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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Tire Star, Inc.
Roof, chemical, and ladder violations affirmed
Tire Star sent three automotive workers to patch the roof of a vacant building that it was renovating for use as a tire and repair facility. OSHA found that the workers used hazardous roofing chemicals without a written hazard communication program, safety data sheets, or chemical training. They…
Gilco Contracting Co., Inc.
Repeat excavation violation affirmed
A Gilco crew entered an excavation to expose a waterline and install a saddle valve. Three walls were properly sloped, but the western wall was vertical, the excavation was more than five feet deep, and no trench box or other protective system was present. The judge rejected Gilco's argument that…
Butch Thompson Enterprises, Inc.
Power-line item vacated, willful trench violation affirmed
A Butch Thompson Enterprises crew operated an excavator beneath overhead power lines and sent two workers into a 13-foot-deep excavation without cave-in protection. The judge found that the equipment-specific power-line-clearance standard applied, but OSHA's officer had only estimated the clearance…
4 State Trucks
Order-picker fall and retraining violations affirmed
4 State Trucks used powered order pickers to retrieve parts from warehouse shelves as high as 23 feet. An employee who was not tied off fell about 15 feet from an elevated order picker and later died from his injuries. The judge held that the order picker's work pad was a platform covered by the…
GEM, Inc.
Electrical PPE and insulated-equipment items affirmed after an arc blast
GEM repaired an electrical power system at a county courthouse after lightning damage, and an arc blast occurred while its crew performed a polarity test on energized equipment. The judge found that replacing the damaged bus section was maintenance rather than construction, so the general industry…
Big Sky Well Service
Grinder use near crude-oil vapors led to $10,150 in penalties
Big Sky Well Service sent two employees to remove and replace a leaking crude-oil storage tank at an Ohio well site. A supervisor used an electric grinder to cut a notch in the tank while another employee worked on top, and the tank exploded, throwing that employee into nearby woods and causing a…
Dierzen-Kewanee Heavy Industries, LTD
Unabated hazards resulted in $133,100 in penalties
Dierzen-Kewanee manufactured dump-truck bodies at a former boiler factory in Illinois. After settling earlier OSHA citations, the company paid only the first penalty installment, did not provide requested abatement information, and left many cited conditions uncorrected for a follow-up inspection…
Standard Concrete Products, Inc.
Rotten dunnage was not reasonably discoverable before girder failure
Standard Concrete loaded an 86-ton precast bridge girder onto a barge when a timber supporting its pedestal failed, causing the girder to crack and strike an employee who died from his injuries. The judge held that the longshoring standard applied because the girder had already been landed on the…
Guamcell Communications
Supervisor's parapet shortcut was unpreventable misconduct
An acting Guamcell supervisor stood without fall protection on the parapet of a ten-story building while adjusting a cellular antenna. Guamcell admitted the standard applied, the supervisor violated it, and a fall could cause death or serious injury. The judge found that the company nevertheless…
Sanderson Farms, Inc.
Unstable freezer pallet storage resulted in a $6,300 penalty
Sanderson Farms stored 2,200-to-2,500-pound pallets of frozen chicken on an aging freezer rack system with frequently damaged legs and little margin for placement error. A maintenance employee died from smoke inhalation and burns after beginning to cut a damaged rack leg while loaded pallets…
NCS, LLC.
Ladder-lashing citation affirmed after fatal fall
NCS provided telecommunications support services and assigned an employee to relocate overhead telephone cable in Florida after hurricane damage. The employee died after he and a 28-foot extension ladder fell while he was working alone at a utility pole. The Secretary withdrew one citation item and…
Southern Masonry Construction, LLC
Unguarded second-floor access results in $1,200 penalty
Southern Masonry employees used a stairway that opened beside an unguarded edge on the second floor of a building under construction. Workers passed within roughly two to three feet of the edge and could have fallen 11 to 12 feet. Although the general contractor was responsible for installing…
Franciscus Roofing & Siding, Inc.
