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.
Everclear Enterprises, Inc.
High-rise window-washing citations vacated
Everclear employees washed high-rise windows while connected to independent fall-restraint or fall-arrest systems. OSHA alleged that workers had to secure themselves within the seatboard before suspension and that ropes needed specific permanent markings. The judge found that the seatboard and…
Progressive Interest, Inc.
Late contest dismissed over mail-handling failure
Progressive Interest received an OSHA citation while the employee responsible for mail was outside the country. Its backup employee signed for the certified mail and left it unopened on the responsible employee's desk, following the company's existing procedure. The employee returned two days…
Digco Utility Construction
Repeat excavation items vacated
Digco excavated to locate a gas line when an OSHA officer saw the top of a worker's hard hat from the road. By the time the officer reached the site, the foreman had deepened the excavation to 6½ feet, but no employee was inside it. The judge credited testimony that the worker had entered only…
John R. Jurgensen Company
Night paving safety citations vacated
Jurgensen performed nighttime highway paving in Ohio while subcontractor dump trucks backed through a designated work route. A dump truck struck and killed a Jurgensen laborer who had left the crew's immediate work area. OSHA alleged that the contractor lacked an adequate safety program and had not…
Align Roofing, LLC
Late notice of contest dismissed
Align Roofing received an OSHA citation on December 16, 2011, making January 9, 2012 the last day to file a written notice of contest. The company had been told before the citation issued that any contest had to be in writing, but it did not send its notice until January 20, eleven days late. The…
D & D Masonry Services, Inc.
Scaffold violations largely affirmed with reduced penalties
D & D Masonry used a multilevel scaffold for masonry work at a Georgia construction site. OSHA found wide platform gaps, damaged planks, unsecured scaffold legs, missing fall protection and a midrail, and a closed stepladder used as access. The judge affirmed those scaffold and ladder conditions as…
Virginia Construction & Management Company, Inc.
Willful canopy fall violation affirmed
Two Virginia Construction employees chipped concrete on a canopy 16 feet 7 inches above a sidewalk without fall protection, safety-toe footwear, hard hats, or eye protection. They accessed the canopy by climbing an inadequately configured scaffold, and the company lacked qualified scaffold…
Stellar Management Group d/b/a QSI
Eye protection required during poultry-equipment rinsing
Stellar Management employees used high-pressure, heated water to clean poultry-processing equipment without eye protection. The spray blasted and splashed bone, blood, and chicken particles from equipment while employees worked within three or four feet. The judge found a serious eye hazard and…
Ultra Commercial Interiors, Inc.
Unsecured and unmarked floor-cover violations affirmed
An Ultra Commercial Interiors foreman stepped on an unsecured plywood board that covered a floor opening and fell 16 feet, sustaining serious knee and ankle injuries. The cover was neither secured nor marked as a hole or cover. The judge found constructive knowledge because company supervisors knew…
Deer Park Roofing, Inc.
Fall citation vacated for supervisory misconduct
A Deer Park Roofing foreman worked near the edge of a low-slope canopy roof without fall protection, about 12 feet 8 inches above the lower level. The judge found that the standard applied, the foreman was exposed, and no permitted fall-protection method was in use. Deer Park nevertheless proved…
ASM-Sanders, Inc.
Trench violations affirmed and pipe-testing item vacated
A subcontractor's worker was killed when a PVC pipe exploded during compressed-air leak testing at an Air Force base construction project. The judge vacated the general duty clause item because ASM-Sanders' superintendent had explicitly delayed testing until the next day and did not know the…
Kirtley Sheetmetal, Inc.
Ladder and repeat roof-fall violations affirmed
Kirtley Sheetmetal employees used an eight-foot stepladder to reach a roof even though the ladder did not extend above the landing, was not secured, and was not designed for that use. Employees also worked on a low-slope roof 19 to 28 feet above the ground without being tied off while lifelines…
Reynolds Packaging KAMA, Inc.
Lockout violations reduced to serious
Reynolds employees entered between sections of plastic-sheet production machines to clean rollers and restart material after production disruptions. The company treated this work as minor servicing and relied on movable aluminum blocks instead of machine-specific lockout procedures. The judge held…
Flintstone Millworks & Hardwood Co., Inc.
Repeat training violations affirmed
OSHA cited Flintstone Millworks after inspecting its Georgia millwork facility. At a simplified-proceedings hearing, the parties agreed to amend two alleged failure-to-abate violations to repeat violations. The first involved the company's lockout/tagout program, and the second involved forklift…
Degen Excavating, Inc.
