Federal agency decisions, searchable in plain English.
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) and mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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ADM Milling Company
Manlift guarding citation vacated under grandfather provision
OSHA cited ADM Milling for failing to guard the lower pulley and moving steps of a continuous-belt manlift installed in 1954. The judge held that the manlift standard's grandfather provision, reinforced by OSHA's own 1991 interpretation letter, made the standard inapplicable to manlifts installed…
Frazier Masonry Corporation
Scaffold fall citation vacated for lack of employee proof
An OSHA compliance officer observed three people working near an unguarded opening on a 38-foot scaffold for about fifteen minutes without other fall protection. The judge found that the scaffold standard applied and that the observed condition violated its terms. OSHA did not identify the three…
Texas Erectors, Inc.
Steel-erection fall citation affirmed after connector exception rejected
OSHA observed two Texas Erectors employees working more than 16 feet above the ground with harnesses that were not tied off. The company argued that the employees were connectors who did not need fall protection until 30 feet, but the judge found they were not placing or connecting structural…
Burch Construction, Inc.
Climbing a scaffold guardrail led to a serious access citation
Burch Construction employees worked from a scaffold at a military facility in San Diego. An employee climbed between the scaffold and roof by stepping on a scaffold guardrail instead of using compliant access, exposing him to a potential 25-foot fall. The judge found the conduct foreseeable and…
C.D. Smith Construction
Unsupported plywood was not an intended work surface
A C.D. Smith employee suffered serious injuries after falling into a stairwell where unsupported plywood remained from partially dismantled concrete formwork. The plywood was behind a guardrail and danger tape, and the employee's assigned task could be performed directly from the vertical formwork…
Hein Masonry Inc.
Forklift operated too close to energized power lines
Hein Masonry used a rough-terrain forklift to raise masonry materials beside scaffolding at a Wisconsin construction site. The forklift's metal platform came within about three to five feet of energized 13-kilovolt power lines, although the standard required at least 10 feet of clearance. A utility…
Mario Sinacola & Sons Excavating, Inc.
Excavator hazard citation vacated for lack of proven abatement
A Sinacola crew was installing a water line in a trench when an excavator bucket moved and pinned a pipe layer against the trench wall, fatally injuring him. The judge found that the construction industry and Sinacola recognized the danger of employees working within an excavator's operating area…
Thos. S. Byrne, Ltd.
Ladderway fall hazards result in $1,750 penalty
Byrne employees used unguarded ladderway openings on the roof and third floor of a theater restoration project, with falls of about 13.5 feet possible. The judge affirmed the opening-protection item for those ladderways but dismissed an instance involving smaller floor holes because OSHA cited the…
Seedorff Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold violations affirmed with reduced classification and penalty
Seedorff Masonry employees worked on a scaffold about 19 to 20 feet above the ground. A materials platform blocked the normal ladder access, and a mason's tender used an unguarded end of the work platform and worked within three feet of that edge. The judge affirmed the guardrail violation as…
Williams Insulation
Residential fall-protection citation affirmed
OSHA observed a Williams Insulation employee working on a residential roof about 40 feet above the ground without fall protection. The employee straddled one chimney, walked across the roof carrying plywood, and covered another chimney while his harness remained on the ground. Williams argued that…
Soltek Pacific
Floor-hole violation reduced to other-than-serious with no penalty
Soltek Pacific was the general contractor for a multi-story barracks project at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. OSHA found two uncovered seven-inch floor openings above electrical subcontractor employees working on the level below. Soltek did not dispute that covers were required, but challenged…
Central Building & Preservation, L.P.
High-rise fall-protection violation affirmed
Central Building & Preservation assigned two employees to mix mortar and stage materials on the 24th floor of a Chicago building. They worked within a foot of parapets as low as 15 to 17 inches without a guardrail, safety net, or personal fall arrest system. The company admitted technical…
Arby Construction Company
Trench cave-in violation affirmed
Three Arby Construction employees worked in a six-foot-deep, vertical-sided Type B soil trench without sloping, shoring, or a trench box. The judge rejected the foreman's claim that he believed the trench was under five feet deep, finding the condition obvious from his position directly above the…
ConAgra Beef Company
Platform fall-protection citation vacated
ConAgra Beef Company used mechanized platforms to split suspended beef carcasses at its Cactus, Texas plant. OSHA alleged that employees on three platforms lacked fall protection, and two compliance officers testified that they saw one employee working without using the provided tether. The judge…
Coppell Construction Company, Inc.
