Not Fall Protection Certified? Here’s What OSHA Can Fine You

OSHA Maximum Penalties

Violation Type	Maximum Penalty	Notes
Serious	Up to $16,550 per violation	Violation likely to cause serious injury or death.
Other-Than-Serious	Up to $16,550 per violation	Lower-risk issues but still important for compliance.
Willful or Repeated	Up to $165,514 per violation	Employer knowingly ignored or repeatedly violated OSHA rules.
Failure to Abate	Up to $16,550 per day	Continues daily after OSHA’s deadline is missed.

Top OSHA Violations

Year	Standard (CFR)	Violation Description	# of Violations
2024	29 CFR 1926.501 – Fall Protection (General)	Lack of fall protection systems at heights.	6,307 violations
2024	29 CFR 1926.503 – Fall Protection Training	Missing or inadequate fall protection training.	2,050 violations
2025	29 CFR 1926.501 – Fall Protection (General)	Top OSHA violation for the 15th consecutive year.	5,914 violations
2025	29 CFR 1926.503 – Fall Protection Training	Insufficient or no proof of worker training.	1,907 violations

Read related article: Lost Your Fall Protection Certificate? Here’s What to Do Next

First, what does “not fall protection certified” really mean?

When OSHA talks about fall protection, they’re mainly looking at two big things:

1. Are you protecting workers from falls properly?
   
   That’s covered under standards like 29 CFR 1926.501 – Duty to have fall protection. It lays out when you must use guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems once workers are at certain heights (like 6 feet or more in construction).
2. Have your workers actually been trained?
   
   OSHA expects formal training, hands-on practice, and proof (certificates/records) that workers know how to use harnesses, lanyards, anchors, lifelines, etc.

If your workers are up high with no proper protection and no documented training, OSHA sees that as a double problem:

• A fall hazard violation, and
• A training violation.

Each one can be a separate citation. Each citation can carry its own fine.

Read related article: 7 Types of Fall Protection Training You Can Take

How OSHA fines work

OSHA doesn’t pull numbers out of thin air. They use a penalty structure that’s updated every year for inflation.

As of 2025, the federal OSHA maximums look like this:

• Serious violation
  • What it means: There’s a substantial chance of serious harm or death (example: workers on a 20-ft roof with no harnesses or guardrails).
  • Maximum penalty: Up to $16,550 per violation
• Other-than-serious violation
  • What it means: Paperwork, minor issues that aren’t likely to cause serious harm but still matter.
  • Penalty range: $0 to $16,550 per violation
• Willful or repeated violation
  • What it means: You knew the rules and ignored them, or you keep doing the same thing wrong after being cited.
  • Maximum penalty: Up to $165,514 per violation
• Failure to abate (fix) a violation
  • What it means: OSHA told you to fix it by a certain date and you didn’t.
  • Penalty: Up to $16,550 per day beyond the abatement date

On top of that, OSHA can reduce or adjust penalties based on:

• Company size
• History (good or bad)
• How cooperative you are
• Whether you show genuine good-faith efforts

But here’s the key: Fall protection is one of OSHA’s most aggressively enforced areas, because falls are still a leading cause of death in construction.

Read Related Article: Are Your Fall Protection Training Records OSHA-Ready?

Why fall protection (and training) is always on OSHA’s radar

Fall protection violations are basically “regulars” on OSHA’s Top 10 list.

For example:

• In 2023, Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501) was again the #1 most frequently cited standard, with thousands of violations—over 7,000 by some counts.
• Those numbers do not even include the separate violations issued just for fall protection training failures.

So when OSHA walks onto a site and sees:

• Workers 6, 10, 20 feet up
• No guardrails, no nets, no harnesses
• And then finds no training records or clearly untrained workers

…they’re looking at a situation that they already know kills people every year. That’s why fines get serious, fast.

Read related article: How to Renew Fall Protection Certification?

Real-world examples: what non-compliance really costs

Here are some actual situations where companies paid heavily for ignoring fall protection rules:

Example 1: $1.2 million after a fatal fall

A safety article highlighted a case where a Long Island construction company was fined about $1.2 million after a worker fell and died. OSHA found 13 fall protection violations, and the company had a history of problems.

That’s what “willful” and “repeat” looks like in real life: multiple violations, a tragedy, and a massive penalty.

Example 2: $1 million in penalties for a repeat violator

The same source mentioned about $1 million in penalties against a New Jersey contractor that had already been on OSHA’s radar. Again, repeated fall protection issues, serious hazards, and a pattern of non-compliance drove the fines sky-high.

Example 3: Cited… then a fatal fall four months later

In another case, the U.S. Department of Labor reported a worker who fell 22 feet to his death at a facility in Illinois. OSHA had already cited the employer four months earlier for failing to provide fall protection at that same site.

