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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Yonkers Plate Glass, Inc.
Serious balcony fall hazard affirmed
Two Yonkers Plate Glass employees installed metal trim on an unguarded fourth-floor balcony about 40 feet above ground, working as close as three feet from the edge without belts or lifelines. The judge credited the compliance officer’s identification of the workers and imputed the foreman’s…
Central Building and Cleaning Co., Inc.
Scaffold and protective-equipment violations affirmed
An employee sandblasted from a two-point suspension scaffold 24 feet above a Chicago sidewalk. The judge found that the cornice hooks were securely installed, but the scaffold was improperly tied to window-cleaner anchors, the sandblaster lacked a safety belt and lifeline, and required rails and…
L. H. Sowles Company
Construction-site exposure citations affirmed
These consolidated cases involved three construction sites. At a North Dakota power plant, debris obstructed walkways and cutting waste fell through floor holes into an incompletely barricaded area; both nonserious items were affirmed, with a $45 penalty for housekeeping and none for falling…
Kennedy Houseboats, Inc.
Machine-guarding citation affirmed without penalties
Kennedy Houseboats contested point-of-operation guarding allegations involving double-angle saws, a Pexto shear, and the shear and punch on a Dvorak Iron Worker, while several other electrical and machine-guarding items remained contested only as to penalty. The judge found that employees’ hands…
Central Contracting Corporation
Roof-edge and air-shaft violations affirmed
At a hospital addition, a crane operator worked near the unguarded edge of an elevator-tower roof about 20 feet above a scaffold, and an unguarded air-shaft pit lay beside an employee walkway. The company conceded both violations but disputed their classification and penalties. The judge found the…
Union Steel Erectors, Inc.
Willful crane-riding and fall violations affirmed
OSHA observed Union Steel employees riding a crane hook, headache ball, and suspended steel loads 50 to 70 feet above the ground. The foreman knowingly allowed the practice for about a week, the general contractor had warned him it violated safety rules, and the crane operator knew it was…
Savina Home Industries, Inc.
Failure-to-abate notification vacated
Savina received a failure-to-abate notification after a follow-up inspection concerning an injury log, first-aid training, and a welding hood hanging on a fire extinguisher. The Commission explained that a prima facie failure-to-abate case requires a final original citation and the identical…
The Mayronne Company
Fatal derrick-ladder violation reduced from willful to serious
A derrickman fell 60 to 70 feet to his death while helping move a snatch block during rig-down. A ladder rung had only three to four inches of clearance behind it, and the rig’s counterweight ladder-safety system was unavailable after the derrick crown had been telescoped down. The worker also was…
Huron Culvert and Tank Company
Rivet-punch and shear guarding violations affirmed
Two Stamco rivet-and-punch machines required a helper to place a hand beneath the punch and rivet hammer at least once during each culvert assembly, and no guarding device was present. The judge found that interlocking dual controls could be installed and that possible production slowdown or…
Charles Vrana & Son Construction Company
Fatal roof-fall violations affirmed
Vrana employees repaired a tornado-damaged metal roof with loose sheets and open areas up to about 32 feet above ground. An apprentice stepped on an unsecured sheet and fell through the roof to his death. The judge found that workers received only general directions to remove debris and install…
Ruedy’s Auto Shop
Spray-painting violations affirmed with reduced penalty
Ruedy’s small auto-body shop admitted several spray-painting violations, including inadequate mechanical ventilation, ignition sources, missing no-smoking signs, uncovered waste containers, and excessive flammable material. The judge found their cumulative effect serious because six employees faced…
Arthur and Toni Sheets, doing business as Sheets Tree Expert Company
Repeat hard-hat violation affirmed with $10 penalty
An employee of the small tree-trimming company worked beneath a large limb being lowered by a boom truck without wearing a protective helmet. The company had supplied hard hats, face shields, ear guards, and protective glasses, but employees resisted using them. The judge held that employee…
Alatex, Incorporated
Sewing-machine apparatus items affirmed as de minimis
The four consolidated cases concerned whether the power-transmission standard applied to industrial sewing-machine apparatus. At Alatex’s request, proceedings were stayed pending the Commission’s decision in Van Raalte, which the company agreed would control. After that decision, one contested item…
Arizona Public Service Co.
