What is an OSHA citation on a contractor and does it matter?
An OSHA citation is a federal safety violation issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. "Serious" or "Willful" citations on a contractor predict job-site injuries on your property — and unsafe workers expose homeowners to liability if they get hurt on the job.
OSHA (osha.gov) inspects construction job sites for safety violations and issues citations across five severity tiers: Other-than-Serious (low), Serious (substantial probability of death or serious harm), Repeat (same violation within 5 years), Willful (intentional violation), and Failure to Abate (did not fix a prior citation). Every citation is public and searchable by company name at osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.html.
The two tiers that matter for homeowners are "Serious" and "Willful." A pattern of serious citations — three or more in five years, or a single willful — signals a contractor whose crew is likely to be injured on your property. Fall protection violations (the single most-cited OSHA standard in construction) lead to roof falls. Scaffolding violations lead to collapses. Trenching violations lead to cave-ins. Electrical violations lead to electrocutions.
Why this matters as a homeowner: an injured worker on your property creates premises-liability exposure if the contractor has no workers' compensation insurance, no general liability insurance, or both are lapsed. The injured worker's first call is to your homeowner's insurance. A contractor with an OSHA citation history is statistically more likely to be the one whose worker gets hurt and statistically less likely to carry the insurance that protects you.
OSHA citations are searchable by establishment name, address, NAICS code (236220 for commercial building, 236118 for residential), or inspection number. The agency publishes citation dollar amounts (often $5,000-$15,000 per serious violation, up to $156,259 for willful or repeat in 2026) and abatement status (did the contractor actually fix it).
Groundcheck (earthmove.io/trust) automatically pulls OSHA citation history for every report. A contractor with an OSHA pattern (3+ serious or any willful in 5 years) typically lands in the "Caution" or "Critical" verdict bucket. The free report shows citation counts and severity; the $19 Deep Dive includes the specific OSHA inspection numbers, dates, and violation descriptions you can verify directly at osha.gov.
OSHA does not regulate single-family residential remodeling in some states. If your project is a small interior remodel with a 1-2 person crew, OSHA citation history may be less predictive than license-board complaints.
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