When you keep doing the same unsafe thing after being cited, OSHA sees that as willful disregard. That’s when fines jump into the six- and seven-figure range.

Read related article: How to Pass the Written & Practical Fall Protection Tests?

What might your fines look like?

Let’s make this real with a simple scenario.

Scenario:

You have 5 workers on a 20-foot-high roof:

• No guardrails
• No harnesses or lifelines
• No documented fall protection training
• You’ve never really done a proper fall protection program

If OSHA inspects, they could see:

1. Hazard itself
   • Violations under 1926.501 (duty to have fall protection).
   • Potentially one “serious” violation per situation, and sometimes per location or per group of workers.
2. Lack of training
   • Separate citation under the fall protection training standard (like 1926.503), if workers clearly haven’t been trained or you can’t show records.

Now, let’s say OSHA decides there are:

• 3 serious violations related to fall hazards on different roof areas, plus
• 1 serious violation for no fall protection training

That’s 4 serious violations total.

At up to $16,550 each, the maximum exposure could be:

• 4 × $16,550 = $66,200

If OSHA decides some of those are willful (because you knew the rules and ignored them), a single willful citation could be up to $165,514. Two of those and you’re easily past $300,000+.

And remember: if you don’t fix the problems by the abatement date, failure-to-abate penalties can add up to $16,550 per day on top.

So when people ask, “What can OSHA fine me if I’m not fall protection certified?”
The honest answer is:

Anywhere from nothing (if you’re lucky and fix things fast)
to tens of thousands for a first inspection,
to hundreds of thousands or more if there’s a fatality, repeat issues, or willful violations.

Read related article: How to Become Certified in Fall Protection in 2026? (A Guide)

Direct fines vs. the “hidden” costs

The OSHA check you write is only part of the pain.

When there’s a major fall incident or big citation, you may also face:

• Lost work time (shutdowns, investigations, re-inspections)
• Workers’ comp costs
• Legal fees and settlements
• Increased insurance premiums
• Reputation damage with clients, GCs, and workers
• Difficulty winning future bids (“safety record” matters)

That’s why many companies I’d advise look at training as an investment, not an expense. The cost of proper fall protection training is tiny compared to even one serious OSHA fine.

How to avoid OSHA fines (and actually protect your people)

If I were walking your site as your safety consultant, here’s what I’d tell you to do right away:

1. Get real fall protection training on the calendar

• Use a reputable training provider (in-person or online) that specifically covers OSHA fall protection requirements for your industry.
• Make sure the training includes:
  • When fall protection is required
  • Types of systems (guardrails, PFAS, nets, etc.)
  • How to properly wear and adjust a harness
  • How to choose & inspect lanyards, anchor points, connectors
  • How to calculate fall clearance and swing fall

2. Document everything

• Keep training records with:
  • Worker’s name
  • Date of training
  • Topics covered
  • Trainer’s name and qualifications
• Issue certificates or wallet cards if possible. When OSHA asks, “How do you know they’re trained?” you’ll have proof.

3. Fix obvious hazards before OSHA ever arrives

Walk your site and ask yourself:

• Are workers ever 6 feet or more (construction) above a lower level without guardrails, nets, or harnesses?
• Are ladder, roof, mezzanine, and scaffold edges protected?
• Are skylights and floor openings covered or guarded?

If the answer is “no” to any of that, you’re looking at likely citations if OSHA shows up.

4. Make inspections and enforcement routine

• Have a competent person do regular fall protection checks.
• Enforce the rules consistently—if someone refuses to tie off, they don’t work at height. Period.
• Fix damaged harnesses, lanyards, and anchors immediately.

5. Refresh training regularly

Even though OSHA doesn’t say “every year” for everyone, they do expect retraining:

• When equipment or job tasks change
• After a near miss or incident
• When it’s clear workers have forgotten or ignore the rules

A lot of companies choose every 1–2 years as a best practice for fall protection refresher training.

Final thoughts

If you’re not fall protection certified—and your workers are still climbing, roofing, or working edges without proper protection—you’re playing with:

• Your workers’ lives, and
• Your company’s bank account

OSHA fines for fall protection and training violations can reach five figures per citation, six figures when willful or repeat, and seven figures when serious hazards, repeat issues, and fatalities combine.

The good news? You don’t have to wait for an inspector or an accident.

You can:

• Get your people trained and certified
• Put proper fall protection systems in place
• Document it all
• Turn your jobsite from a high-risk target into a safe, compliant operation

So when you see the question in your head—
“Not fall protection certified? What can OSHA fine me?”

I want you to reach the point where the honest answer is:

“They’d have a hard time fining us much—because we’re doing it right.”