Full controls required on each aerial-lift platform
Arizona Public Service used a truck-mounted double-spinner aerial lift with two employee platforms. One platform had full boom, trolley, and swinger-arm controls, while the other could control only its swinger arm, brake, and dump valve. The Commission held that applicability turned on whether the…
Roof Engineering Corporation
Flat-roof guardrail citation vacated
Roof Engineering employees installed roofing material on an open-sided flat penthouse roof. The Commission affirmed vacation of the guardrail citation because, under its intervening Central City Roofing precedent adopting the Fifth Circuit’s Diamond Roofing reasoning, the open-sided-floor standard…
John Hassall, Inc.
Fastener-plant noise citation vacated
John Hassall’s fastener plant exposed machine operators to noise of roughly 95 to 102 decibels. The Secretary proposed enclosing machines with rated plastic curtains, but the judge found that approach unproven and impractical because it would not reduce noise inside the enclosure, would interfere…
C. A. Spalding Company
Mechanical-press guarding violation affirmed
C. A. Spalding’s tool-and-die shop used mechanical power presses for slow, experimental forming work without point-of-operation devices that kept both of an operator’s hands outside the press. Employees sometimes adjusted material by hand or with a push stick while inching the press. Although no…
The Pioneer Company
Trench and retaining-wall violations affirmed
Pioneer employees worked in a narrow trench between a 15-foot retaining wall and a nearly vertical excavated hillside made of shattered shale, sandstone, fill, and seeping material. The trench had no adequate shoring or slope. Other employees, including a foreman, used the unguarded 18-inch-wide…
John Hoaglin Auto Trim
Low-gravity shop violations affirmed with $75 total penalty
John Hoaglin Auto Trim contested only the penalties for ten admitted nonserious violations. The items included floor debris creating a trip hazard, naphtha stored in an unapproved container, unguarded sewing-machine belts, uncovered electrical outlet boxes, and ungrounded sewing and vending…
Ketchikan Spruce Mills, Inc.
Wire-rope sling citation vacated
Ketchikan Spruce Mills used wire-rope slings with spliced-eye ends to load lumber and cants onto a barge. The standard required protruding splice strands to be covered or blunted. The judge found that keeping the strands continuously blunted would require inspection after every load, exposing…
St. Johnsbury Trucking Co., Inc.
Footwear and eye-protection items upheld
St. Johnsbury Trucking operated a busy freight terminal where employees moved cargo with forklifts and carts and repaired trailers. OSHA cited the company for failing to require protective footwear, failing to require eye protection during metal drilling, and leaving electrical parts unguarded. The…
Mercury National Life Insurance Co.
Late contest dismissed and OSHA coverage upheld
Mercury National Life challenged OSHA jurisdiction after being cited for poster, recordkeeping, exit, and electrical conditions at its Oklahoma office. Although almost all policyholders, agents, employees, income, and shareholders were in Oklahoma, the company used out-of-state equipment and…
Rayco Construction Company, Inc.
Repeat guardrail and housekeeping violations affirmed
Rayco employees worked on unguarded second- and third-floor levels in cold, gusty weather with ice, snow, and water on the surfaces. Some came within inches of floor edges or worked on beams outside the floors, facing falls of 12 to 24 feet. The second floor also contained lumber with protruding…
Spartan Construction Co., Inc.
Informal-conference request did not preserve contest
After a fatal accident, Spartan received a serious citation and proposed $500 penalty. Within the 15-working-day contest period, its president wrote OSHA requesting an informal discussion and later attended a conference. He did not expressly contest the penalty until a second letter sent after the…
Brown and Root, Inc.
