Ezel / Agency Decisions / 78-1351-commission
OSHRC Commission decision Docket 78-1351, 78-2474, 78-2565 Decided January 30, 1981 Modified

Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation

Court-ordered penalty and classification changes

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Currency note: this decision dates from 1981
The OSHA standards may have been amended, penalty amounts have been adjusted, and later Commission or court decisions may have changed the analysis since then. Treat this page as historical context, not current compliance advice. Verify the current standard before relying on any specific rule, threshold, or penalty mentioned here.
Decision of the Commission
This is a decision of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the highest level of agency review, citable as Commission precedent. It may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance; check subsequent history before relying on it. The full text below is from the official OSHRC release.
About this page: The plain-English summary and decision snapshot below were written by Ezel based on the official OSHRC release. The full text is the Commission's own document.
Read the official release (oshrc.gov)

Plain-English summary

Acting under a Third Circuit order, the Commission modified previously final judge decisions. The official release reduces a $180 penalty to $90 and changes the related violation's characterization to nonserious, while leaving the judge's decisions unchanged in all other respects. The release does not identify the cited standard or describe the underlying workplace condition.

Decision snapshot

  • Cited standard(s): Not identified in the Commission order.
  • Outcome: Violation reclassified as nonserious and $180 penalty reduced to $90; otherwise unchanged.
  • Key point: The Commission implemented the court of appeals' mandate by making only the specified classification and penalty changes.

Full text (OSHRC public release)

Docket Nos. 78-1351; 78-2474; 78-2565-E

JONES & LAUGHLIN STEEL CORPORATION

OSHRC Docket Nos. 78-1351; 78-2474; 78-2565-E

Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission

January 30, 1981

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Before: CLEARY, Chairman; BARNAKO and COTTINE, Commissioners.
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COUNSEL:

Baruch A. Fellner, Office of the Solicitor, USDOL

Marshall H. Harris, Reg. Sol., USDOL

John C. Unkovic, for the employer

James R. Haggerty, JONES & LAUGHLIN STEEL CORP., for the employer

George Prenatt, Staff Rep., Safety & Health Department, USWA, for the employees

William George, Staff Rep., District 20, USWA, for the employees

Paddy Grimes, Vice President, Local Union No. 1211, USWA, for the employees

OPINION:

ORDER

BY THE COMMISSION:

In accordance with the order entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on November 13, 1980, the decisions and orders of Administrative Law Judge Benjamin G. Usher, which became final orders of the Commission pursuant to 29 U.S.C. �
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661(i) on November 20, 1979, and February 5, 1980, are hereby modified as follows:

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The penalty is reduced from $180 to $90.

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and the characterization of that violation is changed to nonserious.
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The penalty of $180 assessed for that violation is reduced to $90.

In all other respects, the decisions of the judge are unchanged.

SO ORDERED.
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