Cut a $33K OSHA penalty to $5K through settlement and documented abatement
Anonymized — multi-location auto-service business
The challenge
A state-plan OSHA inspection left the business facing a proposed penalty near $33,000 across multiple serious items — fall protection, hazard communication and SDS access, exit routes and fire protection, and equipment-inspection recordkeeping. There were no written safety programs, no documented employee training, and no in-house EHS resource — with the abatement and contest clock already running.
$33K → $5K
OSHA penalty reduced at settlement
85%
Cut from the proposed penalty
9
Cited items abated & documented
$28K
In penalties avoided
What we did
- 1
Reviewed the citation item-by-item and built a settlement strategy targeting classification, grouping, and available penalty-adjustment credits.
- 2
Handled settlement prep and represented the client through the informal settlement conference with the area office.
- 3
Documented good-faith abatement of every cited item — stood up the missing written programs (HazCom/SDS access, fall protection, emergency action & exit routes, fire protection) and delivered the required training with dated rosters.
- 4
Argued reclassification and grouping of related items, plus size, good-faith, and no-prior-history adjustment factors, to bring the penalty down.
Before & after
Before
- Proposed OSHA penalty near $33,000 across multiple serious items
- No written safety programs or documented employee training
- Abatement / contest clock running with no in-house EHS support
- Open exposure to repeat and failure-to-abate penalties
After
- Penalty settled at $5,000 — roughly 85% below the proposal
- Every cited item abated and documented for the file
- Written programs and training adopted across all locations
- A defensible safety baseline heading into the next inspection
The outcome
Settled the citation at $5,000 — about 85% below the ~$33,000 proposed penalty.
Closed out every cited item with documented, good-faith abatement.
Left the client with a consolidated safety program and manager training they run going forward.