How the risk score is calculated
A transparent 0–100 measure of an employer's OSHA enforcement history.
Every company in OSHA IQ receives a safety risk score from 0 to 100, where higher means a worse enforcement record. The score is derived entirely from public U.S. Department of Labor / OSHA inspection and violation records — it reflects citation history, not a prediction or a judgment about any specific workplace today.
What goes into the score
For each company we compute per-inspection rates for the factors below, rank every company against the full dataset using its percentile, and combine those percentiles with the following weights:
| Factor | Weight | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Willful violations | 30% | Intentional disregard for worker safety. |
| Repeat violations | 25% | A sustained pattern of non-compliance. |
| Serious violations | 20% | Hazards with a substantial probability of death or serious harm. |
| Penalty amounts | 15% | Total assessed penalties, scaled per inspection. |
| Inspection frequency | 10% | How often the employer is inspected, normalized by years active. |
Normalization and time scope
Citation and penalty factors use rates per inspection. Inspection frequency uses inspections per year between the first and last recorded inspections, with at least one year in the denominator. Factors are ranked across the full scored dataset. All imported history contributes equally: this version does not apply extra recency weighting. The separate industry percentile compares same-NAICS employer groups. Neither comparison adjusts for differences in enforcement activity or establishes the safety of a specific establishment.
Safety grade (A–F)
To make the score readable at a glance, every company also gets a letter safety grade from A to F. The grade inverts the score: A represents a lower enforcement-history score and F represents a higher enforcement-history score. Companies with no scored inspection history are shown as Not rated (NR) rather than given a passing grade. The cutoffs are calibrated to the real distribution of employers, so the grades stay meaningful — roughly half of all employers have a clean record and earn an A, while a D or F is a genuine red flag.
Risk score 0–100 · higher score = worse enforcement history. Following common grading convention, there is no E.
An important caveat
The score summarizes historical enforcement data that may be incomplete or delayed and is matched to employers by name and location. It is informational only and must not be the sole basis for any hiring, contracting, insurance, or investment decision. Always verify against the official DOL/OSHA source.