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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Applied Aquatic Management, Inc.
Airboat-collision citation vacated
Applied Aquatic Management used airboats to perform aquatic plant management work in Florida. Two company airboats collided in a blind trail after one operator entered a dead end and turned back, seriously injuring one employee and causing the death of another. OSHA alleged that the company had not…
Stewart Electric Co., Inc.
Arc-flash citations vacated for lack of employer knowledge
A Stewart Electric crew leader and helper were severely burned by an arc flash while replacing a circuit breaker inside an energized 480-volt panel at an automobile dealership. The crew leader did not use the two sets of protective equipment supplied at the site and used a non-insulated…
Jesse Remodeling, LLC
Willful scaffold item and three serious items affirmed
Jesse Remodeling employees worked on a 13-foot-high scaffold while filling concrete block cells at a restaurant construction site. The scaffold lacked guardrails, two employees worked from its frame and cross braces, and employees used cross braces and uprights to descend. A concrete Grout Hog…
Stevers Roof Side Remodel, LTD
Repeat fall-protection citation affirmed
Stevers Roof Side Remodel used temporary workers to reroof a two-story Ohio home with a steep roof and an 11-foot eave height. OSHA observed three workers on the roof without attaching the available personal fall arrest systems. The company argued that the workers were on break, but the judge held…
Manhattan Construction "Florida", Inc
Falling-object citation vacated after shoring accident
Manhattan Construction managed a Florida resort project where crane chains unexpectedly caught a concrete subcontractor's shoring scaffold, tipped it, and sent aluminum beams from the seventh floor to the entrance below, injuring two subcontractor employees. Manhattan controlled the multi-employer…
E.C. Concrete, Inc.
Four construction-safety items vacated after shoring accident
E.C. Concrete was erecting shoring on the seventh floor of a Florida resort project when crane chains unexpectedly caught a scaffold brace, tipped the scaffold, and sent aluminum beams to the ground, injuring two employees. OSHA withdrew one fall-protection item and pursued allegations involving an…
Valcourt Building Services of Georgia, LLC
Window-cleaning citations vacated because franchisee was the employer
A Valcourt franchisee used rope-descent equipment to clean exterior windows on a high-rise building. OSHA cited Valcourt after observing that each worker's safety line and working line shared an anchorage point and that the safety line allegedly could not safely suspend a worker after a fall. The…
Applied Masonry, Inc.
Repeat scaffold access and planking items affirmed
Applied Masonry used fabricated-frame scaffolds while renovating a city courthouse. An employee climbed cross braces to reach an upper platform and walked across platforms that were not fully planked. The judge rejected the company's claim that the scaffold was being dismantled because the employee…
Georgia Power Company
Existing-conditions citation vacated after line-repair fatality
A Georgia Power crew responded to repair a 7,200-volt distribution line downed during a thunderstorm. The line later moved close to an energized jumper, became energized, and a journeyman lineman was electrocuted. The cited standard required a reasonable evaluation of existing safety conditions…
Teddy Mosley Painting
Roof fall-protection and ladder items affirmed
Teddy Mosley Painting employees performed roofing work on a steep roof almost eight feet above the ground without fall protection. The ladders did not reach the roof edge or extend three feet above it, and the foreman descended by stepping on the top step while facing away from the ladder. The…
D.W. Caldwell, Inc.