Serious items settled and scaffold-screen citation vacated
Brown and Root settled serious allegations involving an inadequately slung boiler pipe that fell about 140 feet, an uncovered floor opening, an unguarded winch platform, and an unguarded runway at the steam-drum level. Those items were affirmed under the settlement with a total $1,000 penalty. The…
Savina Home Industries, Inc.
Thirteen construction violations affirmed
At a retail-store construction site, the judge affirmed thirteen nonserious items involving missing hard hats, deficient mobile-scaffold rails, planking and bracing, frayed drill cords, an unapproved receptacle, a knotted winch cable, reversed wire-rope clips, a damaged ladder, a mushroomed…
West Coast Construction Co., Inc.
Inadequate excavation sloping upheld
West Coast Construction was installing a storm sewer and had three employees working in a sandy ground opening that was 7.5 feet deep. OSHA cited the company because the opening lacked shoring and its walls were not sloped enough to protect employees from moving ground. The Commission held that the…
Miller Construction Company
Two trench items vacated for insufficient proof
Miller Construction was installing an underground water line when OSHA cited it for a hard-hat violation, material stored too close to a trench edge, and inadequate protection against a trench collapse. The company admitted the hard-hat item, which carried a $25 penalty. The judge found that…
General Telephone Company of Pennsylvania
Aerial-lift citation vacated as isolated misconduct
A General Telephone cable splicer worked about ten feet above the ground in an aerial-lift bucket without wearing a body belt and attached lanyard. OSHA cited the company and proposed a $90 penalty. After a remand to consider the company's timely brief, the judge found that the employee had been…
Konkolville Lumber Co., Inc.
One saw item and one chain item upheld
OSHA cited Konkolville Lumber for saw guarding, mechanical power-transmission guarding, and fire-extinguisher conditions at its Idaho sawmill. In an earlier ruling included in this release, the Commission affirmed a serious radial-saw violation with a $100 penalty and left in place a nonserious…
R.C. Smith, d/b/a R.C. Smith & Company
Late contest dismissed after effective mailed notice
OSHA issued three serious citations and a ten-item nonserious citation after inspecting R.C. Smith's apartment-building project. Smith told the inspector that he would leave the country and directed OSHA to send mail to his home address, where a tenant he had asked to handle his mail signed for the…
Schultz Roof Truss, Inc.
Judge's decision affirmed without substantive review
The Commission affirmed the judge's decision because no party objected and the review order identified no compelling public-interest issue. Commissioner Moran agreed with affirming settled nonserious items but said he would vacate two litigated serious citations under the woodworking-machinery…
Imperial Lumber Company
Late-contest dismissal reversed for notice inquiry
Imperial Lumber received OSHA's citation and penalty notice at its corporate mailing address while its president was abroad. The president wrote a contest letter when he returned, but the judge dismissed it as late because more than 15 working days had passed since the mail arrived. The Commission…
Crawford Steel Construction Co.
Fall-protection citation vacated for lack of feasible method
Crawford Steel employees walked along steel beams while erecting an exit ramp, at points more than 25 feet above the ground. OSHA cited the company for failing to provide a safety net or another listed form of fall protection and proposed a $550 penalty. The record showed that a crane had to…
Allis-Chalmers Corporation
Side-shield item upheld, tractor-guarding item vacated
Allis-Chalmers employees used machine tools and compressed air in areas where metal particles could approach their eyes from the front or side. Although employees wore frontal safety glasses, the company did not generally require side shields. The Commission affirmed the eye-protection item and its…
Alpha Poster Service, Inc.
