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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
North Texas Contracting, Inc.
Trench safety citations affirmed with $9,000 in penalties
North Texas Contracting was installing a box sewer line in a Dallas trench when OSHA found employees working near vertical walls, accumulated water, spoil piles, and an excavator at the trench edge. The judge credited OSHA's measurements and found that the approximately 10-foot-deep excavation was…
Kiva Hotel & Convention Center
Citations affirmed after respondent abandoned cases
Kiva Hotel & Convention Center contested citations in two consolidated cases and initially participated through an attorney. A planned settlement was never filed, the business closed, and the attorney could no longer locate the owner. The company did not answer requests for admissions, so the…
Alexander G. McLaren
Ship-repair citations split
Alexander G. McLaren employed workers to convert two former Canadian naval vessels into pleasure craft in Washington. The judge upheld OSHA's inspection warrant and rejected McLaren's challenge to agency jurisdiction. He vacated three atmosphere-testing allegations because the fuel tank's top had…
Techno Coatings
Lead-abatement citations split
Techno Coatings removed lead-based paint at a naval pier in San Diego. The judge found that the company lacked a valid initial exposure assessment because its historical data came from different bridge locations and did not reliably match the current work. OSHA's own air samples did not credibly…
Staz-On Roofing, Inc.
Partial attorney-fee award granted
OSHA withdrew a fall-hazard training item against Staz-On Roofing at the start of the merits hearing, and the employer sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge found Staz-On eligible and a prevailing party on the withdrawn item. He held that the Secretary…
Randalls Food and Drugs, Inc.
Ammonia process-safety violations split
Randalls Food and Drugs operated a Houston food warehouse with an anhydrous-ammonia refrigeration system. The judge affirmed a process-safety violation because Randalls did not timely complete, document, and communicate actions responding to its process-hazard analysis. He also affirmed…
Kit Carson Apartments, LLC; Helten Enterprises, LLC; and Ronald Helten
EAJA fee request denied
Kit Carson Apartments sought $55,065 in attorney fees and $1,091.62 in expenses after the underlying asbestos case was dismissed against it under a settlement identifying Helten Enterprises as the employer. The judge found that Kit Carson Apartments was eligible for an award and was a prevailing…
Daewoosa Samoa, Ltd.
Contest dismissed for failure to designate a representative
OSHA cited Daewoosa Samoa after inspecting its garment-manufacturing worksite in American Samoa, alleging serious, repeat, other-than-serious, and failure-to-abate violations. The company timely contested, and the proceeding was stayed while its president faced a related criminal trial. After the…
Staz-On Roofing
Residential fall-protection violation affirmed
Staz-On Roofing employees, including a foreman, worked on a residential roof more than 30 feet above the ground without remaining tied off. The company argued that workers had to unhook to retrieve rolls of felt and that conventional or additional protection was infeasible or created a greater…
Austin Bridge & Road, Inc.
Crane-overloading violation affirmed
An Austin Bridge & Road crane overturned while lifting a concrete bridge beam. Austin's lift plan used an engineered beam weight, but the plan left little margin for error, a bill of lading with the actual weight was available, and the crane operator had expressed concern that the lift could not be…
Grey Wolf Drilling Company L.P. Rig 865
Backing-truck hazard violation affirmed
A Grey Wolf toolpusher was killed by a winch truck backing across a drilling site while the driver's view was obstructed and the assigned swamper rested in the cab. The judge found that both Grey Wolf's safety manual and drilling-industry guidance recognized using a flagman when a driver lacked a…
Lunda Construction Co.
Bridge-demolition lead violations result in $33,500 penalties
Lunda demolished a Milwaukee viaduct containing residual lead paint and relied on monitoring from a different bridge project instead of assessing the distinct cutting tasks at the new site. When employees began sizing steel on the ground, one cutter was exposed to more than 70 times the lead…
American Wrecking Corporation and IDM Environmental Corporation
Willful demolition violations affirmed on remand
The Commission remanded this consolidated demolition case for credibility findings and a decision on whether each employer's Item 2 violation was willful. Unsupported bricks remained above employees cutting structural columns at a power-plant demolition site where a fatal accident occurred. The…
Bob Anderson Builders, Inc.
