How to Check an Employer's OSHA Violation History (Free)

OSHA's own search tool is a mess. I know because I spent a lot of weekends clicking through it before I built something better.

If you've ever tried to look up an employer's safety record — maybe you're an underwriter pricing workers' comp, a parent whose kid got offered a job at a warehouse, or someone about to sign a contractor agreement — you probably know what I'm talking about. You start on OSHA.gov, hit some 2004-era search form, find a handful of inspections, then realize you also need to check WHD for wage violations. Then maybe MSHA if it's a mining-adjacent industry. Then NLRB. Then you give up.

That's the problem FastDOL solves. One search, 7 federal agencies, 2.1 million employer profiles, completely free.

The quick version

Go to the search page, type an employer name, hit enter. That's it. No signup, no credit card, no paywall. You'll get a list of matches — click one to see the full compliance profile.

If you want to know what's actually in that profile and how to read it, keep reading.

Step 1: Find the right location

A lot of employers have multiple locations, and OSHA tracks inspections per-location (tied to an “establishment” address). So when you search “Walmart,” you'll get thousands of results — one per store with an inspection on record.

Two things help narrow it down:

• Filter by state — if you're evaluating a specific facility, add the state
• Filter by ZIP — even better if you have the exact address

If the employer has a parent company (say, a Walmart store with “Walmart Inc.” as the parent), you'll see a link to the parent rollup— a combined view of every location under that parent. That's useful if you want to know “how safe is Walmart as a whole” rather than “how safe is this specific store in Des Moines.”

Step 2: What the numbers actually mean

Once you click into a profile, here's what you're looking at.

Total penalties

The dollar figure at the top of the profile is the sum of all OSHA-assessed penalties across every inspection on record. It's a rough but useful signal of enforcement severity. Note that penalties are often reduced or vacated in settlement — the number shown reflects what OSHA originally assessed, not necessarily what the employer ultimately paid.

Inspection breakdown

OSHA classifies inspections into 5 types, and the mix matters. An employer with 20 “planned” inspections (routine programmed visits) tells you one thing. An employer with 20 “accident” inspections tells you something very different. The breakdown is right there on the profile.

Violation types

Not all violations are equal. OSHA's own severity hierarchy:

• Willful — employer knew it was wrong and did it anyway. Max penalty: $165,514 per violation.
• Repeat — same or substantially similar violation cited before. Also maxes at $165,514.
• Serious — could cause death or serious harm. Max penalty: $16,550.
• Other-than-serious — recordkeeping, posting, minor stuff. Same $16,550 max but usually much lower in practice.

When you look at an employer with 12 “other” violations, that's basically noise. 12 serious or willful violations is a completely different story.

Industry benchmarks

Raw violation counts don't tell you much without context. A construction company with 5 serious violations is not the same as a software company with 5 serious violations. Every profile shows the employer's industry (NAICS code) and the peer percentile — what fraction of employers in the same industry and state have fewer violations.

The DART and TRIR rates come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics annual survey. If an employer's self-reported DART is 2.8 and their industry average is 4.1, that's actually better than peers.

Inspection history

Scroll down for the full inspection list. Click any row to expand it and see individual violation details — citation IDs, gravity scores (OSHA's 1-10 severity rating), penalty amounts, and abatement dates.

Where the data comes from

All of it is public record. FastDOL just aggregates it and makes it usable. The sources:

• OSHA (Department of Labor) — inspections, violations, penalties, fatalities
• WHD (Department of Labor) — wage and hour enforcement
• MSHA (Department of Labor) — mine safety
• EPA ECHO — environmental compliance
• FMCSA (DOT) — motor carrier safety
• NLRB — unfair labor practice charges, union cases
• OFLC — H-1B, H-2A, H-2B visa program applications
• BLS SOII — industry benchmark rates for ~1,045 NAICS codes
• OSHA ITA Form 300A — employer self-reported DART and TRIR

OSHA data refreshes nightly. The rest runs weekly or monthly depending on how often the source updates. If you're wondering why BLS data only refreshes annually — it's because BLS only publishes it annually. They release new rates every November.

A few caveats worth knowing

We work diligently to provide the most accurate data, though there are still some imperfections:

Entity matching errors happen.Matching records across 8 agencies is hard. “Acme Construction LLC” in Dallas might appear in OSHA data with a slightly different name than in WHD data. I do my best to consolidate, but occasionally records get attached to the wrong profile. If you spot one, hit the “Report incorrect data” button or email corrections@fastdol.com. I read every one.

OSHA citations get contested.An employer might have 10 serious violations on paper, but half of them got reduced or vacated in settlement. FastDOL reflects the most recent status from OSHA, but there's often a lag.

Self-reported injury rates can underreport.DART and TRIR come from the employer's own 300A log. Companies have been caught underreporting injuries to look better. Use it as a directional signal, not gospel.

No inspections doesn't mean safe.A company with zero inspections on record might have 500 employees and a sterling safety culture — or might just have flown under OSHA's radar. FastDOL shows what's in the public record; it doesn't assess actual safety.

Do I need an account?

No. Search, profiles, inspection history, benchmarks, peer comparisons — all free, all public.

The paid tier ($79/month, pricing here) is for people who want programmatic API access, CSV bulk upload for screening hundreds of employers at once, PDF reports, and no ads. If you're just looking up one company, don't pay me — just search.

That's it. If you want to understand how FastDOL aggregates and matches records across agencies, the methodology page has the full breakdown. If you find a bug, email me. If you build something cool with the API, also email me.