or decades — before ever seeing an OSHA inspector, unless a worker is killed, seriously injured or files a complaint. Yet, employers who eventually do get inspected and cited will get a reduced penalty.”