Data last updated: August 31, 2026
Hawaii issued just 10 fall protection violations under 1926.501 over the past 12 months, but the numbers are sharper than the small count suggests. The average penalty was $3,917, the median was $2,674, and three of the ten citations were classified as Repeat violations — a category that signals OSHA saw the same problem at that employer before and escalated the penalty accordingly. Honolulu had more citations than any other city in the state.
If you run a roofing or residential construction crew in Hawaii and you have just received a citation, or you are worried one is coming, the clock is already running. Talking through your options with a Hawaii OSHA defense attorney before you respond to OSHA can change how much you end up paying and what shows up on your record going forward.
Why Fall Protection Rules Exist and What 1926.501 Actually Demands
The standard behind every one of these ten citations, 1926.501, is the basic backbone of fall protection law in construction. It requires that once a worker is exposed to a fall of 6 feet or more to a lower level, the employer must have already put a guardrail system, a safety net, or a personal fall arrest system in place. There is no grace period and no exception for a quick task. OSHA does not ask whether a fall actually happened — the citation is written the moment an inspector finds a worker exposed without one of those protections in place.
This is why the standard shows up so often in roofing citations specifically. Roof work almost always puts someone above the 6-foot threshold, and the nature of the trade — moving across a slope, working near an open edge, setting up temporary anchor points — creates exactly the exposure 1926.501 is written to prevent.
Roofing Crews Account for Half of Hawaii’s Citations
Of the ten citations issued statewide, five went to roofing contractors, three to residential construction firms more broadly, and two to other trades. That split is not a coincidence. Roofing is the industry where workers are most consistently at height, most often near an unprotected edge, and most likely to be observed by an OSHA inspector doing a drive-by or a targeted inspection sweep, which OSHA runs regularly in states with a lot of residential roofing activity like Hawaii.
The named examples from the state record make the pattern concrete. A To Z Roofing Hawaii LLC in Aiea was cited $9,930 for a Repeat violation under 19260501 B13, issued December 10, 2025. Cj’s Roofing & Raingutter LLC in Ewa Beach was cited $7,100, also Repeat and also under B13, issued June 18, 2026. Afo Pro Quality Roofing LLC in Kailua Kona picked up a $5,674 Repeat citation the same day. AK Roofing and Raingutter LLC in Honolulu was cited $4,965 for a Serious violation under B01, issued November 5, 2025. And WMC Built LLC in Lahaina was cited $2,814 for a Serious violation under B13, issued November 25, 2025.
Notice how three of these five are Repeat citations. That matters a great deal — Repeat status means OSHA already has a record of a prior fall protection citation at that company, and it uses that history to multiply the penalty well above what a first-time Serious citation would draw.
What a Citation Actually Costs You in Hawaii
Statewide, seven of the ten citations were Serious and three were Repeat — no Willful citations showed up in this period, which is a small mercy, since Willful penalties run far higher than either category. Still, $3,917 average and $2,674 median are not numbers a small roofing or residential outfit can shrug off, especially if it’s paired with a second citation down the road that gets bumped to Repeat status.
One number in the Hawaii data is worth sitting with: the average penalty reduction between the initial citation and the final settled amount was 21%. That gap does not close itself. It closes because employers push back, negotiate, or formally contest the citation — with documentation, informal conferences, or legal representation making the difference between paying the number on the citation and paying something meaningfully lower. You can see how this process works in more detail on our page covering OSHA fall protection violation penalty amounts.
Before you decide to just pay what’s on the citation, it’s worth a short conversation with a Hawaii OSHA defense attorney — particularly if your citation carries Repeat status, since that classification is often the most negotiable part of the whole case.
The 15-Day Window You Cannot Afford to Miss
Whatever you decide to do about a citation, there is one deadline that does not bend: you have 15 working days from the date you receive the citation to file a Notice of Contest. Miss it, and the citation — penalty, classification, and all — becomes a final order. At that point you have essentially no path to dispute the amount or the Repeat designation, even if you have a legitimate argument that the citation was wrong or overstated.
Fifteen working days moves faster than people expect once holidays, weekends, and the time it takes to gather documentation are factored in. If you’re weighing whether to contest, our breakdown of how to contest an OSHA citation walks through the mechanics, but the short version is this: decide quickly, and get an informed opinion on your specific citation language and classification before the window closes.
Given that three of Hawaii’s last ten fall protection citations carried Repeat status — the classification with the steepest penalties and the least room for excuses — this is exactly the kind of case where a quick call to a Hawaii OSHA defense attorney inside that 15-day window can change the outcome, whether that means negotiating the amount down or challenging the Repeat classification itself.
If you’ve received a fall protection citation anywhere in Hawaii — whether it’s your first Serious violation or a Repeat citation that’s going to hurt — don’t let the 15-working-day clock run out while you’re still deciding what to do. Get your documentation together, review the specific subsection you were cited under, and talk to someone who handles these cases before you respond to OSHA.