Common OSHA Silica Violations and What They Cost

An OSHA silica violation is a citation for failing to meet one provision of the respirable crystalline silica standards: 29 CFR 1910.1053 for general industry and maritime, or 29 CFR 1926.1153 for construction. The cost of each citation depends on how OSHA classifies it: serious, other-than-serious, willful or repeat.

The classification decides the penalty ceiling. In 2026 a willful or repeat citation carries a maximum about 10 times higher than a serious one. For that reason a single silica inspection can produce a proposed penalty of a few thousand dollars or of nearly half a million dollars.

This page covers what was cited in published 2026 silica cases and what those citations cost. The requirements themselves are covered on the OSHA silica standards page.

Each cited provision is a separate violation. Each violation carries its own classification and its own proposed penalty. The proposed penalties are added together to give the total for the inspection.

The maximum amounts below are from OSHA's penalties page. They reflect the 2026 Annual Adjustments to OSHA Civil Penalties memo dated May 21, 2026. They apply to penalties assessed after January 15, 2026. They did not change from 2025 because there was no inflation increase.

A violation is classified as repeat if the employer was cited for the same or a similar hazard before. The earlier citation may have been issued at a different facility of the same company.

After receiving citations, the employer has 15 business days to do one of three things:

• comply with the citations;
• request an informal conference with the OSHA area director;
• contest the citations before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

The amounts in an OSHA news release are proposed penalties. They are not final until the 15-day period ends without a contest, or until the matter is settled or decided.

The sources for this page do not include national citation counts for each provision of 1910.1053 or 1926.1153. A ranking of silica provisions by frequency therefore cannot be given here.

The published 2026 silica cases cited the following failures:

• Exposure above the permissible exposure limit (PEL). Workers breathed silica dust above the limit.
• No exposure assessment. Silica levels were not assessed for every job involving silica.
• No regulated areas. Areas of high exposure were not established as regulated areas.
• No respirators. Exposed workers were not provided with or required to wear respirators.
• No annual fit testing. Respirator fit tests were not repeated each year.
• No written respiratory protection program.
• No written exposure control plan. The contents of that plan are set out on the page on the silica exposure control plan.
• No hazard communication program.
• No medical examinations. Workers exposed to silica for 30 or more days a year were not given the required exams.

Watsontown Brick Company, Pennsylvania

OSHA inspected Plant 3 of General Shale Brick Inc., doing business as Watsontown Brick Company, on February 12, 2026. Plant 3 makes molded brick. The inspection took place under OSHA's Site-Specific Targeting plan and the national emphasis program on respirable crystalline silica. A review of the company's injury and illness records was part of the trigger.

OSHA's Philadelphia area office issued citations on August 26, 2026. The OSHA news release states that workers breathed silica dust above the PEL. It states that the company knew of the exposure but did not correct it. It also states that the company did not require affected workers to wear respirators.

The citations were:

• 3 willful violations;
• 4 serious violations;
• 1 repeat violation;
• 1 other-than-serious violation.

The total proposed penalty was $496,528. The repeat violation arose from an earlier citation for missing respirator fit testing at the company's Augusta, Georgia facility. The sources do not give the penalty for each violation.

The cited failures were: no respirators for exposed workers, no annual fit testing, no regulated areas, no exposure assessment for all silica jobs, and no medical exams for workers exposed 30 or more days a year.

Two countertop fabricators, Georgia

OSHA cited Stone Atlanta Countertops Inc. and GT Stone Granite LLC, both of Cartersville, Georgia, after follow-up inspections. According to the OSHA news release, both companies again exposed workers to noise and silica above permissible limits. Neither had a written respiratory protection program, a silica exposure control plan or a hazard communication program.

These citations also covered noise, so the totals are not silica penalties alone. Trade coverage reported these as the latest of several citations against north Georgia countertop fabricators over the previous two years.

The respiratory protection standard, 29 CFR 1910.134, is a separate standard. It ranked sixth on OSHA's preliminary FY2026 list of most-cited standards, with 1,608 citations. The silica standards, 1910.1053 and 1926.1153, do not appear in that top 10.

A silica inspection can produce citations under both standards. A count of respiratory protection citations is therefore not a count of silica citations.

A willful violation and a repeat violation share the same $165,514 maximum. They are not the same. A willful violation means the employer knew of the hazard or requirement and did not act. A repeat violation means the employer was cited for the same or a similar hazard before.

The largest 2026 silica penalty in these sources came from willful and repeat classifications, not from the number of violations. Three questions follow from the cases above:

• If an exposure above the PEL is known, has it been corrected, and are respirators required until it is?
• If the company has been cited at any facility, has the same failure been corrected at every other facility?
• Does every job involving silica have a documented exposure assessment?