Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970

Employers must follow OSHA standards, keep injury and illness logs, report fatalities within 8 hours and inpatient hospitalizations, amputations or eye losses within 24 hours, and post notices. Establishments with 100 or more employees in designated industries, including warehousing, must submit detailed injury data electronically each year. Maximum penalties are 16,550 dollars per serious violation and 165,514 dollars per willful or repeated violation; OSHA kept 2025 amounts for 2026. About half the states run their own approved plans.

The OSH Act is the base layer of safety compliance for every US warehouse, and fulfillment is one of its enforcement priorities. Warehousing has injury rates well above private industry averages, and OSHA uses those rates and the warehouse emphasis program to pick inspection targets. For example, a 3PL that hospitalizes a worker after a forklift tip-over must report it to OSHA within 24 hours, which often triggers an inspection covering forklifts, racking, exits and recordkeeping across the whole building.

• OSHA General Duty Clause1970 · OSHA catch-all duty to prevent recognized hazards
• OSHA Warehousing National Emphasis Program2023, renewed 2026 · OSHA program targeting warehouses for inspection
• OSHA Powered Industrial Trucks Standard (29 CFR 1910.178)1971, amended 1998 · Forklift safety and operator training rules

1. OSHA: OSH Act of 1970 osha.gov
2. OSHA: Penalties osha.gov