OSHA Fire Safety Citations, FY2021 to FY2025: OSHA Fire Extinguisher Inspection Requirements and Exit Rules Ranked

How the index is built

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The fire citation index: 20 subparagraphs ranked by violations

Four subparagraphs account for 42.2% of the 23,414 fire violations in our five-year window. Two of the top four are extinguisher upkeep rules, not equipment failures.

We read every non-deleted violation in the Department of Labor's OSHA violation file (DOL bulk file, 2026-10-27), kept items citing 29 CFR 1910.36 to 1910.39, 1910.106, 1910.155 to 1910.165 and 1926.150 to 1926.152, and joined them to the inspection file to assign a fiscal year, jurisdiction and industry. The result covers 23,414 violations in 14,586 inspections opened from FY2021 to FY2025.

1910.157(c)(1) leads with 3,192 violations. 1910.37(a)(3), exit routes free and unobstructed, follows with 2,469. The monthly visual inspection rule 1910.157(e)(2) ranks third with 2,378 and the annual maintenance rule 1910.157(e)(3) ranks fourth with 1,849. Exit marking, 1910.37(b)(2), is fifth with 1,699.

The index counts cited items, not inspections. An inspection that cites the same subparagraph twice adds two items, which is why 1910.157(c)(1) shows 3,192 violations in 3,182 inspections.

Violation (cited item): One row in the OSHA violation file: a standard cited on a citation, with its own type (serious, other-than-serious, repeat, willful), initial penalty and current penalty.

OSHA fire extinguisher inspection requirements: what 1910.157 citations are for

Under the osha fire extinguisher inspection requirements, employers must visually inspect extinguishers monthly and complete an annual maintenance check with a recorded date. Those two rules produced 4,227 violations in five years.

The federal rule is short. 29 CFR 1910.157(e)(2) says portable extinguishers, or hose used in their place, shall be visually inspected monthly. 1910.157(e)(3) requires an annual maintenance check and requires the employer to record the annual maintenance date and keep that record for one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less (eCFR, 29 CFR 1910.157, current as of 2026-10-23). The monthly rule text does not list checklist items or require a written monthly log.

• 1910.157(c)(1): provide, mount, locate and identify extinguishers so they are readily accessible: 3,192 violations, 39.6% serious.
• 1910.157(e)(2): monthly visual inspection: 2,378 violations, 30.0% serious, median initial penalty $700.
• 1910.157(e)(3): annual maintenance check and record: 1,849 violations, 38.3% serious, median initial penalty $2,500.
• 1910.157(g)(1): education program where extinguishers are provided for employee use: 686 violations, 52.6% serious.
• 1910.157(c)(4): fully charged, operable and in the designated place: 382 violations.
• 1910.157(g)(2): education at initial employment and at least annually: 356 violations.

Monthly inspection and annual maintenance items together total 4,227 violations, 45.7% of the 9,258 extinguisher violations in the window. For field procedures behind these rules, see our fire extinguisher inspection guide.

Penalty dollars: what OSHA proposes and what remains on the record

Fire violations carried $61.3 million in initial penalties and $42.1 million in current penalties. Most extinguisher items carried no penalty at all.

Across all coded fire standards, initial penalties totaled $61,336,140 and current penalties $42,148,499, a reduction of 31.3% or $19,187,641. Extinguisher items fell 34.0%, from $9,378,971 to $6,188,813. Exit route items fell 31.1%, from $41,795,228 to $28,808,863.

Medians are computed only over items with a penalty above $0, because OSHA often records a grouped penalty on one line and $0 on related lines. 71.7% of extinguisher items had a $0 initial penalty. Among federal serious extinguisher items with a penalty, the middle half of initial penalties ran from $2,765 to $6,453, with a median of $4,839; 38.4% of the 1,041 federal serious extinguisher items carried $0.

The ceilings in 29 CFR 1903.15(d) apply to penalties proposed after January 15, 2025: $16,550 per serious or other-than-serious violation and $165,514 per willful or repeated violation, with a willful minimum of $11,823 (eCFR, 29 CFR 1903.15). The Department of Labor made no 2026 adjustment (91 FR 31358, 2026-05-27).

Serious or other-than-serious: how fire hazards are classified

Flammable liquid and fire brigade items are mostly serious. Extinguisher items are mostly other-than-serious.

