What are the four major stages of an OSHA inspection?

The four stages of an onsite OSHA inspection are:

1. Target Selection: In this stage, OSHA will identify the workplace where they need to go to carry out the inspection.

2. Opening Conference: In this stage, the OSHA compliance officer (CSHO) introduces himself at the workplace, gives the reason for the inspection, and explains the inspection process.

3. Walk-Through: This stage is as it sounds - the CSHO will walk through the part of the workplace that is under inspection. The CSHO will make notes, gather information, and possibly interview some of the company's employees.

4. Closing Conference: In this stage, The CSHO reports his observations to the company, going over his initial findings. The word 'violation' is not used at this stage. Any official violation will come later, if necessary, after careful analysis of the findings from the walk-through.

Two additional stages of an OSHA inspection occur after the onsite visit:

5. Issuance of Citation with Penalties: If a violation is determined to have occurred, OSHA has 6 months to issue a citation, along with penalties.

6. Appeal: The employer has the right to appeal to the citation if he believes the citation is not accurate. This must be done within 15 working days after receiving the citation.

Note that stages 1-4 are the stages of the actual inspection; stages 5 & 6 are the results of the inspection. Without stages 5 and 6, the purpose of inspection will not be resolved. Therefore, though the question asks about 'the four stages of an OSHA inspection', there are more accurately 6 stages.