Data last updated: September 28, 2026
Wyoming issued just 11 fall protection citations under 1926.501 over the past 12 months — a small number compared to bigger states, but the pattern behind it is anything but random. Seven of the 11 citations hit roofing contractors, and every single named example in the public record traces back to Cheyenne. The average penalty was $3,336, the median $3,111, and every one of the 11 citations was classified as Serious. If you run a roofing crew or a residential construction outfit in southeast Wyoming, this is not a hypothetical risk. It’s the exact profile OSHA has been enforcing against.
If you’ve already been cited, the clock is running. Employers get only 15 working days from receipt of a citation to file a Notice of Contest, and after that the penalty is locked in. Talking with a Wyoming OSHA defense attorney before that window closes is the single most useful thing you can do right now.
What 1926.501 Actually Demands From You
The standard behind every one of these 11 citations is 1926.501, OSHA’s core fall protection rule for construction. In plain terms: once a worker is exposed to a fall of 6 feet or more to a lower level, you have to do something about it. That something is guardrails, safety nets, or a personal fall arrest system — not a verbal warning to be careful, not a plan to get to it later. The rule doesn’t care how experienced your crew is or how short the job is expected to take. If someone is working at height without one of those three protections in place, the exposure exists the moment they step up. You can read the full breakdown of how this standard is written and applied on our 1926.501 standard hub, which covers how OSHA defines the trigger height, what counts as adequate fall arrest equipment, and where employers most often get the details wrong.
Why Roofers Make Up Nearly Two-Thirds of the State’s Citations
Roofing contractors accounted for 7 of Wyoming’s 11 fall protection citations — by far the dominant share, with residential construction and other trades combining for the remaining 4. That’s not a coincidence. Roofing work puts crews at height on every job, often on steep or unstable surfaces, and often on residential jobs where a full guardrail system isn’t practical and a personal fall arrest system is the only real option. When that system isn’t set up correctly, or isn’t set up at all, it’s an immediate and obvious violation for any inspector who happens to drive by. Our page on fall protection citations in roofing contractors goes into more detail on the specific setups that trigger these citations most often and how to close the gaps before an inspector ever shows up.
Cheyenne stands out as the concentration point. Every named citation in the state’s recent record — Affordable Roofing Wyoming, A&G Contractors LLC, Stonescape Metal Roofing & Exteriors, Oh Erreguin Construction, and Trust Roofing & Restoration — comes out of Cheyenne. That doesn’t necessarily mean Cheyenne job sites are riskier than the rest of the state; it more likely reflects where OSHA’s Wyoming enforcement activity has been focused this cycle. If your business operates in or around Cheyenne, assume the visibility on fall protection compliance is higher right now than in other parts of the state.
What These Citations Actually Cost
The dollar figures in Wyoming’s recent record give a real sense of the range. Affordable Roofing Wyoming in Cheyenne was cited $6,857 under subsection B11, issued November 4, 2025 — the highest of the group. A&G Contractors LLC came in at $3,803 under B10. Stonescape Metal Roofing & Exteriors and Oh Erreguin Construction were each cited $3,192, under B13 and B01 respectively, with the Oh Erreguin citation issued as recently as July 2026. Trust Roofing & Restoration rounded out the group at $3,111, cited under B11 in December 2025. All five were classified Serious, matching the statewide pattern — every single one of Wyoming’s 11 fall protection citations this period was Serious, with no Willful or Repeat classifications in the data. That matters, because Willful and Repeat citations typically carry penalties several times higher and are far harder to negotiate down.
Here’s the part that should get your attention if you’re weighing whether to just pay a citation and move on: the average penalty reduction between initial and final amount in Wyoming was only 2%. That’s a very thin margin compared to states where negotiated settlements routinely cut penalties by a third or more. A 2% average reduction suggests that informal negotiation alone isn’t accomplishing much here — the citations that get meaningfully reduced are the ones where the employer pushes back on the substance of the classification, the abatement requirement, or the underlying facts, not just the number. For more on how these figures are calculated and what actually moves them, see our page on how OSHA fall protection penalty amounts are set.
Given how little wiggle room the average case gets on its own, it’s worth having someone who knows the process look at your specific citation before you accept the number as final. Talk to a Wyoming OSHA defense attorney about whether your citation has grounds for a stronger contest than the statewide average suggests.
Your Options Once the Citation Arrives
The moment you receive a citation, a 15-working-day countdown starts. That’s how long you have to file a Notice of Contest if you want to formally challenge the classification, the penalty amount, or the abatement deadline. Miss that window and the citation becomes a final order — there’s no informal do-over after that. Fifteen working days sounds like a reasonable amount of time until you’re also trying to run a job site, order abatement materials, and figure out what actually happened on the day the inspector showed up.
Before that window closes, it’s worth understanding your actual options, which go beyond just paying or not paying. You can request an informal conference with the OSHA area office, negotiate the classification down, or file a full Notice of Contest and take the matter to the Review Commission. Our guide on how to contest an OSHA citation walks through each of those paths and what documentation you’ll need for any of them. Given that Wyoming’s average penalty reduction sits at just 2%, the difference between a passive response and an actively contested one is likely to matter more here than in states where negotiation does more of the work automatically.
If you’ve received a fall protection citation in Wyoming, don’t let the 15-day clock run out while you’re still deciding what to do. Get a Wyoming OSHA defense attorney to look at the citation, the inspection notes, and your abatement options before you file anything or pay a dollar.