80.5% of flammable liquid (1910.106) violations were serious, against 56.4% for exit routes and emergency plans and 38.7% for extinguishers. Repeat or willful items were rare: 2.4% of all coded fire violations.

Serious violation: Under section 17(k) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, a violation where there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a condition or practice the employer knew or could have known of with reasonable diligence (OSH Act section 17, U.S. Code via Cornell LII).

Fire brigade rules in 1910.156 behave differently. 1910.156(d), annual inspection of fire fighting equipment, drew 242 violations, all in State Plan inspections, and 97.9% were serious. OSHA's State Plans page notes that state and local government workers are not covered by Federal OSHA, so public fire departments appear only where a State Plan inspects them (OSHA State Plans).

Federal OSHA versus State Plans: four times the extinguisher citation rate

State Plans that cite federal standard numbers record extinguisher violations at 4.08 times the federal rate. Public sector inspections and inspection mix explain part of the gap, not all of it.

OSHA lists 22 State Plans covering private and public workers and 7 covering state and local government workers only (OSHA State Plans, archived 2026-10-17). We marked an inspection as State Plan when the reporting office code has 5 as its third digit. That code matched OSHA's State Plan list in our checks: in states without a State Plan, nearly all inspections carried another code.

Federal OSHA cited 1910.157 at 18.0 violations per 1,000 inspections. State Plans excluding Washington, California, Oregon and Michigan cited it at 73.48 per 1,000, a ratio of 4.08. Limiting both sides to private employers narrows the ratio to 2.8 (44.16 versus 15.75). State Plan inspections of state and local government workplaces ran at 180.3 per 1,000. Construction makes up 51.5% of federal inspections and 36.5% of State Plan inspections, and construction draws few extinguisher citations.

Which industries draw OSHA fire citations

Manufacturing leads in volume for three of the five standard groups. Public sector workplaces lead in extinguisher citations per inspection.

Manufacturing accounts for 2,116 extinguisher violations, 22.9% of the total, and 954 flammable liquid violations, 44.4%. Per inspection, Public Administration leads at 123.56 extinguisher violations per 1,000 inspections, followed by Utilities at 93.95. Construction, the most inspected sector, runs at 4.87 under 1910.157 because construction sites are cited under 1926.150 instead: 1,151 of the 1,200 construction fire protection violations came from construction establishments.

Transportation and Warehousing recorded 575 extinguisher violations, 40.67 per 1,000 inspections. Facility managers can compare these figures with our warehouse fire safety guide.

State-by-state extinguisher citation rates

Rates range from 219.15 per 1,000 inspections in Connecticut to 1.61 in South Dakota, driven largely by public sector programs and inspection mix.

Connecticut (219.15 per 1,000) and New Mexico (146.24) lead. Connecticut's State Plan covers only state and local government workers, and 715 of Connecticut's 824 extinguisher violations came from State Plan inspections of local government workplaces. Large federal states sit lower: Texas at 17.04 and Florida at 15.74. Rates for Washington (3.01), California (6.35), Oregon (3.99) and Michigan (4.63) reflect only the federal share of their inspections plus the few State Plan items written under 29 CFR numbers.

FY2021 to FY2025: extinguisher citations peaked in FY2024

Extinguisher violations rose 63.5% from FY2021 to FY2024 and fell 13.9% in FY2025 as federal inspections dropped.

Extinguisher violations grew from 1,360 in FY2021 to 2,223 in FY2024, then fell to 1,915 in FY2025. The federal rate moved from 16.22 per 1,000 inspections in FY2021 to 20.5 in FY2024 and 15.52 in FY2025, while federal inspections fell 12.6% between FY2024 and FY2025. Fire standards held between 3.41% and 3.86% of all violations each year from FY2022 to FY2025. Exit lighting and marking rules are explained in our emergency lighting inspection guide.

What this index measures and what it does not

This is a federal workplace safety dataset. It does not measure local fire code enforcement, fire incidents or workplace fire deaths.

OSHA citations record what a compliance officer found during a workplace inspection. A city fire inspection is a separate program under the adopted fire code, and an extinguisher defect can appear in both systems. Our city fire code violations report covers the local side. Workplace fire deaths are a separate topic and are not counted here.

The most recent comparable published count we found is from FY2011, when Safety+Health reported 1,430 federal 1910.157 violations from OSHA's older IMIS system (Safety+Health). That figure uses a different system and year and is context only.