Fall-protection citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
A videotape showed two Coppell Construction employees near the unprotected edge of an automated people mover about 50 feet above the ground. One employee admitted briefly unclipping his lanyard to move around coworkers, while the evidence did not establish that the second employee was untied. The…
Marcus Cable Associates, L.L.C.
Bucket-truck fall protection violations affirmed
A cable technician fell to his death from an elevated bucket while his issued harness remained in the truck. The judge found that Marcus Cable had communicated a rule requiring fall protection but failed to certify employee training, an other-than-serious violation with a $500 penalty. The company…
Erickson Hall Construction Company
Late contest dismissed after citation was lost internally
Erickson Hall's receptionist signed for OSHA's citations but could not remember what she did with them and acknowledged that she might have discarded or misrouted them. The company argued that the compliance officer's statements and body language had suggested no citations would issue, but the…
Patterson Drilling Company, L.P.
Rotary-table breakout hazard resulted in a $4,000 penalty
Patterson Drilling employees used one tong and rotary-table power to break a drill-pipe connection. A retaining bolt sheared, the tong swung around, and an employee was struck and later died from his injuries. The judge found that the oil-drilling industry recognized the danger of using rotary…
Hensel Phelps Construction Co., and its successors
Roof-edge citation vacated for lack of employee exposure
An OSHA compliance officer photographed workers on the second floor of a hotel structure where only one top rail protected an edge nearly 10 feet above the ground. OSHA attributed one photographed worker to Hensel Phelps because the worker appeared to be a woman and Hensel Phelps had one female…
C. E. Wylie Construction Co., and its successors
Roof-edge violation reduced to de minimis
A Wylie Construction employee installed a safety cable on a hangar roof without conventional fall protection. He briefly approached and leaned over a two-foot parapet above a 15-foot drop to answer a question. The judge found technical noncompliance because the employee was exposed without a…
Marianas Garment Manufacturing, and its successors
Late contest dismissed with no penalty
Marianas Garment Manufacturing admitted that its notice of contest was late but sought relief under Rule 60(b). It argued that the citation was void because OSHA lacked jurisdiction over conditions in residential dormitories. The judge held that the argument concerned statutory coverage, not the…
Tierdael Construction Company
Transite-pipe asbestos items partly affirmed
Tierdael removed asbestos-containing transite water pipe while lowering a water line in Colorado. The judge held that removing the buried pipe was Class II asbestos work even though the pipe remained non-friable and employee exposure stayed below OSHA limits. Tierdael failed to establish a…
Allen Howe & Son, Inc.
