Study Finds Limited OSHA Return Inspections
Researchers tracked manufacturing citations and found gaps in inspection records showing whether workplace hazards remained corrected.
- By Chelsey Arries
- Oct 28, 2026
Only 12% of manufacturing citations examined in an SDS Manager study were followed by a qualifying OSHA inspection within roughly three years, leaving researchers unable to determine whether most cited hazards remained corrected.
The safety software provider analyzed 139,777 initial citations across 28,339 U.S. manufacturing facilities overseen by federal OSHA. Among the 16,831 citations associated with a qualifying return inspection, 916, or 5.4%, were followed by another citation under the same regulatory paragraph.
A return inspection did not necessarily involve reviewing the original hazard. About 90% of subsequent inspections covered only part of a facility’s operations, and approximately 82% resulted from complaints or referrals.
Among 106 regulatory provisions with sufficient observations for comparison, the general machine guarding requirement had the highest recurrence rate at 23.3%. Lockout/tagout requirements also ranked among the provisions most frequently cited again.
The researchers distinguished recurrence under their methodology from OSHA’s formal repeat violation classification. The agency assigned that classification to 361 citation pairs, fewer than the 916 instances identified through the study’s matching process.
The findings apply to facilities represented in the inspection records and do not establish the safety performance of individual workplaces. An absence of subsequent inspection data does not demonstrate that a hazard was corrected or remained unresolved.
SDS Manager recommends that employers periodically confirm corrective measures remain effective, examine similar equipment and tasks elsewhere in their operations and retain documentation supporting completed repairs and training.
About the Author
Chelsey Arries is assistant editor for Security Today, Campus Security Today, Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental Protection Online.