Trenching violations affirmed with reduced penalties
An OSHA compliance officer saw a Degen Excavating employee working in an 8.6-foot-deep trench without a ladder, daily competent-person inspection, or cave-in protection. Two supervisors knew and agreed that the employee would enter the trench without the available trench box because they expected…
Extendicare Health Care Services, Inc., d/b/a Arbors at Delaware
General-duty ladder item vacated for lack of employer knowledge
Arbors at Delaware was a skilled nursing facility where its maintenance director fell about nine feet while descending from an attic using a six-foot stepladder. He broke his wrist, suffered a head injury, and remained in a coma at the time of the hearing. The judge found that standing on the…
Lake County Sewer Company
Excavation workers found to be Lake County Sewer employees
An excavation collapsed during sewer work in Willowick, Ohio, injuring one worker. On remand from the Commission, the judge reconsidered whether Lake County Sewer or Brennan Excavating employed the three excavation workers at the site. The judge credited the workers' testimony and payroll records…
Andrew Electric Company
Unsecured breaker-box key led to $6,900 in penalties
An Andrew Electric electrician was electrocuted while installing fluorescent light fixtures near an energized junction box at a Georgia dealership remodeling project. The judge found that the company's safety program lacked adequate electrical-safety rules and that the electrician did not receive…
Davis H. Elliot Construction Company, Inc.
Reenergization failures led to $11,300 in penalties
Davis H. Elliot rebuilt an Ohio electric distribution system while existing lines remained in service. After three workers failed to report a changed assignment, the foreman relied on an incomplete all-clear and ordered a line energized while one worker was still on a pole, causing his…
Fern Valley Excavating, Inc.
All items vacated because the company was not the employer
Fern Valley Excavating was engaged in excavation contracting and landscaping. OSHA investigated an accident at an Ohio jobsite, and the threshold issue was whether Fern Valley employed the workers at the site on the accident date. The judge found that it did not. All four citation items were…
Praxair Distribution, Inc.
Liftgate citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
Praxair Distribution supplied cylinder gases to customers and used delivery trucks equipped with hydraulic liftgates. A driver was killed when a liftgate suddenly fell while he was making a delivery at a Veterans' Administration medical center in Cleveland. OSHA cited Praxair under the general duty…
Martin Construction, Inc.
Six trench items vacated for lack of knowledge or proof
Martin Construction was the general contractor on a sewer project where a subcontractor's owner was killed in a trench cave-in. OSHA cited Martin as the controlling employer for six alleged excavation violations, including unsafe access, an edge spoil pile, inadequate inspections, and deficient…
Buckeye Ready Mix, Inc.
Mixer lockout violations result in $8,000 penalty
A Buckeye Ready Mix crew entered a concrete mixer drum to remove hardened concrete. After the drum was repositioned, the circuit breakers were not locked out again, and the drum closed while an employee remained inside, fatally crushing him. The judge found Buckeye's written energy-control…
Decker Construction
Trench violations result in $5,625 penalty
Decker employees worked in a seven-foot excavation while relocating a fire hydrant. The company had not trained one crew member in excavation hazards, provided no ladder or constructed ramp, left spoil at the edge, and did not slope or shore the Type B soil as required. Those four items were…
John Carlo, Inc.
Willful trench violation results in $50,000 penalty
John Carlo employees worked in a 14.5-foot trench in Type C soil with only an eight-foot trench box and unsloped walls above it. A large clay mass fell into the trench and killed one employee. The judge found that the project superintendent and foreman knew the trench-protection requirements…
Graphic Packaging International, Inc.
Press shaft guarding violation affirmed
Graphic Packaging operated printing presses used to make cardboard packaging. OSHA cited the company after six rotating press shaft ends were left unguarded during press alignment and doctor-blade cleaning. The judge found that employees worked within inches of the exposed shafts and that plant…
AAA Delivery Services, Inc.
Attorney-fee application denied
AAA distributed newspapers through street-corner vendors, one of whom died after an automobile struck him while he was selling papers. OSHA cited AAA for failing to provide reflective clothing, but the Commission later vacated the citation because the vendor was an independent contractor rather…
George Cairns & Sons, Inc.
Attorney-fee application denied
George Cairns & Sons sought attorney fees and expenses after an excavation violation was reduced from willful to serious in the underlying case. The judge found that Cairns was the prevailing party on the classification issue because the penalty fell from the proposed $44,000 to $7,000 and the…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
Missing stairway guardrail citation vacated
Summit Contractors was the general contractor for an apartment project where a temporary laborer died after falling 15 feet from an unguarded stairway landing. The guardrail had been removed, but Summit disputed that it knew the temporary crew would enter the building or that the railing was…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
Missing stairway guardrail citation vacated
Summit Contractors was the general contractor for an apartment project where a temporary laborer died after falling 15 feet from an unguarded stairway landing. The guardrail had been removed, but Summit disputed that it knew the temporary crew would enter the building or that the railing was…
Commercial Painting, Inc.