Steep-roof fall violation affirmed as serious
D.W. Caldwell employees installed metal panels on a steep roof with an eave 32 feet above the ground. The crew wore harnesses but, with one temporary exception, did not connect them to anchor points, and the foreman knowingly allowed the practice after the general contractor warned him the previous…
Mast Climber Manufacturing, Inc., d/b/a American Mast Climbers
Scaffold items split, design violation willful
Mast Climber Manufacturing erected and serviced a mast-climbing work platform on a 21-story construction project. Four contractor employees fell when one side of the platform collapsed, and three died. The judge held that the system was a scaffold, not an aerial lift, because it was not…
Loren Cook Company
Machine-guarding items vacated over standard applicability
Loren Cook manufactured fans and blowers using small manual spinning lathes. A 12-pound metal workpiece was ejected from a lathe and fatally struck an employee in the head. OSHA withdrew three personal-protective-equipment items during the hearing and pursued seven willful machine-guarding items…
International Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold citations produced a mixed result and $4,000 penalty
Three International Masonry employees fell about 37 feet when a scaffold platform supported by a modified corner bracket collapsed. One employee died and another was seriously injured. The Secretary withdrew four items, and the judge vacated allegations involving a damaged bracket, ladder…
Wormley Brothers Enterprises, Inc.
Repeat ladder violation affirmed
Wormley Brothers was finishing a flat roof on a Georgia bank project when OSHA observed five employees, including the foreman, use a portable ladder to leave the roof. The roof was about 17 feet high, but the ladder rails extended only 18 inches above the landing instead of the required 3 feet. The…
J4 Welding, Inc.
Contest filed nearly a year late was dismissed
J4 Welding performed mobile welding work at a Florida strip-mall remodeling project where OSHA observed the owner cross from an aerial lift to a building without proper fall protection. OSHA issued three serious items and proposed $9,000 in penalties. The company filed its contest almost a year…
E.C. Stokes Mechanical Contractor, Inc.
Misplaced citation did not excuse late contest
E.C. Stokes was installing plumbing and air-conditioning systems at a Florida hospital project when OSHA cited two serious oxygen and acetylene cylinder-storage violations. The proposed penalties totaled $4,760. An experienced office employee received the certified citation, scanned it, believed it…
Know Thyself Contracting
Residential fall protection and training violations affirmed
Know Thyself Contracting performed residential and commercial construction work in Mobile, Alabama. OSHA observed a five-person crew installing decking near an unprotected edge 24 feet above the ground without fall protection. The company did not dispute the hazardous conditions or lack of…
NLJ Builders, Inc.
Controlling contractor held responsible for unsafe scaffold
NLJ Builders subcontracted carpentry work at a Florida bank project and supplied the subcontractor with a scaffold owned by NLJ. A subcontractor employee worked about 15 feet above the ground on a platform that was less than half planked, lacked a firm base and guardrails, and had not been erected…
SeaWorld of Florida, LLC
Killer-whale hazard and stairway items affirmed as serious
SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau died after the killer whale Tilikum pulled her into a performance pool during a close-contact interaction. OSHA alleged that trainers faced recognized struck-by and drowning hazards when performing drywork with Tilikum and drywork or waterwork with other killer…
Millard Refrigerated Services
Mixed ruling after major ammonia release
About 32,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia escaped from a cracked roof header and a broken evaporator coil at Millard's refrigerated warehouse. Roughly 150 people were taken to hospitals and released, and the company lost about $4 million in product. The judge affirmed items involving unguarded…
Turner Industries Group, LLC
Chemical-turnaround training and assessment items affirmed
Turner employees replaced chemical-processing equipment during a plant turnaround in an area containing Tris, ethylene dichloride, and other hazardous substances. The company's special meeting focused mainly on Tris, did not cover all chemical hazards, and missed at least one employee who was sent…
Eutaw Construction Company, Inc.
Controlling-employer trench citation affirmed
Eutaw Construction was the general contractor for a sewer-line project where a subcontractor worked in a 14-foot-deep bore pit. The excavation was dug in unstable Type C soil, and its protective system had trench boxes several feet above the bottom, gaps, a damaged support, water seepage, erosion…
DeWitt Excavating, Inc.
