Cal/OSHA Citations by Employer Size
Establishments with fewer than 50 employees received 68% of the 78,088 Cal/OSHA citations issued from 2020 through 2025, per federal enforcement data. The smallest band — one to nine employees — took 35% by itself, across 8,742 inspections.
Cal/OSHA publishes statewide citation totals but no breakdown by employer size. This page is that breakdown — CompliantCA’s analysis of the federal enforcement data that Cal/OSHA inspections flow into, covering all 78,088 citations issued on California inspections from January 2020 through December 2025, grouped by the number of employees at the inspected establishment.
Three facts carry most of what the table says. Establishments with fewer than 50 employees received 68% of all citations — 53,129 of 78,088. The one-to-nine-employee band alone received 35%, across 8,742 inspections. And §3203, the Injury and Illness Prevention Program, is one of the two most-cited standards in every size band without exception.
Free IIPP template. A fill-in Injury and Illness Prevention Program with plain-language prompts for each element §3203 names. PDF, no account. Request the template →
The breakdown, 2020–2025
Size is the number of employees at the inspected establishment, as recorded on the inspection. Citations are counted per violation line item. “Serious-class” combines the serious, willful, and repeat classifications. Median penalty is the median non-zero current penalty as retrieved 2026-08-21; current penalties change as cases settle.
| Employees | Citations | Inspections | Citations per inspection | Serious-class share | Median penalty | Most-cited standards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–9 | 27,143 | 8,742 | 3.1 | 19% | $300 | §3395, §3203, §1509 |
| 10–19 | 11,952 | 3,930 | 3.0 | 21% | $335 | §3203, §3395, §1509 |
| 20–49 | 14,034 | 4,919 | 2.9 | 22% | $410 | §3203, §3395, §342 |
| 50–99 | 8,010 | 2,920 | 2.7 | 27% | $560 | §3203, §3395, §3314 |
| 100–249 | 9,359 | 3,686 | 2.5 | 28% | $700 | §3203, §3314, §342 |
| 250+ | 7,590 | 3,054 | 2.5 | 32% | $800 | §3203, §5199, §342 |
| All | 78,088 | 27,251 | 2.9 | 23% | $420 | §3203, §3395, §1509 |
Does Cal/OSHA inspect small employers?
The data answers plainly: the one-to-nine-employee band produced more cited inspections than any other — 8,742, roughly one in three of the total. A small headcount is not a shield; it is where most of the enforcement activity happens, because it is where most California establishments are.
Small establishments also fail more items per visit: 3.1 citations per inspection at 1–9 employees against 2.5 at 250-plus. The inspections that reach a small business find more to cite when they arrive.
What changes as employers get bigger
Every column moves in the same direction. Serious-class share climbs from 19% at the smallest establishments to 32% at the largest. The median penalty climbs from $300 to $800. Two things sit behind the penalty gradient, and they compound: 8 CCR §336, Cal/OSHA’s penalty-assessment regulation, states that proposed penalties shall be adjusted for Size, Good Faith, and History — and the standards cited at larger establishments skew toward graver classifications.
The standards themselves change with size. The small bands read like field work: heat illness prevention and the construction IIPP. The large bands read like facilities: the control of hazardous energy (§3314) and aerosol transmissible diseases (§5199 — the health care institutions). §342, the fatality and serious-injury reporting requirement, is a top-five standard at every size.
The constant is the IIPP. §3203 is #1 or #2 in all six bands. It requires the same thing at every size — a written program, scheduled inspections with records, training documentation — and at every size, it is what inspections cite most. Our Cal/OSHA IIPP guide covers every element.
The same dataset, cut by industry
- Most Cited Cal/OSHA Violations in Construction
- Most Cited Cal/OSHA Violations in Manufacturing
- Most Cited Cal/OSHA Violations in Restaurants
- Most Cited Cal/OSHA Violations in Landscaping
- Most Cited Cal/OSHA Violations in Agriculture
- Most Cited Cal/OSHA Violations in Auto Repair
- Most Cited Cal/OSHA Violations in Trucking and Warehousing
- Most Cited Cal/OSHA Violations in Health Care
Methodology
CompliantCA computed this analysis from the U.S. Department of Labor enforcement dataset (the OSHA Information System), which includes Cal/OSHA because California operates an OSHA-approved State Plan. Scope: citation line items on California inspections, issuance dates January 2020 through December 2025, excluding citation records deleted in the source data. Size is the dataset’s employee count for the inspected establishment — a site of a larger company is counted at the site’s own headcount, which is the right unit for “what does an inspection find at a workplace this size” and the wrong one for company-wide totals. Data as retrieved 2026-08-21; counts and penalties change as cases settle. Cal/OSHA’s own statewide summaries are at DIR’s citation statistics pages.
A citation count says what inspectors cited, not what any employer must do — the standards themselves say that. Each section above links to its full text.
Frequently asked questions
Does Cal/OSHA inspect small businesses?
Yes. Federal enforcement data records 8,742 Cal/OSHA inspections at California establishments with one to nine employees that drew citations issued from 2020 through 2025 — more than any other size band. Establishments under 50 employees received 68% of all citations in that period.
What is the most cited Cal/OSHA standard for small businesses?
At establishments with one to nine employees, §3395 (heat illness prevention, 3,255 citations from 2020 through 2025) narrowly leads §3203, the IIPP (3,020). At every size band from 10 employees up, §3203 is the most cited standard.
Do Cal/OSHA penalties depend on employer size?
Cal/OSHA's penalty regulation, 8 CCR §336, states that proposed penalties shall be adjusted for Size, Good Faith, and History. The data shows the gradient: the median non-zero citation penalty from 2020 through 2025 was $300 at one-to-nine-employee establishments and $800 at establishments with 250 or more.