Data last updated: August 17, 2026
Over the past 12 months, OSHA issued 21 ladder violation citations to employers across Georgia, with an average penalty of $1,779 and a median of $1,844. Twenty of those 21 were classified as Serious, and one carried a Repeat designation, which typically signals a second finding of the same hazard at the same employer and comes with a steeper price tag. Savannah had more of these citations than any other Georgia city.
If you run a framing or roofing crew in Georgia and just opened a citation letter, the numbers below tell you what you are dealing with and how much time you have to act. Before anything else, it helps to talk through your options with a Georgia OSHA defense attorney who handles these cases regularly.
What OSHA Actually Expects Under the Ladder Rule
Nearly every citation in this dataset traces back to one regulation: the 1926.1053 standard, OSHA’s general rulebook for ladder use on construction sites. It is not a single sentence you can memorize. It covers how a ladder has to be set up before anyone climbs it, how far the top has to extend above a landing point, how much weight it is rated to carry, when a damaged ladder has to be pulled from service entirely, and how workers are supposed to use it once they are on it — three points of contact, no standing on the top rung, no makeshift extensions.
Inspectors do not need a worker to fall for a citation to stick. If a ladder is set up wrong, damaged, overloaded, or being used in a way that invites a fall, that alone is enough. That is exactly why so many of Georgia’s citations landed under the same subsection, B01, which deals with the setup and condition requirements rather than a single dramatic incident.
Framing and Roofing Crews Account for Most of Georgia’s Cases
The breakdown by trade is not close. Framing contractors picked up 11 of the state’s 21 ladder citations, more than half. Roofing contractors followed with 8, and siding contractors accounted for the remaining 2.
This pattern makes sense once you think about how these crews actually work. Framing and roofing jobs involve constant vertical movement — up to a wall plate, onto a roof deck, back down for materials — often on sites that are still under construction and don’t have permanent stairs or platforms yet. Ladders get borrowed between crews, left out in weather, and set up fast without much thought to footing or angle. Siding work has some of the same exposure but on a smaller scale, which is likely why it shows up less often in the citation record.
Several real Georgia cases illustrate how this plays out. Juan Carlos Saavedra, cited in Flowery Branch, received a Serious citation of $2,837, issued in April 2026 under the same B01 provision. Roman Construction Company LLC in Conyers was cited $2,553 in June 2026. In Savannah, Marvin Roblero Reyes was cited $2,270 in August 2025, and Menjivar Construction LLC was cited the same amount, $2,270, in June 2026. Juan Perez in Gainesville also received a $2,270 penalty in January 2026. All five were classified as Serious violations under 1926.1053, and all trace back to the same B01 setup-and-condition requirement.
What These Citations Actually Cost in Georgia
A $1,779 average penalty might sound manageable next to some OSHA enforcement categories, but a few things push the real cost higher than the sticker price. First, one citation rarely travels alone — inspectors who find a ladder problem often find other issues on the same visit, and each gets its own penalty line. Second, a Repeat classification, like the one Georgia saw this year, multiplies the base penalty significantly compared to a first-time Serious finding. Third, penalties don’t stay fixed. OSHA’s own data shows Georgia employers who pushed back or negotiated saw their penalties reduced by an average of 15% between the initial citation and the final resolution.
That 15% gap is not automatic. It comes from employers who contested, negotiated, or corrected the hazard and documented it properly — not from simply waiting and hoping. For a closer look at how OSHA calculates these numbers and what factors move them up or down, see this breakdown of OSHA ladder violation penalty amounts.
Before you decide whether to pay, contest, or negotiate, it is worth getting an honest read on your case from a Georgia OSHA defense attorney — the difference between accepting a citation as written and pushing back can be real money, especially if a Repeat or multi-item citation is involved.
The 15-Day Window You Can’t Afford to Miss
Whatever you decide to do about a Georgia ladder citation, there is one deadline that overrides everything else: you have 15 working days from the date you receive the citation to file a Notice of Contest. Miss that window and the citation becomes a final order automatically — no hearing, no negotiation, no second look. It does not matter how strong your defense might have been.
Filing a Notice of Contest does not mean you’re picking a fight for its own sake. It preserves your options: to argue the classification was wrong, to challenge the penalty amount, to show the hazard was already corrected, or simply to negotiate a better settlement than what’s on the page. Georgia employers who let the clock run out lose all of that leverage. If you’re unsure how the process works or what a contest actually involves, this guide on how to contest an OSHA citation walks through the mechanics.
Given how tight that 15-day window is, the smart move is to get a professional opinion immediately, not after you’ve already drafted a response yourself. Talk to a Georgia OSHA defense attorney as soon as the citation arrives so nothing slips past the deadline.
If you’re holding a ladder citation right now, don’t let the calendar make the decision for you. Pull the citation paperwork, note the date you received it, and get it in front of someone who handles these cases before those 15 working days run out.