Willful unprotected-trench violation affirmed
Three DeWitt Excavating employees worked in an eight-foot-deep Type C soil excavation with nearly vertical walls and no cave-in protection. The foreman knew protection was required but proceeded without using one of the company's available trench boxes. The judge rejected DeWitt's…
Modern Building Solutions, LLC
Steep-roof fall violation affirmed at church project
A Modern Building Solutions worker replaced missing roof-sheathing nails and removed boards on an 8-in-12 church roof without conventional fall protection. The judge found the church was a commercial project, so the alternative residential-construction provision did not apply. The inspection…
Framers R Us, Inc.
Ladder violations affirmed and repeat fall item vacated
Framers R Us employees used a closed A-frame ladder as the only access to the third level of a motel construction project. The judge held the company responsible even though it did not own or place the ladder because its employees used it and the company took no alternative protective steps. The…
Ben Hur Construction Company
Partial EAJA fee award granted after citations were vacated
Ben Hur Construction prevailed after OSHA withdrew or the judge vacated citations arising from a fatal crane-disassembly accident. The company then sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge found the Secretary substantially justified in pursuing the…
Benise-Dowling, Inc.
Fire-suppression and eyewash violations affirmed
OSHA cited conditions at Benise-Dowling's powder-coating facility during a follow-up inspection. The judge affirmed a serious violation because a new electrostatic spray booth lacked automatic fire suppression, rejecting the company's claim that an earlier OSHA discussion deprived it of fair…
Heff's Tuckpointing
Residential roof fall-protection violation affirmed
Heff's employee worked on a steep residential roof about eleven feet above the ground while removing bricks from a chimney without conventional fall protection. The judge found that the nearby scaffold did not reliably prevent a fall and that Heff's had not shown anchors, guardrails, or other…
FedEx Express, Inc.
Late recordkeeping violation reduced to de minimis
A FedEx employee cut his forehead while exiting a vehicle and received sutures and prescription medication. A supervisor entered the injury into FedEx's electronic system but did not mark that medical treatment was received, so the case did not appear on the 2007 OSHA 300 Log within seven days…
Ben Hur Construction Co.
Crane-operation and training allegations vacated
A Ben Hur Construction apprentice was killed while helping disassemble a crawler crane after he attached his fall-protection lanyard to a live crane cable. OSHA alleged that Ben Hur failed to follow the manufacturer's crane specifications and failed to train the employee to recognize and avoid…
Crowther Roofing & Sheet Metal of Florida
Steep-roof fall violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Two Crowther Roofing employees snapped chalk lines on a steep apartment-building roof without tying off, about 60 feet above the ground. The judge imputed the foreman's knowledge to Crowther because he directed the crew, knew the employees were not tied off, and did not correct them. Crowther had a…
Fresenius USA Manufacturing, Inc. d/b/a TruBlu Logistics
Medical-availability and cable items vacated
OSHA inspected a Fresenius distribution warehouse after an employee reported an electric shock while disconnecting a forklift battery. The judge vacated the allegation that medical personnel were not readily available, finding that the cited rule did not require contact within a fixed time and that…
Latite Roofing & Sheet Metal, LLC, successor to Latite Roofing & Sheet Metal Company, Inc.
EAJA fee application denied
OSHA withdrew a serious citation alleging that a roofing safety monitor performed work that could distract from monitoring duties. Latite then sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge found Latite financially eligible and a prevailing party because the…
American Bridge Company
Connector fall violation affirmed as serious
An American Bridge ironworker fell about 70 feet from a steel girder after unhooking his fall-protection lanyard. The judge found constructive knowledge because the foreman was nearby, supervisors had seen workers untied on prior occasions, and the project owner had repeatedly warned American…
Acme Energy Service, Inc
Electrical items split after fatal rig-site shock
An employee at Acme's oil-drilling site died after contacting the energized metal frame of the tool pusher's trailer. The judge affirmed serious violations for unlabeled circuit breakers and uncovered openings in an electrical panel because the conditions were plainly visible and should have been…
International Transportation Service, Inc.