Most failure-to-abate and liquid-handling items upheld
Alpha Poster Service operated a small silk-screen printing business that OSHA reinspected after an earlier citation became final. The judge affirmed ten failure-to-abate items at $45 each, vacated two others, and affirmed two housekeeping and exit-obstruction violations as nonserious at $115 each…
Norfolk and Western Railway Company
Railroad exemption rejected
OSHA issued two citations alleging 31 violations at Norfolk and Western Railway workplaces in Chicago. The railway admitted the violations and the penalty factors, leaving its claimed exemption from OSHA jurisdiction as the contested issue. The Commission relied on earlier decisions holding that…
Diamond International Corp.
Guarding citations upheld with reduced penalties
OSHA cited Diamond International for unguarded power-transmission equipment, unguarded saw blades, and stairways without handrails at its Idaho sawmill. The judge found nine power-transmission guarding violations but reduced their classification from serious to nonserious because employee exposure…
Philadelphia Coke Division, Eastern Associated Coal Corp.
Conveyor-ramp citation vacated
Philadelphia Coke used an enclosed, inclined conveyor ramp between two elevated screening stations. OSHA cited the company because the ramp rose about four to four-and-a-half inches for every twelve horizontal inches. The Commission held that the cited standard required stairs or a ramp where an…
State, Incorporated
Guardrail item upheld with increased penalty
State, Incorporated performed construction work at a steel plant where a furnace eruption killed two employees working above the operating area. The judge vacated OSHA's general duty clause citation because the evidence did not establish that the charging operation presented a recognized hazard…
Wisconsin Electric Power Company
Ungrounded line truck violation affirmed
A Wisconsin Electric crew used a boom-equipped line truck to transfer energized overhead wires to a new utility pole. The truck and attached trailer were neither grounded nor barricaded, and the truck became energized when an exposed part of the boom contacted a primary wire. A lineman on the…
Hoerner Waldorf Corp.
Forklift citation vacated after witness exclusion
OSHA cited Hoerner Waldorf for allegedly operating two powered industrial trucks with defective brakes or a defective horn and for inadequate operator inspection training. Before the hearing, the judge ordered both parties to exchange witness and exhibit information in writing. The company…
Crain Electric, Inc.
Eight construction items vacated for lack of exposure proof
Crain Electric was an electrical subcontractor on a large power-station construction project with many other contractors. OSHA cited temporary wiring conditions, floor openings, floor holes, and unguarded elevated floors and proposed penalties totaling $145. The compliance officer did not observe…
Burlington Northern Incorporated
Railroad exemption rejected
OSHA cited Burlington Northern for seven nonserious violations at a Nebraska railroad facility. The railroad stipulated that no Department of Transportation rule covered the specific working conditions and admitted the violations if OSHA had jurisdiction. The Commission relied on earlier decisions…
Chicago, West Pullman and Southern Railroad Company
Railroad exemption rejected
OSHA cited Chicago, West Pullman and Southern Railroad for failing to comply with 30 safety and health standards at a Chicago workplace. The parties resolved all issues except whether federal railroad regulation exempted the company from OSHA jurisdiction. The Commission relied on earlier decisions…
Underhill Construction Corp. and DIC Concrete, trading as DIC-Underhill, A Joint Venture
Construction violations upheld with penalty reductions
DIC-Underhill was erecting concrete high-rise structures at a large New York construction site. A serious guardrail citation and $1,000 penalty became final because the company's notice of contest referred only to a later six-item nonserious citation. The judge merged a duplicate nonserious…
Par Construction Company, Inc.
Unsupported trench violations affirmed
Three Par Construction employees worked in a trench that was more than five feet deep and dug in loose, unstable soil. The trench had not been shored, braced, sloped, or otherwise supported, and the company had not provided an adequate exit. The judge affirmed a serious trench-support violation…
D. Federico Co., Inc.
Trench exit and spoil-pile items affirmed
D. Federico was installing a sewer in a 14-foot-deep trench where an employee worked inside an open-topped wooden manhole chamber. The Commission held that soil stored within two feet of the trench exposed the employee to a hazard and that neither an eight-foot ladder nor a loose backfill ramp…
Beldon Roofing & Remodeling Co.