Roof and ladder violations result in $2,400 penalty
An OSHA inspector observed a Franciscus worker about 20 feet above the ground on a steep residential roof without conventional fall protection. The judge found that the worker was an employee under the OSH Act even though the company called him a subcontractor. Franciscus did not produce the safety…
Trinity Marine Products, Inc.
Five plant-safety items affirmed with $3,050 penalty
OSHA inspected Trinity's Louisiana barge-building plant under a warrant after the company initially denied entry. The judge rejected Trinity's constitutional and inspection-procedure challenges. Safety violations were affirmed for improperly spaced grinder tongue guards, misuse of a junction box…
Masonary Solutions, LLC
Misplaced citation packet leaves $4,500 penalty final
After a construction inspection, OSHA hand-delivered two citations to Masonary Solutions when an earlier certified mailing was returned unclaimed. The company president refused to sign for the packet, placed it unopened on a desk, and later said it had been shuffled around and lost. He did not file…
Building Contractors, Inc.
Respiratory-program citation vacated
Building Contractors dry-cut masonry brick at a shopping-mall construction site, generating dust that a bulk sample showed contained 50 percent silica quartz. OSHA cited the company for lacking a respiratory protection program, and the judge held that the general-industry respiratory standard…
Downrite Engineering Corporation
Manhole safety violations mostly affirmed
Downrite employees installed a sewer manhole invert while one employee worked at the bottom of a 10-foot manhole and another lowered cement, bricks, water, and tools from above. The judge rejected Downrite's Fourth Amendment challenge because the general contractor and Downrite supervisory…
J B Distributing Co.
Late notice of contest dismissed
J B Distributing filed its notice of contest 23 working days after receiving OSHA's citations, beyond the 15-working-day deadline. The company argued that OSHA used an incomplete corporate name and that only its president could validly sign for certified mail. The judge found that the naming…
Townsend Tree Services Corporation
Testing-area lockout violation affirmed
Townsend Tree Services employees changed blades and a belt on a remote tree trimmer, then energized the machine to test the replacement parts. The foreman moved within three feet of the rotating blades and died after the boom moved and the blades struck him. The judge held that the lockout/tagout…
J.E. Dunn Construction Company
Fall and suspended-load citations vacated
J.E. Dunn ironworkers were guiding a large suspended rebar mat around obstacles near a 20-foot-deep elevator excavation when the load failed and pushed the foreman into the shaft. The judge found that Dunn's taut, maintained caution tape qualified as a barricade under the cited fall-protection…
Saiia Construction, LLC
Attorney-fee application denied
Saiia Construction sought attorney fees after OSHA withdrew an item alleging that employees worked beneath a suspended concrete pipe. The compliance officer had recorded immediately after the inspection that employees were under the load and had reported the same fact to his supervisor. After a…
Saiia Construction, LLC
Attorney-fee application denied
Saiia Construction sought attorney fees after OSHA withdrew an item alleging that employees worked beneath a suspended concrete pipe. The compliance officer had recorded immediately after the inspection that employees were under the load and had reported the same fact to his supervisor. After a…
Davis H. Elliot Construction Company, Inc.
Power-line approach citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
A Davis H. Elliot lineman was electrocuted when a conductive tie contacted an energized 7,200-volt line while he worked from an aerial bucket. He was not using rubber gloves, sleeves, or insulating line covers, although the equipment was available and he had used it on the previous three poles that…
Bridges Grading & Hauling, Inc.
Two trench violations affirmed and inspection item vacated
Bridges was laying storm pipe at a residential development while an employee worked in a trench more than eight feet deep. The judge found that the company provided no safe means of egress and allowed the spoil pile to rise directly from the trench edge without an adequate retaining device. She…
CB&I Constructors, Inc.
Competent-person inspection violation affirmed
CB&I Constructors was erecting a 180-foot water tower in Illinois when an employee fell from a fixed ladder and died. The contested item alleged that designated competent persons failed to make frequent and regular inspections that would have discovered the absence of a required ladder safety…
RK Hydro-Vac, Inc.