Forklift-supported work-platform violations affirmed
Commercial Painting used a rough-terrain forklift to support an employee-built work platform about 21 feet above the ground. The judge held that rough-terrain forklifts are equipment similar to front-end loaders under the scaffold standard and may support personnel platforms only when the…
Sawyer Steel, Inc.
Steel-joist and fall-protection items partly affirmed
A Sawyer Steel ironworker died after unbridged joists rolled while he released a crane choker from a bundle of perimeter angle that had been landed on the joists. The judge affirmed that the company began steel erection without written concrete-strength notification, failed to attach joists…
W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co., Inc., Heavy Division
Slope fall-protection violations affirmed
A Yates crew installed grass matting on a slope ending at a 65-foot drop. The foreman worked without any fall protection, while two crew members wore their harnesses backward with the foreman's permission because the supplied lanyards were too short for the work. The judge found that the foreman's…
Saiia Construction
Concrete-pipe lifting hazard citation vacated
Saiia Construction was installing concrete pipe in an excavation when OSHA investigated a worksite accident. The remaining citation alleged that an employee in the trench was exposed to being struck by a concrete pipe as an excavator lifted it. The judge found that the hazard was recognized but…
J. Mess Plumbing Co., Inc.
Five excavation violations affirmed and two vacated
J. Mess Plumbing sent crews to locate and repair a sewer line through an excavation more than nine feet deep in a residential yard. OSHA cited the company for seven alleged violations involving traffic protection, warning vests, atmospheric testing, spoil placement, training, competent-person…
S. A. Storer and Sons Co.
Repeat scaffold violation narrowed on remand
After court and Commission review, the judge was directed to narrow a repeat scaffold fall-protection citation. He vacated the allegation concerning a window-opening area but affirmed the violation at a materials-staging area. One employee there was exposed to a fall of about 19 to 20 feet, and the…
G. A. West & Company, Inc.
Unsecured raised-load violation affirmed
G. A. West employees used a hydraulic jack while preparing a 41,000-pound paper-machine roll for shipment at an Alabama demolition site. The roll was not cribbed, blocked, or otherwise secured before employees tried to remove a dolly beneath it, and it fell and fatally injured one employee. The…
Wal-Mart Super Center
Repeat blocked-egress violation affirmed
Boxes, pallets, a forklift, and a conveyor system obstructed routes to the designated emergency exit in a Wal-Mart stockroom during the holiday receiving season. The judge found that three of four aisles were completely blocked and that employees beyond the conveyor could not make full and instant…
McLeod Land Services, Inc.
Four serious trench violations affirmed
McLeod Land Services installed underground drainage pipe at a retirement-community construction project in Sarasota, Florida. Two employees worked in a trench while an excavator's tracks extended over its unsupported vertical end wall. The judge found that McLeod did not adequately train its…
Garney Construction, Inc.
Two trench items affirmed and two vacated
Garney Construction was installing large sewer pipe in an excavation nearly eight feet deep in Type B soil. The judge vacated the egress item because a gravel ramp and ladder provided a safe route out of the trench. He affirmed the item involving a 100,000-pound excavator and excavated soil at the…
Lacerte Builders, Inc.
Controlling employer liable for subcontractor fall hazards
An OSHA compliance officer observed subcontractor employees using elevated aerial lifts and working on open third-floor balconies without proper fall protection. The judge found that Lacerte controlled the exterior work, supervised the subcontractors, could correct hazards, and had actual knowledge…
Whirlpool Corporation, Oxford Division
Press safety and lockout violations affirmed
A press operator suffered severe head injuries when a mechanical power press cycled while she was inside it removing material. The judge found that Whirlpool lacked machine-specific energy-control procedures, left press-control keys available to operators without adequate supervision, and did not…
Lowe's Home Centers, Inc.
Bloodborne-pathogen vaccination plan violation affirmed
Lowe's exposure-control plan identified managers, first-aid volunteers, cleanup personnel, and others who could encounter blood or other potentially infectious material. Store practice also expected or permitted those employees to provide first aid and clean spills. The judge held that this…
Coastal Bridge Company, L.L.C.
Bridge-edge fall violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Coastal Bridge employees applied a finish coating while leaning over a 32-inch concrete bridge barrier above an active interstate highway. The fall distance was more than 24 feet, and the company used no safety net or personal fall arrest system. The judge applied the general unprotected-edge…
S. A. Storer and Sons Company
Repeat scaffold fall violation affirmed with reduced penalty
S. A. Storer employees performed masonry work from scaffolding about 19 to 20 feet above the ground. The judge found that the overhand-bricklaying exception did not cover an open window or the materials staging area because employees were not laying block at those openings. A controlled access zone…
Texas Electric Utility Construction, Inc.
Power-line tagging citation vacated
Texas Electric sent a journeyman foreman and four apprentice linemen to help another electric cooperative restore storm-damaged power lines. The host cooperative split the crew and placed two apprentices under its supervisor, who controlled the site and reenergized a line without required tags…
Rowland, Inc.