Willful roof-fall violation affirmed
Bob Anderson Builders framed a multi-story retirement facility where a newly hired carpenter slipped on a frosted roof and fell 32 to 34 feet through a gap in an incomplete slide guard. The judge found that employees also accessed the roof by climbing trusses instead of a ladder, but classified…
Sema Construction, Inc.
Training citation vacated after a load unexpectedly kicked free of an excavator
SEMA Construction was doing bridge demolition work at a job site in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In September 2000 a laborer helping load scrap metal was struck and seriously injured when a long piece of box tubing being moved by an excavator unexpectedly kicked free of the bucket and was propelled…
Sun Roofing, and its successors
Six-month delay after a penalty demand defeats request to excuse late contest
Sun Roofing operated a roofing business in Appleton, Wisconsin, and OSHA cited it for a serious residential fall-protection violation. The company received the citation on August 31, 1999, which made September 22 the deadline to contest it. Sun Roofing did not submit a notice of contest until May…
Wolkow Braker Roofing Corp.
Attorney fees awarded under EAJA for an excessive penalty demand
Wolkow Braker Roofing Corp. is a small roofing company that was cited after two OSHA inspections of the same worksite in 1997, with combined proposed penalties of $61,100, including a willful item carrying $56,000. After a consolidated trial, Administrative Law Judge Robert A. Yetman had vacated…
McConnell Smith Guam, Inc., and its successors
Fall-protection and stair violations affirmed
McConnell Smith Guam erected precast concrete panels on a multistory building in Guam. OSHA observed the lead worker and another employee near the sixth-floor edge, about 62 feet above the ground, wearing harnesses but not tied to the available static line. The judge rejected the…
Dillingham Construction Pacific Basin LTD
Precast collapse citation reduced to serious
Dillingham Construction was the prime contractor for an addition to the Micronesia Mall in Guam. Precast concrete beams that had been placed without completing temporary welds collapsed while employees worked above and below them, fatally injuring an employee of a subcontractor. The judge found…
Black Construction Corp
Trench egress affirmed, loose-soil item vacated
Black Construction employees installed formwork beside sewer lines in a trench at Camp Watkins Road in Guam. An inspector measured the excavation at about six feet deep and saw two employees inside without a ladder or other safe means of egress. The judge credited the inspector's unrebutted…
Rocky Mountain Materials & Asphalt
Trench items affirmed by default for $4,325
Rocky Mountain Materials & Asphalt said during a pretrial conference that it intended to defend two excavation citations but did not appear at the scheduled E-Z Trial hearing. OSHA presented testimony and video showing a nearly ten-foot-deep excavation in Type C soil with spoil material stored…
Yenter Companies
Excavation spoil violation affirmed with penalty cut to $100
Yenter Companies relocated historic buildings and had employees constructing a wall near the bottom of an excavation about 15 feet high. OSHA observed rocks and excavated material within two feet of the edge, creating a falling-material hazard, and the company foreman was present. Judge Robert A…
Olympia Drywall Company, and its successors
Debris citation vacated for no employee exposure
Scrap lumber with protruding nails and other debris existed at Olympia Drywall's multi-employer construction site and presented tripping and puncture hazards. OSHA relied on employee statements to argue that Olympia workers entered the affected areas to reach restrooms or a food truck. Judge Robert…
Bast Hatfield, Inc.
Scaffold and ladder items affirmed
Bast Hatfield employees performed masonry work from scaffolds at a church construction project in New York. Judge Robert A. Yetman denied Bast's Fourth Amendment challenge because the OSHA inspector observed the work from a parking area that remained open to church visitors and the public. He…
New England Synthetic Systems, Inc.