Roof-edge fall violation affirmed
An RK Hydro-Vac employee leaned over the unprotected edge of a 30-foot roof without tying off after returning from lunch. The company had adequate written fall-protection rules, supplied each worker with equipment, and provided extensive initial and twice-yearly training. The judge nevertheless…
Artistic Enterprises, Inc.
Five scaffold and hard-hat violations affirmed
Two stucco workers used a two-level scaffold without hard hats, full planking, safe ladder access, fall protection, or toeboards at an Alabama hotel project. Artistic Enterprises argued that another company employed the workers, but the judge rejected that claim based on the workers' statements…
Phillips Getschow Co.
Hoist training and overload violations affirmed
Phillips Getschow was removing a 4,860-pound coal-crusher cage at an Illinois power plant with an overhead hoist rated for 4,000 pounds. The cage fell from the support and pinned a millwright against a wall, causing fatal injuries. The judge found that the company had not adequately trained every…
Davis Brothers Construction Co.
Fall citation vacated for lack of exposure proof
OSHA compliance officers photographed an unidentified worker from about 300 feet away on the seventh-floor roof deck of an apartment project. Davis Brothers was the shell contractor, and the judge found that its contract gave it sufficient safety control over the decking subcontractor to make it a…
Fields Excavating, Inc.
Two willful trenching violations affirmed
Fields Excavating employees entered inadequately protected pipeline excavations at two Ohio worksites. At Havener Road, a superintendent continued despite saturated, sloughing soil and explicit safety concerns from a gas repairman. At Xenia, a superintendent knowingly sent an employee into a…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
Subcontractor fall-hazard citations vacated for lack of knowledge
OSHA cited Summit, the general contractor for a large apartment project, for several fall hazards affecting subcontractor employees. The judge held that Summit's broad contractual and practical authority made it a controlling employer under the multi-employer worksite doctrine. She vacated the…
George B. Hardee Construction Company, Inc.
Trenching violations resulted in $36,800 in penalties
George B. Hardee Construction installed a storm sewer pipeline in an excavation in Mobile, Alabama. OSHA found two employees in Type C soil at depths exceeding five feet without cave-in protection, an adequate competent-person inspection, excavation-hazard training, or a safe means of exit. The…
Van Tassel Construction Corporation
Roof fall-protection violation affirmed
Van Tassel Construction employees installed decorative wood trusses on a shopping-center roof in Ohio. The judge vacated the allegation that the company's competent person failed to make frequent and regular inspections because the standard did not require an inspection immediately upon arriving at…
S. E. Johnson Companies, Inc.
Defective guardrail violations resulted in $7,500 in penalties
S. E. Johnson employees replaced a missing guardrail section on a bridge work platform with a single two-by-four tied to columns with wire. A subcontractor employee leaned or sat against the rail, it slipped from the wire, and he fell 17 feet and sustained severe injuries. The judge vacated the…
Sam Houston Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Power-line tagging citation vacated
Two Sam Houston Electric linemen volunteered to assist Rusk County Electric with storm-damaged lines and worked under a Rusk County supervisor. The combined group operated at separated locations without tags or effective direct communication, and an employee of another company was electrocuted…
Ranch Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold-gap and balcony fall violations resulted in $9,000 in penalties
Ranch Masonry employees applied stucco from a fifth-level scaffold about 33 feet above the ground. An employee fell between the scaffold and building and died. The judge found that the scaffold platform was more than the permitted 18 inches from the wall, employees routinely crossed a roughly…
CSX Transportation
Lost corporate mail did not excuse late contest
OSHA sent a three-item serious citation to CSX's corporate post office box by certified mail, where a company mailroom employee signed for it. The citation did not reach the engineering department, and CSX filed its contest about a month late after OSHA called and faxed a copy. CSX argued that OSHA…
Noble Drilling Services, Inc. and Noble Drilling (U.S.) Inc.