Settlement approved with $1,600 penalty
After the Secretary presented her case at the hearing, Rowland and the Secretary resolved all pending issues. Rowland withdrew its notice of contest and represented that it had complied with posting and service requirements. The judge approved and incorporated the settlement, disposed of the…
Rusk County Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Power-line tagging violation affirmed
Rusk County Electric supervised several outside crews repairing storm-damaged power lines at three locations along the same deenergized line. Its supervisor knew tagging was required when multiple crews worked at separate points but did not place a tag at the disconnect. He later reenergized the…
Trinity Marine Products, Inc.
Welding electrical-hazard citations vacated
Trinity manufactured river barges at a Tennessee shipyard where a newly assigned welder received a fatal electric shock while tack welding. OSHA alleged that the welding rod holder was not fully insulated, employees lacked adequate hazard-communication training, and Trinity failed to keep welders'…
T.C. Erectors, Inc.
Fall-protection citation affirmed after a 28-foot roof fall on an untiered building
T.C. Erectors is a small steel erection contractor that was a subcontractor building a grocery store in Columbus, Ohio. An employee dragging roof decking fell 28 feet to the interior of the building and suffered fractures in both wrists and a foot plus a head injury; he was wearing a safety belt…
Reflections Tower Service, Inc.
Three violations affirmed and two vacated after a tower-dismantling inspection
Reflections Tower Service dismantled a communications tower in Ohio, where an employee lost two fingers after his glove was caught in hoist equipment. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause and several construction standards. The judge vacated the general duty clause item because OSHA…
M & M Roofing, Inc.
A willful residential fall-protection citation cut to serious after a bench trial
M & M Roofing is a residential roofing contractor. OSHA inspected a Mason, Ohio jobsite in August 2000 and issued two citations: a serious citation for not having a program of frequent, regular jobsite inspections by a competent person, and a willful citation for not protecting workers from falls…
George J. Igel & Co., Inc.
Eye-protection item vacated, compressed-air and dump-body support violations affirmed
George J. Igel & Co. was performing construction site development work in Columbus, Ohio. OSHA cited the company after a mechanic used 160 psi compressed air to clean a truck's backup alarm without approved safety glasses while the dump body was raised without its locking support. The judge vacated…
Emerson Electric Company, Motor Division
Recordkeeping citations affirmed for not logging two work-related illnesses
Emerson Electric's Motor Division makes household-appliance motors at a plant in Oxford, Mississippi. After a complaint, OSHA inspected the facility and issued an "other than serious" recordkeeping citation, alleging Emerson failed to enter certain work-related illnesses on its OSHA 200…
Brand Scaffold Builders, Inc.
Fall-protection citation vacated on employee-misconduct defense
Brand Scaffold Builders was erecting and modifying scaffolding at an International Paper mill in Mobile, Alabama. Two employees crossed loose boards spanning between a tank and a building about 54 feet above the ground without guardrails or personal fall protection. The judge found that Brand…
Savenok Construction, Inc. (EZ)
Scaffold violation affirmed after the company skipped its hearing
Savenok Construction was a construction company working on a motel in Troy, Illinois. During a January 2000 inspection, OSHA found a roughly 60-foot tubular welded scaffold, over 30 feet tall, tied to the building by only a single thin metal strap nailed to the wall. OSHA issued one serious…
Titan Tire Corporation of Natchez (EZ)
Electrical-classification violation affirmed after a carbon black dust flash fire
Titan Tire Corporation of Natchez made tires in Natchez, Mississippi. On October 4, 1999, a large enclosed rubber mixer (a Banbury mixer) belched a cloud of carbon black dust into the work area. The dust ignited in a flash fire that seriously burned two employees. OSHA cited Titan under the…
Hollywood Pool & Spa
Scaffold violations grouped with a $1,500 penalty
Hollywood Pool & Spa maintained swimming pools and was constructing its own building in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. OSHA cited five serious scaffold conditions involving incomplete planking, inadequate support, improper access, lack of a competent-person inspection, and missing fall protection. The…
John B. Coffman, d/b/a Southeast Industrial Painting
Penalties cut for a small painting contractor who admitted the violations
John B. Coffman ran Southeast Industrial Painting, a small tank painting and renovation business in Florida. OSHA inspected a jobsite in Orange Park, Florida in August 1997 and issued five citations spread across two dockets. Coffman first contested the citations, but the cases were held while a…
Boh Brothers Construction Co., L.L.C.
Unbalanced pipe lift violations affirmed
Boh Brothers was a heavy-construction contractor building a power plant in Alabama. A crew lifted six steel pipes weighing about 12,000 pounds in an unbalanced basket hitch, and the foreman approached and tried to guide the suspended load by hand. Pipes shifted, and the load crushed the foreman…
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.