HazCom Enforcement Report FY2025
Hazard Communication holds OSHA’s #2 national rank across all industries in FY2025 — a ranking OSHA publishes without citation counts — and only #9 in construction, at 698 federal-jurisdiction citations and $984,054 in penalties (current amounts). This report documents that paradox with the FY2025 data: the national top 10, the per-state HazCom shares, and the one state plan that on its own writes almost as many construction HazCom citations as the entire federal system.
Every figure renders from the verified dataset (extracted 2026-08-08) · last reviewed August 2026
HazCom's rank among construction standards (FY2025) — vs #2 all-industry
federal-jurisdiction construction HazCom citations
average penalty per HazCom citation (current amounts)
as many HazCom citations as the entire federal-OSHA jurisdiction — from Maryland alone
The national picture: where HazCom really sits
FY2025 federal-jurisdiction construction produced 26,559 citations across 10,793 inspections and $108,975,539 in penalties (current amounts). The top 10 by citation count — HazCom highlighted:
| Standard | Citations |
|---|---|
| 1926.501 | 6,772 |
| 1926.1053 | 2,758 |
| 1926.503 | 2,171 |
| 1926.451 | 2,152 |
| 1926.102 | 1,926 |
| 1926.20 | 866 |
| 1926.100 | 852 |
| 1903.19 | 805 |
| 1910.1200 | 698 |
| 1926.502 | 665 |
Two readings of the same number. Optimistic: chemical paperwork draws fewer citations than falls because it kills more slowly. Realistic: at $1,410 per citation and 2.05 citations per inspection where it appears, HazCom is the finding inspectors write in clusters — a missing program, unlabeled containers and absent training tend to arrive on the same citation. The per-violation ceiling and the reduction arithmetic are in how OSHA calculates a penalty.
HazCom across the state plans
The 17 state plans whose FY2025 data includes a 1910.1200 row, with an original metric: HazCom’s share of each state’s own construction citations — the cleanest signal of how much a state program actually prioritises chemical paperwork.
| State plan | HazCom citations | HazCom penalties | Share of state’s citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | 609 | $218,147 | 14.7% |
| Tennessee | 106 | $22,119 | 8.5% |
| MI | 45 | $13,060 | 1.1% |
| PR | 44 | $37,550 | 8.8% |
| Virginia | 41 | $22,093 | 2.3% |
| Minnesota | 29 | $16,594 | 6.7% |
| North Carolina | 27 | $2,250 | 1.7% |
| Oregon | 24 | $1,729 | 1.4% |
| Alaska | 21 | $10,583 | 9.9% |
| Arizona | 14 | $30,948 | 7.7% |
| Hawaii | 12 | $10,852 | 4.8% |
| Kentucky | 9 | $9,500 | 1.6% |
| New Mexico | 6 | $6,998 | 6.2% |
| Nevada | 5 | $13,432 | 1.6% |
| Indiana | 2 | $300 | 0.5% |
| Iowa | 2 | $1,128 | 0.7% |
| South Carolina | 2 | $925 | 1.0% |
The Maryland outlier
MOSH alone wrote 609 construction HazCom citations — 87.2% as many as federal OSHA wrote across its entire jurisdiction (698) — and 14.7% of Maryland’s own construction citations. For a contractor, the practical meaning is blunt: the odds that an inspection includes a HazCom review depend more on your state than on your program. Maryland’s full profile is on its state page.
How to read these numbers
- Everything here is construction (NAICS 23) for FY2025 (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025). All-industry HazCom enforcement is several times larger.
- California and Washington are absent from the state table because the source tool reports them under state section numbers (T8 §5194, WAC 296-901), so their HazCom citations never appear under 1910.1200. Michigan cites both its own sections and CFR numbers, so it is in the table. Every plan’s rule is in the State Plan HazCom rule map.
- Oregon reported citations without penalty dollars; Utah, Wyoming and Vermont are tracked with no HazCom row.
- Penalties are current amounts, after the reductions and settlements recorded so far; OSHA’s tool says so above every table (“Penalties shown reflect current rather than initial amounts”).
- One fiscal year — no trend can honestly be drawn from a single period.
- The #9-vs-#2 comparison spans two differently-scoped tables (construction-only vs all-industry): the gap is largely a composition effect — HazCom citations concentrate in general industry — not proof of construction under-enforcement.
Method: extracted from OSHA’s Frequently Cited Standards tool (NAICS 23, all establishment sizes) on 2026-08-08, stored as a verified constant, and rendered here directly from that dataset — the page and its source cannot drift apart. Full editorial method: how we work with the data.
Go deeper
Sources & verification
Written and maintained by HazComFast. Data extracted 2026-08-08; page last reviewed August 2026:
- ·OSHA Frequently Cited Standards — FY2025, NAICS 23 (Construction), all establishment sizes
- ·29 CFR 1910.1200 — Hazard Communication
- ·OSHA Top 10 most-cited standards (the all-industry #2 rank)
General guidance, not legal advice. Free to cite and share with attribution to HazComFast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Less than its reputation suggests. In FY2025, federal-jurisdiction construction inspections produced 698 HazCom (1910.1200) citations with $984,054 in penalties (current amounts) — ranking #9 among construction standards, far behind fall protection. Across all industries HazCom ranked #2 in FY2025, on a Top 10 that OSHA publishes as a ranking without citation counts; the gap between those two ranks is what this report documents.
About $1,410 per citation in FY2025 federal-jurisdiction construction data ($984,054 across 698 citations) — the second-lowest average in the construction top 10 — only abatement verification (29 CFR 1903.19, a Part 1903 procedural rule rather than a construction standard) averages less. HazCom arrives as clusters of program findings (an average of 2.05 citations per inspection where it is cited) rather than as single large penalties. These are current amounts: OSHA's tool reports penalties after the reductions recorded so far, not the amounts first proposed.
Maryland, by an enormous margin. MOSH wrote 609 construction HazCom citations in FY2025 — 87.2% of the 698 recorded across the entire federal-OSHA jurisdiction combined, and 14.7% of Maryland's own construction citations. The next state plan, Tennessee, wrote 106. No other jurisdiction treats HazCom as a primary construction enforcement priority to a comparable degree.
Because OSHA's Frequently Cited Standards tool reports their construction citations under state section numbers: Title 8 numbers for California, none in CFR form for Washington. Their HazCom citations are filed under T8 §5194 and WAC 296-901, so they never appear under 29 CFR 1910.1200. Michigan cites both its MIOSHA sections and federal CFR numbers, so its 1910.1200 row is in the table. The rule each State Plan cites is in our State Plan HazCom rule map.
No, and reading it that way would be a mistake. Everything in this report is construction (NAICS 23) for FY2025 (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025). All-industry HazCom enforcement is several times larger — it is the #2 standard overall. The construction filter is the point: it isolates what jobsite employers actually experience.
From OSHA's public Frequently Cited Standards tool, filtered to NAICS 23 (construction), all establishment sizes, for FY2025 — extracted and verified on 2026-08-08, and rendered on this page directly from that verified dataset so the page and the source cannot drift apart. Penalties are current amounts, as OSHA's tool reports them, not the amounts first proposed.
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