Personnel-basket and test-record violations affirmed
Noble was converting an offshore drilling unit at a Mississippi shipyard when OSHA inspected the vessel and dockside work. The judge held that OSHA had jurisdiction because the Coast Guard had not regulated the cited working conditions on the uninspected vessel. A serious general-duty violation was…
Miller Electric Company
Electrical violations affirmed before Commission remand
A Miller Electric journeyman was electrocuted while connecting a light fixture to an energized 277-volt circuit at a medical-center construction project. The judge found that Miller permitted work near the energized circuit and failed to ascertain and warn employees that the circuit was live. She…
Coastal Petroleum Services, Inc.
Remote-site first-aid violation affirmed
A Coastal well-servicing rig overturned at a remote Mississippi oil well, killing one crew member and seriously injuring another. The judge vacated a general duty allegation concerning the mast's guylines and anchors because OSHA did not produce the manufacturer's specifications for the particular…
Formica Corporation
A laminate-plant pit was not a permit-required confined space, so all three citations were vacated
Formica Corporation makes surfacing products like tabletops, flooring, and sheeting at a plant in Evendale, Ohio. After a formal complaint, OSHA inspected the facility and cited Formica for three violations tied to a pit beneath adjustable collating tables, where employees stepped down about twice…
BSE Industrial Contractors, Inc.
Fall-protection citation vacated for lack of knowledge, but inadequate fall training affirmed
BSE Industrial Contractors is a steel erection contractor. OSHA investigated after an ironworker on a BSE crew fell 40 feet and died while climbing a rain-slicked noise baffle inside a smoke stack at a USX steel plant in Fairfield, Alabama. OSHA issued three items: working on an elevated surface…
Performance Site Management
Cave-in citation affirmed after a fatal trench accident, safety-program and training items vacated
Performance Site Management is a site-development contractor that was installing sewer lines for a housing project in Cleves, Ohio. A trackhoe bucket, attached with a quick-coupler hitch, came loose and fell into an excavation, fatally injuring a worker who was inside. After a fatality…
Selkirk, Inc., a Division of U.S. Industries, Inc. and Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, Local Union # 456, Authorized Employee Representative
Willful machine-guarding violation affirmed after repeated notice of roller hazard
Selkirk fabricated metal pipe at its Logan, Ohio, plant using a Lown roller that created exposed in-running rolls when operated in reverse. An employee's glove was caught in the unguarded rollers in July 1999, crushing his hand, causing the partial amputation of a finger, and damaging two other…
Beverly Enterprises-Alabama, Inc.
Unlabeled circuit breakers upheld as a repeat violation, penalty cut to $100
Beverly Enterprises runs a nursing home in Fairhope, Alabama. During an OSHA inspection of its maintenance shop, the compliance officer found the circuit breakers in the panel box were not labeled to show what each one controlled. OSHA cited the company under the electrical standard requiring…
Coastal Horizontal, Inc., d/b/a Coastal Power, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed, $8,900 citation stands as a final order
Coastal Horizontal, a Florida excavation contractor doing business as Coastal Power, was inspected by OSHA after a March 2000 dig in Navarre, Florida. OSHA issued a five-item serious citation with an $8,900 penalty and mailed it certified on April 28, 2000. Coastal received it on May 1, which gave…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
Stair handrail item vacated, fire-extinguisher item affirmed without penalty
Summit Contractors was the general contractor building a two-story apartment complex in Guymon, Oklahoma. OSHA cited a stairway that lacked a handrail and the absence of fire extinguishers within the building. The judge found the handrail requirement infeasible during the narrow stage when workers…
Donrey Outdoor Advertising Co.
