Lockout tagout statistics: OSHA citations, penalties and who gets cited, FY2015 to FY2026

Lockout tagout statistics: 4,748 LOTO citations in fiscal 2025

Lockout/tagout citations fell to a low of 3,015 in FY2021 and have climbed back toward FY2015 levels. Citations of the electrical standards fell by half over the same decade. State Plans now issue a growing share of LOTO citations.

Federal OSHA and State Plans issued 4,748 lockout/tagout citations under 29 CFR 1910.147 in FY2025 (October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025), according to the DOL OSHA violation file dated 2026-11-02. Federal OSHA issued 2,535 and State Plans 2,213. The preliminary FY2026 count is 4,360.

Citation: One cited violation item. A single inspection can produce several items under the same standard. Citations are allegations until the employer accepts them, settles, or a final order is entered.

Lockout/tagout counts in FY2025 were 10.3% below FY2015 (5,291). The six electrical standards fell further, by 49.7%, from 12,461 to 6,270 citations, driven by general industry wiring rules: 1910.305 fell from 5,610 to 2,517 citations and 1910.303 from 4,681 to 2,742.

Counting per inspection removes part of the swing in inspection volume. Federal OSHA issued 83.7 lockout/tagout citations per 1,000 federal inspections opened in FY2025 and 88.5 in FY2015. The FY2026 rate of 95.6 is inflated by the drop in federal inspections opened, from 30,275 in FY2025 to 21,671; the fiscal year included the October to November 2025 lapse in appropriations (91 FR 31358).

Proposed lockout/tagout penalties fall by about a third before cases close

Penalties are proposed at citation and often reduced through informal settlement or contest. For FY2025 lockout/tagout citations the current total is 34.0% below the proposed total. Lockout/tagout items carry about 2.6 times the mean penalty of the electrical standards.

Penalties on FY2025 lockout/tagout citations totaled $31,507,200 as proposed and $20,807,979 as of the 2026-11-02 file, a 34.0% reduction. The median current penalty for items with a penalty above $0 was $4,900; the median proposed penalty was $7,093. 96.3% of FY2025 lockout/tagout items already carried a final order date.

The six electrical standards carried $10,635,947 in current penalties on 6,270 FY2025 citations, with a median of $2,800. Work-practice rules drew higher medians than wiring rules: $6,300 for 1910.333 and $3,500 for 1926.416, against $2,500 for 1910.305 and $1,702 for 1926.405.

The ceiling for a serious or other-than-serious violation is $16,550 and for a willful or repeated violation $165,514, with a willful minimum of $11,823, for penalties proposed after January 15, 2025 (29 CFR 1903.15). DOL made no inflation adjustment for 2026 because the October 2025 CPI-U was not published (91 FR 31358). The serious maximum was $7,000 until the 2016 catch-up adjustment raised it to $12,471 (81 FR 43430), which helps explain why the mean current penalty per lockout/tagout citation rose 108.8% from FY2015 to FY2025, from $2,099 to $4,382.

FY2025 lockout/tagout citations included 153 repeat and 17 willful items; 75.9% were classified serious.

Manufacturers draw most LOTO citations; electrical contractors are cited under construction rules

The lockout/tagout standard covers general industry, so factories dominate its citations. Electrical contractors appear in the construction electrical rules, especially wiring methods (1926.405) and circuit lockout (1926.417).

Manufacturing (NAICS 31 to 33) received 14,007 of 20,350 lockout/tagout citations issued in FY2021 to FY2025, or 68.8%. Wholesale trade followed with 5.4% and administrative and waste services with 4.7%. The electrical standards are spread more widely: construction received 17.2% of them and public administration 8.8%.

Electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors (NAICS 238210) received 26 lockout/tagout citations in five years, 0.13% of the total, because 1910.147 does not apply to construction work (29 CFR 1910.147). The same contractors received 304 citations under construction wiring rules (1926.405), 222 under construction work practices (1926.416) and 62 of the 94 citations under 1926.417, the construction rule for locking and tagging circuits, in 5,825 inspections.

