Ogletree Deakins OSHA Tracker City Feature: Seattle, Las Vegas Had Most OSHA Inspections

In December 2022, Ogletree Deakins launched its OSHA Tracker based on analysis of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) publicly available inspection and citation data, which dates back to the 1970s. Now, in addition to featuring individual state data and OSHA regional information, the OSHA Tracker has been enhanced with city information.

Inspections

For 2021 and 2022, the top city for total number of inspections is Seattle (1,252), followed by Las Vegas (917) and Portland, Oregon (769). Other notable cities with hundreds of OSHA inspections per year include San Antonio (767), Brooklyn (732) (considered separately from the rest of New York City), Houston (717), Philadelphia (570), and Los Angeles (550).

Citations

An examination of cities based on the number of citations issued results in a similar list with Seattle (1,338) leading the pack for 2021 and 2022 but with San Antonio (818) moving up to second. In Seattle, the top citation related to residential construction is fall protection for roofing contractors. Las Vegas (644), third on the list of cities, reveals that hotels (except casino hotels) and motels were the top industry receiving citations, and the most frequently cited standard was electrical—installation and use.

State-by-State

Drilling down into specific states, Arizona’s top city for citations is Tucson (272), with roofing contractors as the most frequently cited employers there. In Phoenix (141), the most frequently cited employers are framing contractors. Framing contractor employers were also the most cited by industry during 2021 and 2022 in all three of Colorado’s most cited cities: Colorado Springs (202 total citations for all industries), Denver (200), and Aurora (107).

Ogletree Deakins continues to enhance the OSHA Tracker tool for employers. National and multistate employers may choose to view and compare data by OSHA region, state, and city. Other employers may find value in filtering the data to uncover the top citations for their industries and using the information for risk management and safety planning.

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Recommended Reading

Five Issues to Consider When Returning Furloughed and Laid Off Employees to Work

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: D.C. Circuit Holds Employer That Failed to Implement Its Own Safety Program Violated the General Duty Clause

A GDPR Update for Employers, Part I: Determining Whether Your Organization’s HR Data Processing Is Covered