Marine-terminal fall citation affirmed with a reduced penalty
International Transportation Service operated a marine terminal where containers were being unloaded from a vessel. During an OSHA inspection, a hatch boss came to the unguarded edge of a hatch cover to speak with a senior manager and stood within three feet of a drop exceeding nine feet without…
Choice Fabricators, Inc.
Lockout and power-press violations produced $14,000 in penalties
Choice Fabricators manufactured metal parts with mechanical power presses at its Alabama plant. OSHA cited the company for excluding die changes from its lockout/tagout program, improperly using safety blocks, failing to inspect its energy-control procedures, failing to train die-setters, and…
G.A. West & Co., Inc.
Pulp-machine lockout citation vacated for lack of close-contact proof
G.A. West was a resident contractor at an Alabama pulp mill where an employee was seriously injured near a pulp machine and later died. OSHA's citation addressed different employees who had installed electrical conduit beneath the operating machine several days earlier without locking it out. The…
A. G. Carter Construction Company
Repeated trench warnings supported two willful violations
A. G. Carter Construction installed underground utilities in trenches near Prattville, Alabama. After a fire marshal warned owner Alton Carter about the lack of cave-in protection, a ladder, proper spoil-pile placement, and water controls, similar conditions remained when OSHA inspected one week…
WCI Steel, Inc.
Crane runway-support inspection violation drew a $2,000 penalty
A 40-ton overhead crane collapsed at WCI Steel's Ohio plant while moving steel slabs, but no one was injured. OSHA cited WCI for failing to inspect the crane's runway support structure, maintaining an improperly set hoist limit switch, and overloading the crane. The judge held that a complete…
A. L. Grading Contractors, Inc.
Unsafe excavation and untrained flagger drew $25,500 in penalties
OSHA found an untrained employee directing traffic and two workers in a 9.2-foot excavation without cave-in protection or a safe means of egress at an Atlanta-area shopping-center project. The judge rejected the employee-misconduct defense to the training item because the company did not establish…
Kone, Inc.
Fall protection was required on stationary elevator car tops
A Kone apprentice technician was found dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft after being assigned to clean and paint the tops of two elevator cars. The judge found that working on a stationary car top exposed the technician to a 30-foot fall through openings at the back and side, and that a…
Masonry Arts, Inc.
Scaffold planking, access, and repeat guardrail items totaled $12,500
Masonry Arts employees performed block repair work from a scaffold platform approximately 12.5 feet above the ground at a new Florida high school gymnasium. The judge found a five-inch gap between planks, no safe ladder access, and no guardrail or other fall protection on the platform. He rejected…
Pospiech Contracting, Inc.
Unprotected trench citation affirmed with a $5,000 penalty
Pospiech Contracting installed underground utilities at a Florida construction project. OSHA found employees had entered a vertical-sided Type C soil excavation measured at 6 to 6½ feet deep without a protective system. The company argued that the excavation was less than 5 feet deep, that it…
SSA Cooper, LLC
Lashing rods across a vessel catwalk created a serious trip hazard
SSA Cooper performed stevedoring operations aboard a cargo container vessel near Savannah, Georgia. Longshoremen left heavy lashing rods across a 22-inch-wide catwalk while an SSA Cooper foreman repeatedly walked the area to check container placements. The judge found the catwalk was an active work…
Standard Building Company, Inc., and Standard Systems, Inc.
Three items affirmed against one company and all items vacated against the other
Standard Building managed a restaurant renovation, and Standard Systems was identified as a related stucco contractor. The judge found that a subcontractor owner acted in part as Standard Building's site superintendent but lacked scaffold and powered-industrial-truck safety training. Standard…
Griffin Contracting, Inc.