Most lockout/tagout citations concern paperwork and program elements rather than a single missed lock. Written energy control procedures, paragraph (c)(4)(i), drew 21.9% of citations in FY2021 to FY2025, training under (c)(7)(i) 18.1% and periodic inspections under (c)(6)(i) 14.9%. Together with the program requirement (c)(1), these four paragraphs account for 65.8%.

Tennessee issues the most electrical citations per inspection among comparable states

State totals follow inspection volume, so the rate per 1,000 inspections is the fairer comparison. Four State Plans cite their own rule numbers and cannot be compared on a 29 CFR basis.

Tennessee, a State Plan state, recorded 3,393 citations of the six electrical standards in FY2021 to FY2025, or 451.1 per 1,000 inspections, almost four times the 115.9 rate across the 46 states and DC that mostly cite 29 CFR numbers. Connecticut (317.8) and Hawaii (290.3) followed. Connecticut also had the highest lockout/tagout rate among the top 10 states, 165.2 per 1,000 inspections.

California and Washington cite their own state rule numbers: only 3.7% and 2.1% of their citations carry 29 CFR numbers, so their lockout and electrical citations do not appear in a federal-standard count. Michigan (36.0%) and Oregon (45.8%) are partly visible, so their counts are minimums. Jurisdiction follows OSHA's State Plans list: 22 plans cover private and public employers and 7 cover public employers only.

Lockout/tagout has appeared in every OSHA Top 10 published for FY2015 to FY2026

OSHA's annual Top 10 counts federal citations only. Lockout/tagout ranked between third and seventh in every published year; electrical standards dropped off the list after FY2017.

Lockout/tagout ranked fifth in OSHA's FY2015 list, fourth in FY2019 and FY2025, and third in the preliminary FY2026 list (OSHA Top 10). OSHA's archived pages show no FY2016 list; ranking all standards by federal citations in the DOL file puts lockout/tagout fifth that year. The computed rank matches OSHA's published rank in every year except FY2023, when 1910.147 and respiratory protection tied at 2,473 federal citations.

Electrical wiring methods (1910.305) ranked eighth and electrical general requirements (1910.303) tenth on OSHA's FY2015 list; 1910.305 last appeared, in tenth place, in FY2017. By federal citations, 1910.303 ranked 11th in each fiscal year from FY2022 to FY2026.

OSHA's published counts are preliminary snapshots. J. J. Keller reported 1,863 federal lockout/tagout citations for FY2026 through August 31, 2026; the full-year federal count in the November file is 2,071.

The 120 deaths and 50,000 injuries figure is a 1989 projection, not a count

This report found no federal dataset that counts deaths caused by lockout/tagout failures. The figure safety vendors repeat comes from OSHA's 1989 rulemaking estimate, restated in a 2002 fact sheet.

The September 1, 1989 final rule creating 1910.147 (54 FR 36644) estimated that the standard would prevent about 122 fatalities, 28,400 lost-workday injuries and 31,900 non-lost-workday injuries a year, based on 1984 accident levels. OSHA derived these by extrapolating national data: it judged 7.1% of general industry fatalities and 2% of nonfatal accidents to be lockout-related and assumed the rule would prevent 85% of them.

OSHA's 2002 lockout/tagout fact sheet rounded this to 120 fatalities and 50,000 injuries prevented each year (OSHA fact sheet, 2002). The rule's two injury estimates add to 60,300, 10,300 more than the fact sheet figure; the fact sheet gives no method. OSHA's current lockout/tagout overview page, read on 2026-11-03, does not repeat either figure (OSHA).

Later official evidence is narrower. OSHA's 2000 lookback review found the standard covered 3.3 million workers at 1 million facilities and cited union data showing 20% to 55% fewer fatalities from unexpected machine activation in auto and steel plants after 1989 (65 FR 38302). A study of OSHA accident summaries from 1984 to 1997 found lockout was not attempted in at least 58.8% of fatal lockout-related incidents in manufacturing (Bulzacchelli et al., 2008).