Scaffold and electrical violations affirmed for $30,000
New England Synthetic Systems replaced exterior walls at an apartment complex in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Judge Robert A. Yetman affirmed violations involving unprotected temporary electrical wiring, lifelines tied to vent curbing and exposed to sharp edges, incomplete scaffold planking, unsafe…
Akzo Nobel Chemicals, Inc.
Emergency-action and lockout violations yield $12,000
OSHA inspected Akzo Nobel Chemicals' organic peroxide plant and initially proposed $240,000 for serious, willful, repeat, and other-than-serious violations. The Secretary withdrew most items, and Judge Robert A. Yetman vacated several remaining allegations for insufficient proof. Akzo intended…
Bruschi Brothers, Inc.
Most trenching citations affirmed, one vacated in sewer-line excavation case
Bruschi Brothers, Inc., a general contractor, was installing a sewer line in a roughly 13-to-15-foot-deep trench in Chicopee, Massachusetts, when OSHA inspected and found four employees working in it. OSHA issued several serious citations for failing to train workers on trenching and confined-space…
Monadnock Erectors, Inc.
Steel-erection safety-net citation affirmed from the bench
Monadnock Erectors, Inc., a New Hampshire steel erector, was cited for a single serious violation after employees erected steel more than 30 feet above the ground without safety nets. The cited standard requires safety nets when work is more than 25 feet up and ladders, scaffolds, catch platforms…
Contour Erection & Siding Systems, Inc.
Crane-overload citation vacated
Contour Erection used a crawler crane to lift a large roof truss at a sports arena when the boom and load collapsed to the floor without injuring anyone. OSHA alleged that the crane exceeded the manufacturer's load limits and cited two duplicative crane standards. The judge found that OSHA relied…
D'Ambra Construction Company, Inc.
Utility-location violation affirmed with reduced penalty
D'Ambra Construction was cited for beginning excavation work without first determining the location of an underground gas line. The judge issued a bench decision after an E-Z Trial hearing. The serious violation was affirmed. The proposed $4,000 penalty was reduced to $1,000.
Minelli Construction Company, Inc.
Mixed ruling on bridge rehabilitation safety citations
Minelli Construction Company was a subcontractor performing rehabilitation work on a New York Thruway bridge. OSHA cited the company for alleged hazards involving eye and face protection, hazard communication, fall protection, electrical equipment, suspended scaffolds, access, and gasoline storage…
P. Gioioso & Sons, Inc.
Trench safety violations affirmed
P. Gioioso & Sons was installing water lines in Winthrop, Massachusetts, when OSHA inspectors saw a foreman and another employee inside an unprotected trench. A suspended pipe passed over the employees, and their access ladder extended only 12 inches above street level. The judge affirmed serious…
Boston Towing and Transportation Co.
Marine-access citations vacated for lack of fair notice
Boston Towing operated a marine terminal in Quincy, Massachusetts, where employees sometimes used a ladder between a pier and a barge at extreme low tide. OSHA investigated after a weekend watchman was found in the water near a ladder, although no one witnessed how he fell. The Secretary withdrew…
Hirsch Electric Company
Energized-wiring item affirmed, penalty reduced to $1,000
Hirsch Electric installed energized wiring for operating rooms under construction at Hillcrest Hospital in Ohio. A flexible conduit containing 270-volt lines hung into the area where another contractor's employees were installing metal duct diffusers, and one worker received an electrical shock…
Turner Construction Company
Defective-ladder citation vacated on summary judgment
Turner Construction was the general contractor at a worksite in Akron, Ohio. After a September 1993 inspection, OSHA cited two serious items, then dropped the first and pursued only a claim that Turner used a portable wood ladder with a structural defect (a cracked step) in violation of 29 C.F.R. §…
Jewell Painting, Inc.
Lead-paint bridge job, serious items cut to nonserious, water-cooler general-duty item vacated
Jewell Painting removed lead paint from a bridge over the Androscoggin River in Gilead, Maine, then repainted it. After an August 1992 OSHA inspection of the cleanup phase, the agency issued a serious citation and an other-than-serious citation covering nonpotable-water labeling, lead-dust exposure…
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.