Cal/OSHA Enforcement in Contra Costa County
Inspectors opened 1,116 inspections in Contra Costa County from 2020 through 2025 — about 51 per 100,000 workers a year, above the state's roughly 40 — and issued 1,836 citations. The county's most cited industry is petroleum refining, at 14.2x its statewide share of citations; Richmond and Martinez, the refinery towns, lead its cities.
Cal/OSHA does not publish county-level enforcement statistics. This page is the Contra Costa County cut, computed from the federal enforcement data: the 1,116 inspections opened at county addresses from January 2020 through December 2025, and the 1,836 citations they produced, carrying $3.9 million in penalties as they currently stand.
Contra Costa County is inspected above the state average — about 51 annual inspections per 100,000 covered workers against roughly 40, per our county breakdown. By city, Richmond (191 inspections) and Martinez (149) lead, the county’s refinery towns, ahead of Concord (143), Pittsburg (87), Walnut Creek (86), and Antioch (59). Alameda County has its own page.
What gets cited in Contra Costa County
Average penalty is the penalty as it stands now, after any appeals and settlements, averaged across the row’s citations — as retrieved August 30, 2026; these figures may change as cases settle.
| # | Standard | What it covers | Citations | Avg penalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | §3203 | Injury and Illness Prevention Program | 236 | $1,055 |
| 2 | §3395 | Heat Illness Prevention in Outdoor Places of Employment | 225 | $929 |
| 3 | §1509 | IIPP (Construction Safety Orders) | 112 | $960 |
| 4 | §6151 | Portable Fire Extinguishers | 77 | $184 |
| 5 | §3205 | COVID-19 Prevention | 75 | $788 |
| 6 | §5194 | Hazard Communication | 64 | $455 |
| 7 | §342 | Reporting Work-Connected Fatalities and Serious Injuries | 48 | $3,297 |
| 8 | §3314 | Control of Hazardous Energy (cleaning and servicing machinery) | 43 | $5,246 |
| 9 | §5144 | Respiratory Protective Equipment | 39 | $927 |
| 10 | §461 | Permits to Operate (air tanks) | 33 | $216 |
| All other standards | 884 | |||
| Total | 1,836 | $2,122 |
The §3203 IIPP leads narrowly over §3395 heat illness prevention — 236 to 225 — and heat takes 12.3% of the county’s citations against 8.7% statewide, 1.4x the state’s concentration. §3205, COVID-19 prevention, is #5 at 75 citations, 2.2x its statewide share, as in neighboring Alameda County. Fire extinguishers (77, 1.8x) run high; §342, injury reporting, runs low at 0.6x.
Free IIPP template. The §3203 program that leads this table — one section for each of the eight elements listed in §3203(a), plus the inspection and training record forms §3203(b) requires. PDF, no account. Request the template →
The refineries are the county’s most cited industry
Construction accounts for 458 citations, 25% of the county’s total, in line with the state. Petroleum, chemicals, and plastics (sector 32) take 12% against 7% statewide, and hospitality (sector 72) 13% against 7%. The ten most cited industry groups:
| # | Industry group (NAICS) | Citations | Share of Contra Costa County citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petroleum and coal products manufacturing — refineries (3241) | 139 | 7.6% |
| 2 | Automotive repair and maintenance (8111) | 123 | 6.7% |
| 3 | Restaurants (7225) | 118 | 6.4% |
| 4 | Foundation and building-exterior contractors (2381) | 97 | 5.3% |
| 5 | Services to buildings and dwellings — janitorial and landscaping (5617) | 93 | 5.1% |
| 6 | Residential building construction (2361) | 93 | 5.1% |
| 7 | Traveler accommodation — hotels and resorts (7211) | 88 | 4.8% |
| 8 | Other specialty trade contractors (2389) | 72 | 3.9% |
| 9 | Building equipment contractors — plumbing, HVAC, electrical (2382) | 45 | 2.5% |
| 10 | Nonresidential building construction (2362) | 45 | 2.5% |
Petroleum and coal products manufacturing is the county’s most cited industry group at 139 citations — 7.6% of the county’s total, 14.2x the statewide share. Statewide, refining is 0.5% of citations; here it is the largest single row. Richmond and Martinez, the county’s refinery towns, lead its city list. Also above their statewide shares: auto repair (123, 1.7x), restaurants (118, 2.0x), hotels (88, 1.6x) — all somewhat above their statewide shares.
Complaints and planned inspections both run high
Share of the 1,116 county inspections opened 2020–2025, by trigger, against the statewide mix:
| Trigger | Contra Costa County | Statewide |
|---|---|---|
| Accident investigation | 28% | 31% |
| Planned (programmed) | 25% | 21% |
| Complaint | 30% | 24% |
| Fatality/catastrophe | 3% | 5% |
| Referral | 2% | 8% |
| Related and follow-up | 13% | 11% |
Complaints started 30% of the county’s inspections against 24% statewide, and planned inspections 25% against 21% — both above the state, while accident investigations (28% against 31%) and fatality or catastrophe investigations (3% against 5%) both run under it. Referrals, at 2%, are nearly absent.
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 and includes federal OSHA’s California activity; retrieved August 30, 2026. Scope: inspections opened January 2020 through December 2025 at Contra Costa County sites, and citation line items issued in the same window on those inspections, excluding citation records deleted in the source data.
Each inspection is assigned to the county by its five-digit site zip via the Census Bureau’s 2020 ZCTA-to-county relationship file, assigning each zip to the county holding the largest share of its land area, with the site city as fallback — the same method as our county breakdown, whose Contra Costa row these totals match. City counts use the city on the inspected site’s address, which is the postal city rather than the municipal boundary. Federal OSHA’s own inspections at county addresses — 33 of the 1,116 — are included, matching our other city and region pages, and identified by the inspecting office on the record. Citations are grouped to the base section, so §3203(a) and §3203(a)(4) count together; industry groupings use the NAICS code on the inspection record; trigger shares use the inspection-type code, with the statewide column computed from all California inspections the same way. “Times the statewide share” compares an industry’s or standard’s share of the county’s citations with its share of all California citations in the window. The per-worker rate divides the six-year inspection count by six and by the county’s average covered employment 2020–2025 from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, times 100,000; 2025 employment is preliminary. Penalty figures are the penalty as it stands now, after any appeals and settlements (the dataset’s “current penalty”), and 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.
Frequently asked questions
How many Cal/OSHA inspections happen in Contra Costa County?
1,116 inspections were opened at Contra Costa County addresses from 2020 through 2025, per federal enforcement data — about 51 annual inspections per 100,000 covered workers, above the state's roughly 40. Richmond leads the county's cities with 191 inspections, then Martinez (149), Concord (143), Pittsburg (87), and Walnut Creek (86).
What gets cited most in Contra Costa County?
§3203, the Injury and Illness Prevention Program, leads with 236 of the county's 1,836 citations issued 2020 through 2025, with §3395 heat illness prevention nearly level at 225 — 12.3% of the county's citations against 8.7% statewide. §1509, the construction IIPP, is third at 112.
Which industry gets cited most in Contra Costa County?
Petroleum and coal products manufacturing — the refineries — with 139 citations at county addresses from 2020 through 2025, 7.6% of the county's total and 14.2x the statewide share. Auto repair (123), restaurants (118, 2.0x), and hotels (88, 1.6x) follow.
What triggers Cal/OSHA inspections in Contra Costa County?
Complaints started 30% of the county's inspections opened 2020 through 2025 against 24% statewide, accident investigations 28% against 31%, and planned inspections 25% against 21%. Referrals were 2%.