For current deaths and injuries from electricity at work, see this site's electrical injury statistics report, which uses the BLS fatality census and injury survey. No federal dataset reviewed for this report classifies deaths by whether a lockout procedure failed, so no official annual count of lockout/tagout deaths was found.

What OSHA enforcement records can and cannot show

Citation counts measure where inspectors went and what they found, not how often hazards occur.

• Counts depend on inspection volume and targeting, including emphasis programs and complaints; a falling count can reflect fewer inspections.
• Grouped violations carry one penalty, so many items show $0; medians exclude them.
• Recent penalties can still change through settlement or contest; FY2026 is preliminary.
• State Plans that cite their own rule numbers are undercounted, and State Plan inspections include public employers.
• Establishment NAICS codes are recorded by inspectors and can be missing or coarse.
• The DOL file names establishments, but this report aggregates and names no employer; a citation is an allegation until final.

This report is a statistical summary of public enforcement data, not legal or compliance advice. Electrical isolation and lockout work belongs with a licensed electrician; see the site's code and business sections and the electrical fire statistics report for related data.

The record in numbers

1. Federal OSHA and State Plans issued 4,748 citations under the lockout/tagout standard (29 CFR 1910.147) in FY2025, in 2,628 inspections.^[1]
2. Lockout/tagout citations dropped to 3,015 in FY2021 and have risen in every year since, to 4,748 in FY2025.^[1]
3. State Plans issued 52.5% of lockout/tagout citations in preliminary FY2026 data (2,289 of 4,360), up from 39.1% in FY2015.^[1]
4. Federal OSHA issued 83.7 lockout/tagout citations per 1,000 federal inspections opened in FY2025, against 88.5 in FY2015.^[1][2]
5. Penalties on FY2025 lockout/tagout citations totaled $31.5 million as proposed and $20.8 million after settlement or contest, a 34.0% reduction.^[1]
6. The median current penalty for an FY2025 lockout/tagout item with a penalty was $4,900, which is 29.6% of the $16,550 serious-violation maximum.^[1][21]
7. The mean current penalty per lockout/tagout citation rose 108.8%, from $2,099 in FY2015 to $4,382 in FY2025 (nominal), after the 2016 catch-up raised the serious maximum from $7,000 to $12,471.^[1][33]
8. Six electrical standards drew 6,270 citations in FY2025 with $10.6 million in current penalties, down from 12,461 citations in FY2015.^[1]
9. Manufacturing (NAICS 31 to 33) received 14,007 of 20,350 lockout/tagout citations in FY2021 to FY2025, or 68.8%.^[1][31]
10. Electrical contractors (NAICS 238210) received 26 lockout/tagout citations in FY2021 to FY2025, 0.13% of the total, but 62 of the 94 citations under the construction circuit lockout rule 1926.417.^[1]
11. Four paragraphs of 1910.147 on written procedures, training, annual inspections and the program itself accounted for 65.8% of lockout/tagout citations in FY2021 to FY2025.^[1][24]
12. Tennessee recorded 451.1 electrical citations per 1,000 inspections in FY2021 to FY2025, against 115.9 across the states that mostly cite 29 CFR numbers.^[1][2]
13. Electrical general requirements (1910.303) ranked 11th among all standards by federal citations in each fiscal year from FY2022 to FY2026, one place outside OSHA's Top 10.^[1]
14. The 1989 lockout/tagout final rule projected 122 deaths, 28,400 lost-workday injuries and 31,900 minor injuries prevented per year, based on 1984 accident levels.^[16]

Rates we calculated

Get the calculations (CSV)