Repeat trench violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Two Allen Howe & Son employees worked in a roughly seven-foot-deep sewer trench whose Type B soil walls were steeper than the permitted 45-degree slope. OSHA cited the default sloping option, but the judge found that both parties tried the case under the Type B soil requirements and amended the…
Pro Set Erectors, and its successors
Fall-protection violation affirmed and penalty reduced
At a construction site in Idaho, a Pro Set foreman unhooked his lanyard and climbed over the rail of an aerial-lift basket onto a stairway about 30 feet above the ground. The judge held that the lift basket was not an adequate catch platform because it did not reliably protect an employee climbing…
Mica Corporation, and its successors
Power-line crane citations affirmed after a fatal electrocution
Mica Corporation was moving concrete traffic barriers along Interstate 35 near Hillsboro, Texas, using a leased crane. The crane cable came within a few inches of a 14,400 volt overhead power line and made contact. Two workers, the leased crane operator and a Mica foreman, were electrocuted and…
Bigge Crane and Rigging Company, and its successors
Roof-edge fall protection violation affirmed
Bigge Crane and Rigging performed construction work at Travis Air Force Base in California. An OSHA compliance officer observed a Bigge foreman standing near the unprotected edge of a 25-foot-high commissary roof without fall protection. The judge credited the compliance officer's account over the…
Valley Electric Company of Mount Vernon, and its successors
Electrical-panel guarding citation vacated
Valley Electric performed electrical remodeling work at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington. OSHA cited three energized distribution panels because cardboard flaps covered them instead of permanent metal covers. The judge found that screwed-in dead fronts prevented accidental contact…
North West Handling Systems, Inc., and its successors
Scissor-lift and fall-training violations affirmed, willful items reduced to serious
North West Handling Systems used a scissor lift while relocating warehouse pallet racks in Sandpoint, Idaho. A company installer removed part of the lift's guardrail, provided little safety training to two temporary workers, and used a forklift to push up the lift platform after it stopped rising…
Pasha Maritime Services, and its successors
Pedestrian and vehicle ramp separation violation affirmed
Pasha Maritime Services was unloading vehicles from the roll-on/roll-off vessel Blue Hawk. OSHA observed employees walking on the midship vehicle ramp, including one longshoreman who was passed by a shuttle van while no signalman was directing traffic. The ramp had no physical barrier separating…
Rio Doce Pasha Terminal L.P., and its successors
Suspended-load violation affirmed
Rio Doce Pasha Terminal was unloading steel plate from the vessel Jupiter Light when OSHA observed a longshoreman remaining in the open hold as a load was hoisted overhead. The judge found the worker was in the load's danger zone even if he was not directly beneath it because a failed sling could…
Croman Corporation, and its successors
Damaged helicopter logging slings violated removal rule
Croman used wire rope chokers to lift logs by helicopter at an Idaho timber sale. OSHA found slings in service with more than five broken wires in a single strand near the nubbin, where field use concentrated stress. Judge Benjamin R. Loye held that the cited removal rule presumed a hazard when its…
Groesbeck Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold decking, guardrail, and training items affirmed
Two Groesbeck Masonry employees washed an acid-cleaned brick wall from a scaffold 10 to 12 feet high while straddling two planks, without full decking or guardrails. A third employee dismantled the level above, but the workers had not been specifically trained to wait until the lower level was…
Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), and its successors
Duplicate federal citation dismissed
Federal OSHA cited a personnel basket on a shore-based crane because its access doors were not positively secured while the basket was lowered into a vessel. CalOSHA had already cited Stevedoring Services of America for the same condition under California's approved state plan. Judge Benjamin R…
James Eddy, d/b/a Eddy Roofing, Inc.
Roofing safety violations affirmed and penalties reduced for size
OSHA inspected Eddy Roofing after a fatal fall from a roofing worksite about 40 feet above the ground. The company withdrew its contest to violations involving its safety program, fall-hazard training, roof edges, skylights, guardrails, warning lines, access, and hazard communication. Judge…
Norm's Utility Contractors, and its successors
Repeat trench-protection and access violations affirmed
Norm's Utility Contractors used trench boxes in a wet excavation about ten feet deep, but several feet of nearly vertical, sloughing soil remained above the boxes. Employees worked from the top of a box below the trench edge and lacked a safe ladder or ramp after earlier ramp access was removed…
Crown Pacific
Rim-wheel training and trajectory violations affirmed
A Crown Pacific employee was killed when a repaired multi-piece wheel exploded while employees unloaded it from a pickup truck at the company's lumber-processing facility. A mechanic regularly transported, handled, and inflated multi-piece wheels but had not been trained in the required procedures…
Southwest Marine, Inc.
General-duty citation dismissed because a shore-based crane fell under California's state plan
Southwest Marine repairs and refurbishes ships at a San Diego facility. In October 1996, the boom of a shore-based portal crane collapsed onto the USS Benfold moored at the pier. California's state OSHA program (CalOSHA) cited the company over crane operation and maintenance, and federal OSHA…
Black Construction Corp.
