Search the worksite that was inspected
An OSHA inspection search looks for enforcement inspections in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's public establishment search. People use it before hiring a contractor, after a news story names a plant, or when a bid package claims "no OSHA violations." The record that answers the question is an inspection at a worksite, not a slogan on a truck.
The official page lets you search by establishment name, a specific inspection number, industry codes (NAICS or SIC), an OSHA office, or a site ZIP code. It also says you can open citation detail for violations federal OSHA has cited: search the name, select the activity number, look under Violation Items, and open the citation ID.
Read the data-through line on the page when you search. OSHA prints that date on the search itself. A screenshot from another month is a different file.
Names collide, and the address is the tie-breaker
OSHA's note to users is direct: different companies may have similar names, and you need the address to avoid mixing them up. The underlying system was built for agency staff and for state agencies that run federally approved plans. The public copy is there so people can follow interventions at a worksite or study enforcement data. It was not built as a brand-name directory.
Practical consequences:
- Search the shortest distinctive words in the worksite name, then add the city or ZIP when the list is long. A national chain's legal name can disagree with the name painted on the building.
- A brand and a local employer can both be real and still be different establishments. Attribute the activity number only after the site address matches.
- State-plan offices enter their own activity numbers for some states. The search form itself calls out state activity numbers for North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Oregon, Washington, Indiana before April 2022, and Arizona after June 2021. If you have a state inspection number, use the field the form provides instead of assuming the federal numbering scheme.
- A trade name on an invoice may be a DBA, while the inspection was opened under the legal employer. Try both before you treat a miss as "never inspected."
The data's source, OSHA says, is the local federal or state office where the activity happened. Entries are updated as events occur. Until the case is closed, citation items can change by amended citation, settlement, or contest. Save the activity number and the date you looked. A violation count without those two details is not a stable description.
How to read one inspection
- Confirm you are on osha.gov, not a reseller that frames the same rows in ads.
- Search the site ZIP or the establishment name plus a location word.
- On the results list, match the establishment string and the site geography to the workplace you mean.
- Open the activity number. Note the open date, the office, the state, and the inspection type if shown.
- If Violation Items appear, open each citation ID you intend to describe. Do not summarize from the count alone.
- Check whether the case is still open. OSHA may still amend an open case. Quote the current items and say the case was open when you looked.
- If the bid claims a period with no citations, search that worksite across the years you care about. One inspection with no citation is not a history of every year.
Industry codes help when the name is hopeless and the ZIP is known. NAICS and SIC describe the activity OSHA recorded for that inspection. They are not a professional license, and they are not the NAICS code a firm typed into SAM.gov. A code match is a classification clue. It does not prove the firm is authorized to do the work.
What the record cannot certify
| Claim you heard | What the OSHA file can add |
|---|---|
| "We have never been cited." | Only the inspections that were entered for the establishment you actually opened. A miss can be the wrong name or a worksite OSHA has not visited. |
| "OSHA approved us." | The file shows inspections and citations. It is not an approval seal or a current compliance certificate. |
| "Our license is the OSHA number." | The activity number is an inspection identifier. Trade licenses live with state boards. |
| "The company on the bid is the company that was cited." | Only if the site address matches. Similar names are a documented failure mode. |
| "That citation is the final fine." | Until the case is closed, amendments, settlements, and contests can change the items. |
Property records answer a different question. A property tax record can help you confirm which parcel and which site address you mean. It does not list inspections. A business entity search can confirm the legal entity. It does not list citations. A SAM.gov registration can matter for a federal contract and still say nothing about a state OSHA inspection.
When to stop and restate the result
Write one paragraph that a stranger could check: establishment name as printed, site address or ZIP, activity number, open date, whether you opened the citation IDs, and the data-through date on the search page. Say the case was open or closed if the screen says so.
Do not convert a citation into a safety ranking, a hiring screen, or a reason to publish an employee's name. The public file is about establishments and inspections. Using it to judge a private individual, or to claim a workplace is safe because a search was empty, goes past what OSHA says the data is for.
Lookup Plainly explains the public search. It does not run inspections, calculate penalties, or certify contractors.
A worked name collision
This example is illustrative. It is not a real inspection.
A facilities manager has a bid from "Harbor Lift Services." OSHA's search for those three words returns two activity numbers in the same state. One site address is a port warehouse. The other is a medical-equipment shop across town. The warehouse row has an open case and two citation IDs. The shop row is closed and has none.
The useful note to the file is: which activity number, which street, whether the case was open, and the data-through date on the search page. The useless note is "Harbor Lift has OSHA violations." The shop shares the words and not the worksite. If the bid's legal name is Harbor Lift Services LLC and the inspection was opened under a different employer at the same dock, say that the names disagree and link the business entity search rather than forcing a match.
If the manager also needs to know whether the bidder holds a crane or contractor credential, that question leaves OSHA entirely and goes to the state board in the professional license guide.