Data last updated: August 31, 2026
Ninety-seven fall protection citations landed on Michigan employers over the past 12 months, averaging $661 per citation with a median of $400. Roofing contractors took the biggest share, and Escanaba stands out as the city where inspectors wrote up the most cases. If you just opened an envelope with a citation number on it, the numbers below tell you what you’re actually dealing with.
A citation is not the end of the conversation. Before you decide how to respond, talk with a Michigan OSHA defense attorney about what your specific paperwork says and what options are still open to you.
What OSHA Actually Expects Once Someone Is Working Six Feet Up
Nearly every citation on this list traces back to one rule: 1926.501, the general fall protection standard for construction. The rule itself is simple to state and expensive to ignore: once a worker is exposed to a fall of six feet or more to a lower level on a construction site, the employer has to do something about it. That something is guardrails, safety nets, or a personal fall arrest system — not a promise that someone will be careful, not a plan for next week, but active protection in place before the work starts.
Inspectors don’t need a worker to actually fall to write a citation. They just need to see someone exposed at height without one of those three protections in place. That’s why so many of these citations get written during routine site visits or after a complaint call, not just after an accident.
Roofers, Framers, and Commercial Crews Carry Most of the Weight
Of the 97 citations, roofing contractors accounted for 30 — nearly a third of everything issued statewide. Framing contractors came in at 15, and commercial building construction crews picked up 14 more. Together, those three trades cover almost two-thirds of all fall protection enforcement in Michigan.
The pattern makes sense once you think about the work itself. Roofers and framers spend entire shifts at or near roof edges, and commercial builds often involve multi-story structures where a missed guardrail or an unclipped lanyard is one bad step away from a serious fall. These are also trades where crews move fast and schedules are tight, which is exactly when protective equipment gets skipped to save ten minutes.
Serious and Repeat Findings, and What They Actually Cost
Of the 97 citations, 82 were classified as Serious, 8 as Repeat, and 7 as Other-than-Serious. That breakdown matters more than most people realize. A Serious citation means OSHA determined there was a real possibility of death or significant injury tied to the hazard. A Repeat citation — issued 8 times here — means the employer had a substantially similar violation cited before, and Repeat penalties climb sharply because OSHA treats a second occurrence as a sign the first correction didn’t stick.
You can see that jump in the real cases on record. K & B Jones, Inc. in Mount Pleasant was cited $5,600 for a Repeat violation under 19260501 B13, issued May 14, 2026. Speck Carpentry, Inc in Lake Orion drew a $4,000 Repeat citation under the same subsection, issued May 21, 2026. Northern Awning And Window Company, Inc. in Marquette was cited $2,800, also Repeat under 19260501 B13, issued December 19, 2025. By comparison, Konwinski Construction Inc in Mount Pleasant received a $2,400 Serious citation under 19260501 B01, issued October 31, 2025, and Mjs Enterprise Llc in Albion was cited $2,100, Serious under 19260501 B13, issued June 23, 2026. The Repeat cases here consistently landed higher than the Serious ones, which lines up with how OSHA’s penalty structure is designed to work.
Here’s a number worth paying attention to: the average penalty reduction between the initial citation and the final resolved amount in Michigan runs 23%. That’s not a small gap. It reflects how often employers who push back — through informal conference, negotiation, or a formal contest — end up paying meaningfully less than the number printed on the first notice. You can see how these figures typically break down on our page on OSHA fall protection penalty amounts.
A citation that could shrink by nearly a quarter with the right response is worth a real conversation before you pay it. Talk to a Michigan OSHA defense attorney before that first number becomes your final bill.
The Clock Is Already Running on Your Response
Once a citation is issued, the employer has exactly 15 working days to file a Notice of Contest. Miss that window and the citation, the classification, and the penalty amount become final — there’s no appeal after the fact just because you disagree with how it was written up. This is true whether you were cited $400 as Other-than-Serious or $5,600 as Repeat.
Within those 15 working days, you have real options: request an informal conference with the OSHA area office to negotiate the classification or amount, or file a formal Notice of Contest to preserve your right to a hearing. Which path makes sense depends on the specifics of your citation — the subsection cited, whether it’s your first violation of this kind, and how strong the evidence actually is. Our breakdown of how to contest an OSHA citation walks through the mechanics, but the short version is that you need to move fast and you need someone who’s done this before.
With a 15-working-day deadline already ticking and Repeat citations running well above Serious ones in this state, this isn’t the moment to guess at your own strategy. Get a Michigan OSHA defense attorney to review your citation before you file anything or write a check.
Pull out your citation paperwork, check the date it was issued, and count forward — that’s your real deadline, not a suggestion. The sooner you get a professional set of eyes on the specific subsection you were cited under, the more room you’ll have to negotiate before that window closes.