Billboard fall-protection violation affirmed
Donrey Outdoor Advertising sent a four-person crew to replace the vinyl face on a billboard beside an interstate in Little Rock, Arkansas. Two employees worked on an unguarded platform 70 feet above the ground without attaching their harness lanyards to the installed safety line, and they tied off…
General Property Services, Inc. a/k/a GPS Roofing Services
Training items affirmed, fall-protection item vacated
General Property Services contracted to replace deteriorated sections of a warehouse roof in Forest Park, Georgia. The judge found that GPS was the employer of the roofing crew because its officers supervised and inspected the work, it held crew leaders out as GPS officers, and it retained…
Ben Shepherd dba Happy Candy Co.
Housekeeping and electrical violations affirmed against an absent cotton candy maker
Ben Shepherd ran Happy Candy Co., a small cotton candy production business in Secor, Illinois. After an OSHA complaint inspection, OSHA issued two citations covering a dirty production area and a series of electrical hazards, plus a lack of protective clothing. Shepherd contested the citations but…
Eagle Food Centers, Inc.
Forklift-horn citation vacated because the Secretary did not prove vision was obstructed
Eagle Food Centers ran a large food distribution warehouse in Milan, Illinois. In January 1998 a pallet jack operator was struck and killed by a highlift when the two vehicles met at an automatic plastic door between the freezer department and the loading dock. OSHA cited Eagle under the…
Eagle Boats, Inc.
Fourth abatement-extension request denied for lack of good faith
Eagle Boats sought a fourth extension of the deadline to correct violations that had become final in 1998 and later produced $66,000 in failure-to-abate penalties. The company repeatedly said a new facility was being built, but at the hearing it offered only photographs of an empty field…
Hi-Tech Builders, Inc.
Willful steel-erection fall violations affirmed for $60,000
Hi-Tech Builders erected structural steel at the Guam International Airport while employees repeatedly worked without tying off and without temporary floors or nets below them. OSHA videotaped the conduct from a public parking lot, and Judge Nancy J. Spies rejected Hi-Tech's challenge because the…
Tyson Foods, Inc.
Forklift training and repair items vacated after farm fatality
A Tyson Foods employee was fatally injured when a specialized three-wheeled forklift overturned while he collected frozen chicken carcasses from a contract poultry farm. Judge Nancy J. Spies held that the agricultural-operations exception did not apply because collecting the carcasses was…
Black Construction Corporation
Unprotected manhole trench affirmed for $500
Black Construction excavated a trench near Guam International Airport to replace a manhole and redirect a sewage pipe. An employee worked in a section measured at six and one-half feet deep without sloping, shoring, or another cave-in protective system. Judge Nancy J. Spies rejected the Secretary's…
Guam Top Builders, Inc.
Roof fall and short ladder-rail items affirmed
Guam Top Builders repaired typhoon-damaged condominium roofs about 18 feet above the ground. Employees worked near the roof edge without conventional fall protection while the person identified as safety monitor operated a forklift across the street, outside the required visual and speaking range…
Black Micro Corporation
Saipan airport excavation required cave-in protection
Black Micro excavated a 54-foot-long pit for taxiway construction at Saipan International Airport. Six employees worked in vertical walls five and one-half to six feet deep without sloping, shoring, or another protective system. Judge Nancy J. Spies excluded OSHA's soil sample because it was…
North Pacific Enterprises
Unprotected 25-foot scaffold work affirmed for $525
Two North Pacific employees worked from a narrow board on a wooden scaffold more than 25 feet above a concrete parking lot without guardrails or personal fall protection. The company president had seen the same conduct the previous day but did not stop or discipline the workers, and the foreman…
Crowley American Transport, Inc.
Seat-belt general-duty citation vacated for no proven hazard
Crowley used heavy Capacity tractors to move trailers short distances on and off cargo barges, generally at speeds no greater than 25 miles per hour. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause for not requiring seat belts after a tractor went through a guardrail and fell 20 feet, killing…
Florida Power Corporation
Defective-crane citation vacated under wrong maritime standard
Florida Power used a shore-mounted gantry crane to unload coal barges at its Crystal River generating complex in Florida. The crane repeatedly tripped and lost control of its bucket, but the company continued unloading barges while employees worked nearby. OSHA cited the longshoring rule that…
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.