OSHA citations carry potential fines up to ____ per violation?

• A. $7,000
• B. $70,000
• C. $700,000
• D. $70

Answer: (B)

OSHA penalties are civil fines issued for safety violations and are assessed per violation found in a citation. The amount is set per violation, not per incident, and the per-violation cap is substantial to reflect the seriousness of maintaining safe workplaces. For this material, the maximum that can be assessed for a single violation is seventy thousand dollars. This means that if an employer has multiple distinct violations identified, each can carry its own penalty up to that cap, potentially adding up quickly. Penalties vary by violation category—serious, other-than-serious, willful, or repeated—and are adjusted over time for inflation, so the exact figure can change.

The other options don’t fit because seven thousand dollars was an older, lower ceiling; seven hundred thousand dollars would exceed the per-violation cap for typical categories; seventy dollars is far too low to reflect OSHA’s penalties.