Eye-protection citation vacated, scaffold citation downgraded to de minimis
Black Construction Corporation was a contractor working on a Naval Hospital renovation project in Agana Heights, Guam. After a November 1996 inspection, OSHA cited the company for two serious violations: an employee drilling metal frames without eye protection, and a wood pole scaffold about 18…
Medical Construction Group
General contractor held responsible for subcontractor's fall hazard
Medical Construction Group (MCG) was the general contractor building an addition at a medical center in Twin Falls, Idaho. During an April 1997 inspection, an OSHA compliance officer saw ironworkers from a subcontractor, R&L Construction, connecting steel about 29 to 30 feet up without any fall…
Milo Construction Corporation
Twelve violations affirmed with reduced classifications
Milo Construction Corporation was the prime contractor on a residential construction project in Guam. After Milo failed to comply with discovery orders, the judge deemed admitted the cited conditions, employee exposure, and Milo's ability to control or correct the hazards. The violations covered…
Milo Construction Corporation
Nine construction violations affirmed
Milo Construction Corporation was the prime contractor for construction at Sirena Plaza in Agana, Guam. After Milo failed to comply with discovery orders, the cited violations, their classifications, and Milo's knowledge were deemed admitted. The judge held Milo responsible for hazards involving…
Lewis Mechanical & Iron Works, Inc.
Willful fall violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Lewis Mechanical & Iron Works, Inc. installed crane rails while employees walked steel beams more than 30 feet above the ground without tying off. The judge held that installing the crane rails was not steel erection because the structural beams were already in place, so the cited general…
Seabed Harvesting, Inc.
Diving violations affirmed with reduced penalties
Seabed Harvesting, Inc. conducted commercial geoduck diving from the vessel Lauri Ann near Bainbridge Island, Washington. The tender recorded bottom time but did not maintain a written depth-time profile, although the divers used computers that stored depth and decompression information. The judge…
John McCarty, d/b/a Intertribal Trade
Diving citations vacated for lack of employment relationship
Intertribal Trade was a fish-buying business that helped members of the Makah tribe obtain equipment and training for commercial sea-urchin diving. OSHA investigated after a diver died while working from a vessel owned by John McCarty. Applying common-law agency factors, the judge found that…
Micron Construction, Inc.
Controlling contractor cleared of a subcontractor's fall violations for lack of knowledge
Micron Construction, Inc. was the construction manager on a Meridian, Idaho project. A January 1997 OSHA inspection caught employees of its steel subcontractor, Hansen & Rice, in three fall-protection lapses: one worker tied his lanyard to another worker's retractable lifeline about 40 feet up, one…
Action Cleaning Corporation
Unplanked bilge openings on a Navy ship draw an affirmed serious fall citation
Action Cleaning Corporation did shipboard painting-prep work aboard the USS Vandergrift, cleaning the bilge area after deck plates were removed. A February 1997 OSHA inspection found employees walking on the exposed structural grid to reach ladders, with openings between the members and no planking…
McNeilly Logging
Danger-tree and backcut citations affirmed against Montana logger
McNeilly Logging was cutting timber at the Dirty Ike Timber Sale in Montana when OSHA inspected following an accident. A sawyer, Michael Boehm, was seriously injured when a dead standing "snag" toppled and struck him while he was cutting a felled larch; he and a coworker had tested the snag…
Midwest Masonry, Inc.
Repeat scaffold access and guardrail citations affirmed, penalties reduced
Midwest Masonry, Inc. was building a masonry wall in Kearney, Nebraska, when an OSHA compliance officer driving past videotaped workers climbing down a scaffold frame and working on an unguarded platform. OSHA issued two repeat citations, one for failing to provide a ladder or equivalent safe…
James Womack, Steven Womack and Kenny Womack, Individually and d/b/a Womack Brothers
Reconsideration denied on trench exposure
The Secretary asked the judge to reconsider a finding that employee exposure to a cited trench condition had not been proved. The Secretary argued that two witness statements showed the witness had entered the trench while its sides extended above the trench box. Based on observing the witness and…
Globe Contractors, Inc.
Power-line and trench items affirmed, inspection item vacated
OSHA inspected Globe's underground-construction site on a public road and observed a backhoe operating within ten feet of an overhead wire and an employee standing on a ladder and later a water main inside an unprotected trench. The judge rejected Globe's warrant and inspection-conduct objections…
ICG Electric, Inc.