Flat-roof guardrail citation vacated
Beldon Roofing was reroofing a flat-roofed building, and an employee filled and carried buckets of hot tar near an unguarded roof edge. OSHA cited the company under the open-sided floor and platform guardrail standard and proposed a $500 penalty. The judge initially affirmed the item as nonserious…
Southern Pacific Transportation Co.
Railroad exemption rejected
OSHA cited Southern Pacific for violating 12 safety and health standards at its Avondale, Louisiana workplace. The railroad admitted the alleged violations and the penalty factors. Its contested issue was whether federal railroad regulation created an industry-wide exemption from OSHA jurisdiction…
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
Meat-cutter PPE citations vacated
OSHA cited A&P supermarkets because meat cutters did not use metal mesh gloves and, in two stores, did not use protective aprons. The judge found that mesh gloves were not customary in retail meat departments, could interfere with handling meat, and raised sanitation and other practical concerns…
Underhill Construction Corp. and DIC Concrete Corp., trading as DIC-Underhill, A Joint Venture
Safety-belt and hard-hat items upheld
Two DIC-Underhill employees grouted elevator sills near an unguarded shaft without properly secured safety belts. The Commission affirmed the personal-protective-equipment violation but vacated a separately pleaded lifeline-use provision because that provision did not require employees to use…
Frank Briscoe Company, Inc.
Construction citations partly upheld and partly vacated
Frank Briscoe was the general contractor for a multilevel building project where OSHA cited housekeeping, floor-opening, scaffold, ladder, fall-protection, and hard-hat conditions. The Commission vacated a general personal-protective-equipment item because OSHA did not identify or prove a feasible…
Republic Granite Company, Inc.
Silica-control citation vacated for lack of feasible controls
Republic Granite's monument-shaping process generated silica dust well above the permissible airborne limit. Its shaper wore an approved supplied-air respirator that the record found fully protected him from breathing the dust. OSHA argued that the company first had to use a ventilated shaping…
Wallace L. Boldt General Contractor, Inc.
Scaffold citation upheld with reduced penalty
An employee of Wallace L. Boldt worked on a narrow mobile-scaffold platform about 18 feet above a concrete floor without guardrails or toeboards. The judge found that the scaffold was under the general contractor's control and that its employee was exposed to a fall capable of causing serious…
Agrico Chemical Co.
One-sided runway guarding found insufficient
Agrico employees used elevated runways beside fertilizer conveyors and hopper-car tracks that were guarded on only one side. The runways were 40 to 49 inches wide and were used for operating, cleaning, checking, and maintaining the equipment. The judge agreed that they were special-purpose runways…
Edward Hines Lumber Co.
Mixed sawmill citations resolved with $510 penalty
OSHA cited Edward Hines Lumber after inspecting its large Oregon sawmill complex, alleging numerous machine-guarding, conveyor, walkway, ladder, and power-transmission violations. The judge vacated many items because the cited standards were advisory or inapplicable, the machinery was guarded by…
Southern Pacific Transportation Co.
Railroad exemption ruling reversed
Southern Pacific admitted ten alleged safety violations at a Houston railroad facility but argued that the railroad industry was outside OSHA's authority under the statutory exemption for working conditions regulated by another federal agency. The judge accepted that argument and vacated the…
Weyerhaeuser Company
Noise-standard ruling reversed and remanded
Weyerhaeuser's Honolulu corrugated-box plant exposed a single-facer operator to noise above the limits in OSHA's occupational-noise standard. The company required hearing protection and had investigated a range of engineering controls, while the judge vacated the citation after declaring § 1910.95…
Chopko Construction Company
Default affirmed after repeated nonresponse
Chopko Construction failed to answer the Secretary's complaint and did not respond to the chief judge's order to show cause, so the judge affirmed the citation and proposed penalty by default. The company later asked that its notice of contest be treated as its answer. The Commission directed…
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.