In short

• Federal OSHA and State Plans issued 4,748 lockout/tagout citations in FY2025 (2,535 federal, 2,213 State Plan) and a preliminary 4,360 in FY2026.
• Lockout/tagout citations in FY2025 were 10.3% below FY2015 (5,291), while citations of six electrical standards fell 49.7%, from 12,461 to 6,270.
• Penalties on FY2025 lockout/tagout citations fell from $31.5 million proposed to $20.8 million current, a 34.0% reduction; the median current penalty was $4,900.
• Manufacturing accounted for 68.8% of lockout/tagout citations in FY2021 to FY2025; electrical contractors (NAICS 238210) received 26 of 20,350.
• Electrical contractors are cited under construction rules instead: 588 citations under 1926.405, 1926.416 and 1926.417 in FY2021 to FY2025.
• Lockout/tagout ranked third on OSHA's preliminary FY2026 Top 10 and has appeared in every published list from FY2015 to FY2026.
• The widely repeated 120 deaths and 50,000 injuries estimate traces to the 1989 final rule, which projected 122 deaths and 60,300 injuries prevented per year at 1984 accident levels.

Common questions

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How we built this report

Data: the U.S. Department of Labor OSHA Violation and Inspection bulk files from the DOL Open Data Portal (data.dol.gov), both dated 2026-11-02 and downloaded on 2026-11-03 without an API key. The full files (2.3 GB and 1.5 GB) were streamed and filtered; only the filtered violation extract, aggregate inspection counts and checksums of the deleted originals are kept in raw/extracts. Field meanings follow the DOL data dictionaries for datasets 10338 and 10334.

Selection: non-deleted violation items whose standard field begins with 1910.147, any 1910 Subpart S section (1910.301 to 1910.399) or any 1926 Subpart K section (1926.400 to 1926.449), on inspections with a scope other than D (no inspection). The report tables cover 1910.147 and six named electrical standards. Fiscal year follows the citation issuance date (October 1 to September 30), the convention OSHA's frequently cited standards pages use. Federal vs State Plan follows the third digit of the reporting office code (5 = State Plan), which matched OSHA's State Plans list in every state checked.

Validation: ranking every 29 CFR section by federal citations reproduces OSHA's published Top 10 rank for 1910.147 in each published year from FY2015 to FY2026 except FY2023 (a tie), and the FY2015 and FY2025 top 10 lists in full. The computed FY2026 federal mean penalty per lockout/tagout citation ($6,903) is within 1% of J. J. Keller's report of OSHA's preliminary figure ($6,836).

Penalties: initial_penalty is the amount proposed at citation; current_penalty is the amount on file after informal settlement, contest or amendment. Totals use current values; medians exclude $0 items because grouped items carry one penalty. Dollars are nominal. Citations are allegations until final; 96.3% of FY2025 lockout/tagout items had a final order date in the file.

Rates: citations issued in a fiscal year divided by inspections opened in the same fiscal year, times 1,000. Sector uses the first two digits of the establishment NAICS code with Census Bureau 2022 NAICS titles. State uses the site state. Requirement summaries for paragraphs are paraphrased from eCFR text.

Conflicts: OSHA's Top 10 counts are preliminary snapshots (federal only, partial year for FY2026) and differ from full-year counts in the November file; both are shown with their scope. Vendor pages repeating the 120 and 50,000 figure were not used as sources; the figure is traced to the 1989 Federal Register and OSHA's 2002 fact sheet.

Limitations: enforcement counts measure inspection activity, not hazard prevalence. State Plans that cite their own rule numbers (California, Washington, most of Oregon and Michigan) are undercounted. No employer is named. Not legal advice. Last updated 2026-11-05; scripts in scripts/ rebuild every table from the extracts.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.