Trench inspection and cave-in protection violations affirmed, one serious and one repeat, $12,000
ICG Electric installs underground lines and was working two excavations at an intersection in Aurora, Colorado. Acting on a complaint from the Aurora Fire Department, an OSHA compliance officer inspected the site and found employees in unshored trenches roughly five and a half to six feet deep, in…
R & R Pipeline, Inc.
Trench spoil-pile and repeat cave-in items affirmed, inspection item vacated, penalties cut
R & R Pipeline is a Colorado utilities contractor. During a December 1994 inspection of a trenching job in Littleton, an OSHA compliance officer found a worker in a trench about 10 to 11 feet deep with no shoring in place, a spoil pile of excavated dirt piled less than two feet from the trench…
Montana Sulphur & Chemical Company
Asbestos-waste "housekeeping" citation vacated because the standard sets no bagging deadline
Montana Sulphur & Chemical Company makes hydrogen sulfide and sulphur in Billings, Montana. During an asbestos-removal project on its "railroad" boiler, wet asbestos-containing mastic (about 31% asbestos) was knocked down and piled on the ground, wetted, and barricaded with tape before being bagged…
NI Industries, Riverbank Army Ammunitions Plant
Inadequate sump ventilation produces one serious $3,500 violation
NI Industries employees cleaned sludge from a permit-required sump about 25 feet deep at an ammunition plant. The sump had limited natural ventilation, and employees used a gasoline chain saw that repeatedly caused the atmospheric monitor's alarm to sound. NI initially provided no forced…
Louisiana-Pacific Company
Sander kickback and repeat lockout failures produce $158,500
Louisiana-Pacific Company operated a particle-board plant where a jammed wide-belt sander ejected a board that struck an employee and caused severe internal injuries. The judge found that kickback was a recognized woodworking hazard and that manufacturer-recommended anti-kickback fingers would…
Amalgamated Sugar Company
Beet receiving station held subject to general-industry standards
Amalgamated Sugar Company operated an Idaho station that received sugar beets from private growers after harvest, then cleaned, conveyed, and stored them for sugar production. The company argued that its station was an agricultural operation exempt from the cited general-industry rules…
Zenith Tech, Inc.
Bridge-opening fall citation vacated
Zenith Tech performed bridge-demolition work on a Milwaukee freeway project. OSHA alleged that employees cutting rebar, attaching lifting chains, and cleaning the deck came too close to an unguarded opening about 15 feet above the ground. The compliance officer estimated distances from about half a…
Sommer Builders, Inc.
Scaffold item affirmed as willful, penalty reduced to $7,500
Sommer Builders performed masonry work from tubular welded-frame scaffolds at a Boise construction project. Employees faced an interior fall through window openings guarded only by loose rebar and exterior falls from unguarded outrigger platforms, including potential falls of about 38 feet. The…
Gustafson Construction Corporation
Trench cave-in violation affirmed as serious, $1,200
Gustafson Construction Corporation was installing water main and sewer lines in a subdivision in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. OSHA inspected in May 1993 and cited the company for several items. Gustafson withdrew its challenge to all but one: a serious trench cave-in item requiring an adequate protective…
Interstate Erectors, Inc.
Two willful fall-protection citations affirmed against a steel erector
Interstate Erectors was a small steel erection company putting up skeleton steel for a building in Idaho Falls, Idaho. During a February 1993 inspection, an OSHA compliance officer photographed and videotaped ironworkers moving across beams 42 feet up without being tied off, both on exterior beams…
What these documents are
- Commission decisions: Rulings by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission itself, the highest level of agency review. These are citable as Commission precedent, though a decision may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance.
- ALJ decisions: Rulings by OSHRC Administrative Law Judges after a hearing. When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.
- Why finality matters: Every page here says which kind of decision you are reading, so you know whether it is precedent you can cite or a final order that only shows how one judge ruled on one set of facts.
- Where they come from: Every page links the official OSHRC public release, and the full text on the page is that release. The plain-English summaries are written by Ezel.