Key findings

1. 1910.157(c)(1), the duty to provide extinguishers and mount, locate and identify them so they are readily accessible, was cited 3,192 times in inspections opened FY2021 to FY2025, the most of any fire subparagraph (United States, Federal OSHA and State Plans).^[1][5]
2. Blocked or obstructed exit routes, 1910.37(a)(3), were cited 2,469 times over FY2021 to FY2025, and 61.2% of those items were classified serious.^[1][6]
3. The monthly visual inspection requirement, 1910.157(e)(2), drew 2,378 violations over FY2021 to FY2025; 30.0% were serious and the median initial penalty for items with a penalty was $700.^[1][5]
4. The annual maintenance requirement, 1910.157(e)(3), drew 1,849 violations over FY2021 to FY2025 with a median initial penalty of $2,500 for items with a penalty.^[1][5]
5. Monthly inspection and annual maintenance items together total 4,227 violations, 45.7% of all 1910.157 violations in FY2021 to FY2025.^[1]
6. Across all coded fire standards, initial penalties of $61,336,140 fell to $42,148,499 current penalties, a 31.3% reduction (inspections opened FY2021 to FY2025, nominal dollars).^[1]
7. Exit route and emergency planning items (1910.36 to 1910.39) account for $28,808,863 of current fire penalties, 68.4% of the total, over FY2021 to FY2025.^[1]
8. Only 38.7% of extinguisher violations were classified serious in FY2021 to FY2025, compared with 80.5% for flammable liquids (1910.106) and 56.4% for exit routes.^[1]
9. 71.7% of extinguisher items carried a $0 initial penalty, compared with 59.9% across all coded fire standards (FY2021 to FY2025).^[1]
10. Federal OSHA cited 1910.157 at 18.0 violations per 1,000 inspections over FY2021 to FY2025; State Plans that cite federal standard numbers did so at 73.48 per 1,000.^[1][2][13]
11. Among private employers only, the State Plan extinguisher rate was 44.16 per 1,000 inspections against 15.75 for Federal OSHA, 2.8 times higher (FY2021 to FY2025).^[1][2]
12. The median initial penalty for an extinguisher item with a penalty was $4,610 in federal inspections and $850 in State Plan inspections (FY2021 to FY2025).^[1][2]
13. Manufacturing accounts for 2,116 extinguisher violations (22.9%), 2,317 exit route violations (23.9%) and 954 flammable liquid violations (44.4%) over FY2021 to FY2025.^[1][2][16]
14. Extinguisher violations rose from 1,360 in FY2021 to 2,223 in FY2024, then fell to 1,915 in FY2025.^[1][2]

Summary for decision makers

• Fire protection standards produced 23,414 violations in 14,586 inspections opened from FY2021 to FY2025, out of 641,207 violations in 330,773 inspections.
• Portable extinguishers (29 CFR 1910.157) and exit routes plus emergency plans (1910.36 to 1910.39) account for 81.0% of fire violations.
• The monthly visual inspection rule, 1910.157(e)(2), ranks third with 2,378 violations; the annual maintenance rule, 1910.157(e)(3), ranks fourth with 1,849.
• Initial fire penalties totaled $61,336,140; current penalties total $42,148,499, a 31.3% reduction after settlements and contests.
• Exit route and emergency planning items carry 68.4% of current fire penalty dollars even though extinguisher items are nearly as numerous.
• State Plans that cite federal standard numbers record 73.48 extinguisher violations per 1,000 inspections, 4.08 times the federal rate of 18.0.
• Manufacturing is the leading sector for extinguisher, exit route and flammable liquid citations; Public Administration has the highest extinguisher rate at 123.56 per 1,000 inspections.

Frequently asked questions

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• Fire Alarm Technician Salary by State and Metro

Methodology

Data: the U.S. Department of Labor OSHA Violation and Inspection bulk files from the DOL Open Data Portal (data.dol.gov), both last modified 2026-10-27 and downloaded the same day without an API key. The older enforcedata.dol.gov catalog now redirects to data.dol.gov. OSHA's own query pages (osha.gov/ords/imis) returned a CAPTCHA to automated requests and were not used. The raw zip files are saved unmodified in raw/.

Selection: inspections opened from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2025 (FY2021 to FY2025) with an inspection scope other than D (no inspection conducted), 330,773 in total. Violations marked deleted were dropped. A violation was coded as fire protection when its standard field begins with 1910.36, 1910.37, 1910.38, 1910.39, 1910.106, 1910.155 to 1910.165 or 1926.150 to 1926.152. Fiscal year follows the inspection open date, as on OSHA's own frequently cited standards pages.

