Cal/OSHA Increases Civil Penalty Amounts for 2024

California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health recently increased penalties for certain violations, with some maximum penalties planned to rise as much as $4,983 this year, a smaller increase than in the past.

This annual Cal/OSHA increase is required by a law enacted by the California Legislature in 2017 that authorizes increases in certain minimum and maximum civil penalties to make them consistent with federal OSHA’s civil penalties.

For citations issued on or after Jan. 1, 2024, the maximum penalties for violations classified as regulatory, general, willful, or repeat are:

• The maximum penalty for general and regulatory violations, including posting and recordkeeping violations is $15,873.
• The maximum penalty for willful and repeat violations is $158,727.
• The minimum penalty for willful violations is $11,337.

The only maximum penalties that went unchanged are for violations classified as serious, including serious tower-crane and serious carcinogen-use violations. Those penalties remain at $25,000.