Inspection guidance for calculating the number of employees at an inspeciton site.

September 24, 2002

This is in response to your August 15 letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) Directorate of Enforcement Programs (DEP). You are requesting guidance regarding calculating the size factor of an employer for inspection purposes.

Question: What are the procedures for Area Offices to follow when calculating an employer's size factor while conducting an inspection on high-hazard rated employers, who have had over ten employees at one time throughout the previous calendar year and, at the initiation of an inspection, the employers have less than ten employees?

Response: OSHA would continue the targeted inspection as planned. [The Field Operations Manual (FOM) clearly addressed the subject issue. According to the FOM, ""Size of employer" shall be calculated on the basis of the maximum number of employees of an employer at all workplaces nationwide, including State Plan States, at any one time during the previous 12 months."]

I hope you find this information useful. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact the Office of General Industry Enforcement at (202) 693-1850.

[Corrected 1/21/2009]