Jurisdiction: an inspection is State Plan when the third digit of its reporting office code is 5. In states without a State Plan, nearly all inspections carried a code other than 5, and private sector inspections in public-only State Plan states such as Connecticut also carried other codes, which matches OSHA's State Plan list. Washington, California and most of Oregon and Michigan cite state rule numbers, so their fire citations are largely invisible to a 29 CFR filter; State Plan rates are therefore shown with and without them.

Measures: counts are cited items. Serious, other-than-serious, repeat and willful shares use the viol_type codes S, O, R and W. Penalty totals and medians use the initial_penalty and current_penalty fields in nominal dollars; medians exclude items at $0 because grouped violations carry one penalty. Sector uses the first two digits of the establishment NAICS code with Census 2022 sector titles. State uses the site state. Requirement summaries are paraphrased from eCFR text current as of 2026-10-23; no regulation text is reproduced at length.

Limitations: citations measure enforcement activity, not hazard prevalence; they depend on where inspectors go, and federal inspections are more construction-heavy (51.5%) than State Plan inspections (36.5%). Penalties for recent cases can still change through contest or settlement. The data dictionary does not spell out viol_type letters; we read them as the categories in 29 U.S.C. 666 and 29 CFR 1903.15. No employer is named. Conflicting figures: where OSHA's published Top 10 (single year, federal only) differs from our pooled ranks, both are shown with their scope.

This report is a reference summary of public enforcement data. It is not legal advice; requirements depend on the standard as adopted by your State Plan or local fire code. Last updated 2026-10-27. Scripts in scripts/ rebuild every table from the raw files.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, engineering, financial or investment advice. Requirements depend on the code edition your state and local fire marshal have adopted; confirm with your authority having jurisdiction.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (16)

• [1] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (DOL Open Data Portal). OSHA Violation bulk file (OSHA_violation.zip, 14 CSV chunks). All years; file last modified 2026-10-27; this report uses inspections opened 2020-10-01 to 2025-09-30. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [2] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (DOL Open Data Portal). OSHA Inspection bulk file (OSHA_inspection.zip, 6 CSV chunks). All years; file last modified 2026-10-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [3] U.S. Department of Labor Open Data Portal. Violation dataset (id 10338): description and data dictionary. Metadata updated 2026-06-03. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [4] U.S. Department of Labor Open Data Portal. Inspection dataset (id 10334): description and data dictionary. Metadata updated 2026-06-03. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [5] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 29 CFR 1910.157 Portable fire extinguishers. eCFR current as of 2026-10-23. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [6] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 29 CFR Part 1910 Subpart E, Exit Routes and Emergency Planning (1910.33 to 1910.39). eCFR current as of 2026-10-23. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [7] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 29 CFR Part 1910 Subpart L, Fire Protection (1910.155 to 1910.165). eCFR current as of 2026-10-23. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [8] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 29 CFR 1903.15 Proposed penalties. Amounts for penalties proposed after 2025-01-15. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [9] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 29 CFR Part 1926 Subpart F, Fire Protection and Prevention (1926.150 to 1926.152). eCFR current as of 2026-10-23. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [10] U.S. Department of Labor, Federal Register. Department of Labor Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Annual Adjustments for 2026 (91 FR 31358). Published and effective 2026-05-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [11] U.S. Department of Labor, Federal Register. Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Annual Adjustments for 2025 (90 FR 1854). Effective 2025-01-15. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [12] OSHA (osha.gov page, archived copy by Internet Archive on 2026-09-12; osha.gov blocked automated access). Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, Fiscal Year 2025. FY2025; page updated 2026-04-15. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [13] OSHA (osha.gov page, archived copy by Internet Archive on 2026-10-17). State Plans. As of 2026-10-17. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [14] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 29 CFR 1910.106 Flammable liquids. eCFR current as of 2026-10-23. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [15] Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (statute text). 29 U.S. Code 666, Civil and criminal penalties (OSH Act section 17). Current statute. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [16] U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 NAICS 2 to 6 digit codes. NAICS 2022. Accessed 2026-10-27.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (1)

• [17] Safety+Health magazine, National Safety Council. Beyond OSHA's Top 10. FY2011 IMIS data. Accessed 2026-10-27.