One unprotected excavation wall was enough to violate the cave-in rule
Griffin employees worked in a six-foot-deep utility excavation where one wall was near vertical and lacked shoring, benching, or an adequate slope. OSHA's laboratory confirmed that the fissured soil was Type B, and an employee was observed within 18 inches of the unprotected wall. The ALJ rejected…
J. B. Coxwell Contracting, Inc.
Two excavation violations affirmed and two vacated
J. B. Coxwell Contracting was building an underground concrete junction box for a highway storm drain system in Florida. OSHA cited the company for four excavation violations after employees worked in an excavation about 6 feet 8 inches deep. The judge affirmed a serious violation because the…
Valley Interior Systems, Inc.
Malfunctioning aerial lift should have been removed from service
Valley Interior Systems used a rented 80-foot articulating aerial lift to install exterior framing at an Ohio college construction project. The lift's tower assembly stopped operating properly, but the field foreman allowed an employee to continue working from it while waiting for a service…
The News Press
Paper-roll loading hazard leads to $2,500 in penalties
The News Press used employees to push 2,000-pound newsprint rolls onto trolleys while one worker stood in front of each moving roll to catch and guide it. A roll had fallen from a trolley at least three times, and one employee missed 43 workdays after injuring her shoulder while trying to stop one…
Federal Express Corporation
Platform railing citation vacated for lack of exposure proof
FedEx used an elevating platform to move cargo containers between trucks at its Oklahoma City air cargo facility. The platform had open sides, and OSHA measured it at 51 inches above the concrete while one truck was being loaded. Although the judge found that the railing standard applied and that…
Pike Electric, Inc.
Generator backfeed violations result in $12,000 penalty
A Pike Electric lineman was repairing hurricane-damaged residential power lines when electricity from a homeowner's portable generator backfed into a line and electrocuted him. Alabama Power had warned the crew about generators, but Pike did not organize a systematic search or isolate the…
Performance Site Management
Excavation violations result in $4,000 penalty
Performance Site Management placed an employee in an excavation to remove a water-main cap while spoil and an eight-foot pile of ground asphalt stood at the excavation edges. The excavation exceeded five feet, and its narrow benches did not meet the dimensions required for Class B soil. The judge…
Joseph Watson, d/b/a Joseph Watson Masonry
Employer receives $11,275 EAJA fee award
Joseph Watson Masonry sought attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act after prevailing on parts of an OSHA case involving scaffold, fall-protection, training, and recordkeeping citations. The Commission had ruled that the Secretary lacked substantial justification only for one ladder…
Cipriano Martinez d/b/a Martinez Masonry
Illness did not excuse late contest and $38,000 penalty
OSHA issued Martinez Masonry serious, repeat, and other-than-serious citations involving scaffolds and hazard communication. The owner filed the notice of contest after the 15-working-day deadline and argued that flu-like symptoms prevented timely action. The medical records did not show that he…
B. S. Carter Construction, Inc.
Willful cave-in violation results in $7,000 total penalty
Two Carter Construction employees entered a 17-foot-deep excavation in Class C soil without shoring, sloping, or a trench box. A wall collapsed and broke one employee's leg. The access ladder extended only eight inches above the surface, and the injured employee had not received training to…
Midwest Roofing & Custom Metals
Parapet work without fall protection results in $1,000 penalty
Two Midwest Roofing employees stood on a narrow parapet wall while installing metal capping about 23 feet above the ground. Midwest argued that the roof and an exterior scaffold were less than six feet below the workers. The judge found that the scaffold was at least six feet below and, because it…
Meridian Construction and Development, LLC
General contractor receives $2,000 penalty for site hazards
Meridian was the controlling general contractor on a condominium project where subcontractors created electrical, falling-object, and ladder hazards. OSHA found open temporary power boxes, an inadequately insulated cord splice, missing toeboards above a busy breezeway, and a job-made ladder that…
SALCO Construction, Inc.
Steel and platform violations result in $3,000 penalty
A SALCO employee bolted purlins while sitting on a steel beam about 18 feet above a concrete floor without fall protection. The judge found that he was not a connector because he was not working with hoisting equipment, so the 15-foot steel-erection fall rule applied. Two other employees worked…
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.