Sources by tier

Tier 1: primary and official sources (34)

• [1] U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA, via DOL Open Data Portal. OSHA Violation bulk file (OSHA_violation.zip, 14 CSV chunks dated 2026-11-02). Citations issued FY2015 to FY2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [2] U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA, via DOL Open Data Portal. OSHA Inspection bulk file (OSHA_inspection.zip, 6 CSV chunks dated 2026-11-02). Inspections opened April 2013 to November 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [3] U.S. Department of Labor, Open Data Portal. Violation dataset (id 10338): description and data dictionary. Dataset metadata, published 2026-06-03. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [4] U.S. Department of Labor, Open Data Portal. Inspection dataset (id 10334): description and data dictionary. Dataset metadata, published 2026-06-03. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [5] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, fiscal year 2026 (preliminary, updated 10/5/26). FY2026 (Oct 1, 2025 to Aug 31, 2026). Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [6] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, fiscal year 2025 (Internet Archive copy, 2026-09-12). FY2025. Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [7] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, fiscal year 2024 (Internet Archive copy, 2026-01-12). FY2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [8] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, fiscal year 2023 (Internet Archive copy, 2025-01-10). FY2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [9] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, fiscal year 2022 (Internet Archive copy, 2024-01-01). FY2022. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [10] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, fiscal year 2021 (Internet Archive copy, 2023-01-03). FY2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [11] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, fiscal year 2020 (Internet Archive copy, 2022-01-10). FY2020. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [12] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, fiscal year 2019 (Internet Archive copy, 2020-12-18). FY2019. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [13] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, fiscal year 2018 (Internet Archive copy, 2020-04-12). FY2018. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [14] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Top Ten Standards, fiscal year 2017 (Internet Archive copy, 2019-01-01). FY2017. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [15] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA's 2015 Top Ten most frequently cited violations (Internet Archive copy, 2017-01-16). FY2015. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [16] Office of the Federal Register (National Archives) via GovInfo. Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout); Final Rule, 54 FR 36644 to 36690 (Sept. 1, 1989), Federal Register issue scan. 1989 (estimates based on 1984 accident levels). Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [17] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout); Machinery, Equipment Maintenance; Final Rule (record page, 54:36644-36690). 1989. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [18] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Lockout/Tagout fact sheet (2002), Internet Archive copy of 2021-01-26. 2002. Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [19] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout): Overview. Current page. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [20] Office of the Federal Register (National Archives) via GovInfo. The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout): Notice of the Availability of a Lookback Review, 65 FR 38302 (June 20, 2000). 1989 to 2000. Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [21] Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR). 29 CFR 1903.15, Proposed penalties. Penalties proposed after Jan 15, 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [22] Office of the Federal Register (National Archives) via GovInfo. Department of Labor Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Annual Adjustments for 2026, 91 FR 31358 (May 27, 2026). 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [23] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. State Plans. Current page. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [24] Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR). 29 CFR 1910.147, The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout). Current text. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [25] Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR). 29 CFR 1910.333, Selection and use of work practices. Current text. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [26] Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR). 29 CFR 1910.303, General requirements (electrical). Current text. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [27] Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR). 29 CFR 1910.305, Wiring methods, components, and equipment for general use. Current text. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [28] Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR). 29 CFR 1926.405, Wiring methods, components, and equipment for general use (construction). Current text. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [29] Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR). 29 CFR 1926.416, General requirements (safety-related work practices, construction). Current text. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [30] Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR). 29 CFR 1926.417, Lockout and tagging of circuits. Current text. Accessed 2026-11-03.
• [31] U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 NAICS 2 to 6 digit codes. NAICS 2022. Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [32] U.S. National Library of Medicine, PubMed (abstract). Bulzacchelli MT, Vernick JS, Sorock GS, Webster DW, Lees PS. Circumstances of fatal lockout/tagout-related injuries in manufacturing. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2008. 1984 to 1997. Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [33] Office of the Federal Register (National Archives) via GovInfo. Department of Labor Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Catch-Up Adjustments, 81 FR 43430 (July 1, 2016). 2016. Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [36] U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties (updated Jul. 2, 2025). 2025 amounts. Accessed 2026-11-03.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (2)

• [34] J. J. Keller and Associates (Compliance Network). Fall protection for construction continues to lead OSHA's top 10 list. FY2026 preliminary. Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [35] J. J. Keller and Associates (Compliance Network). Expert Insights: New data reveals top 20 OSHA 1910 violations for FY 2026 (2026-10-02). FY2026 preliminary. Accessed 2026-11-05.