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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B.F. Goodrich Company
Noise settlement approved and abatement extension motion denied
The settlement vacated a chemical-exposure item and its $80 penalty for lack of evidence, while affirming an occupational-noise item with a $60 penalty and a staged abatement plan. B.F. Goodrich later asked for two years after the Commission's final order to complete the cure-men abatement work…
Anchorage Plastering Company
Scaffold citations vacated for lack of commerce proof
OSHA cited alleged scaffold, hard-hat, and flammable-liquid violations while Anchorage Plastering employees applied stucco at an Alaska medical-center project. The judge did not reach the safety merits. He held that the Secretary failed to prove that the small plastering business affected…
Cox Brothers, Incorporated
Power-line and fall violations affirmed
A Cox Brothers foreman stood atop a 14-foot masonry wall without a safety belt or scaffold while inserting 13-foot reinforcing bars beneath an overhead power line. A bar contacted the line, and the foreman fell and died. The judge held that the company failed to inspect for the plainly visible…
Ames Crane & Rental Service, Inc.
Power-line clearance violation and $600 penalty affirmed
Ames Crane rented a crane with its own operator for work at an Iowa State University power plant. The crane operated between a doorway and energized transmission lines less than 10 feet away, and the load line became energized, killing another contractor's employee. Ames had given only general…
Continental Oil Company (Southern Facilities Terminal)
Tank-terminal fire citations vacated
A gasoline storage tank overflowed at Continental Oil's Chattanooga terminal, followed by a fire and explosion that killed the terminal manager and two employees at a neighboring facility. OSHA issued six citations involving drainage, diking, fire control, and the general duty clause. The…
Hammonds Construction, Inc.
Energized-line violation affirmed and penalty reduced
Hammonds Construction had a cold-line contract requiring power lines to be deenergized before work. Although the owner instructed the foreman to turn off all lines, the foreman sent two employees aloft above an energized 7,200-volt tap. A deenergized wire contacted the live line, killing one…
Buckley & Company, Inc.
Citations vacated after complaint deadline expired
A federal appeals court reversed the Commission's earlier dismissal of Buckley & Company's notice of contest. Because the Secretary had not filed a complaint after the case returned, the Commission gave the Secretary 20 days from receipt of its order to do so. The official release notes that no…
Feazell Construction Co.
Serious excavation citation and $700 penalty affirmed
Feazell Construction employees worked in an excavation about 14 feet deep with barely sloped, unsupported walls in backfill soil. Standing water, visible sloughing, and rain-washed spoil showed a moving-ground hazard. Excavated material was also stored within two feet of the edge, and the access…
Armor Elevator Company, Inc.
Elevator-shaft fall citation and $80 penalty affirmed
An Armor Elevator foreman worked on a four-by-eight-foot platform at the roof level of a 12-story elevator shaft. Openings on both sides were large enough for him to fall through, but he chose not to use an available safety belt because he believed it would restrict movement. The judge found that a…
Cedar Construction Co.
Repeated spoil-pile violation and $1,275 penalty affirmed
Cedar Construction piled a seven-foot spoil bank, including clods weighing up to 20 pounds, directly at the edge of a 12.8-foot-deep trench where employees worked. The company had a prior final citation for the same spoil-placement standard at another Nebraska worksite, and the Lincoln foreman knew…
American Airlines, Inc.
Repeat and failure-to-abate settlement approved
American Airlines and the Secretary settled a repeated foot-hazard citation and a related failure-to-abate notice after the company represented that it had corrected the conditions. The judge approved only the failure-to-abate portion because the repeated citation had not been forwarded into the…
General Bronze Architectural Products
Serious fall citation affirmed and penalty reduced
A General Bronze employee welded at the fifth-floor perimeter without a safety belt while a foreman was close enough to observe him. The Commission held that the pre-amendment personal-protective-equipment standard was enforceable here because the employee faced a fall of more than 25 feet and…
Federal Glass Co.
Employee notice required for noise settlement
Federal Glass withdrew its contest after the Secretary agreed to extend the abatement date for a workplace-noise citation from July 1974 to December 1975. The Commission treated the linked motions as a settlement because the company received a material benefit from the extended deadline. The unions…
The Federal Glass Company
Employee notice required for noise settlement
Federal Glass withdrew its contest after the Secretary agreed to extend the abatement date for a workplace-noise citation from July 1974 to December 1975. The Commission treated the linked motions as a settlement because the company received a material benefit from the extended deadline. The unions…
Garcia Concrete, Inc.
Unqualified-loader violation affirmed and penalty reduced
A 17-year-old laborer who had only driven a front-end loader in the company yard was directed by a crew lead to move it about two miles on public roads. The company president had stopped the worker's equipment training and instructed him not to operate the loader, but had not told crew leaders…
Layton Roofing Company, Inc.
Flat-roof guardrail citation and $300 penalty affirmed
Layton Roofing employees worked on a flat concrete roof more than 16 feet above the ground without perimeter guardrails. An employee had fallen from the roof and died the day before OSHA's inspection. The judge held that the open-sided-floor standard did not apply to flat roofs, but the Commission…
Edward M. Ream, Inc.
Flat-roof fall citation vacated
Employees installed roofing on a flat, solid-surfaced roof more than 100 feet above the ground without perimeter railings, nets, or personal fall protection. An employee had previously fallen from the roof and died. The judge held that the cited safety-net and personal-protective-equipment…
Norrwock Shoe Company, Div. of SCOA Industries, Inc.
Citation dismissed for lack of evidence
The Secretary moved to dismiss the citation and complaint for lack of evidence, and the judge granted the motion. On review, the Commission asked whether affected employees had received notice. The company then certified that it posted the dismissal motion, the judge's order, and the direction for…
Hanovia Lamp Division, Canrad Precision Industries, Inc.
High-voltage general-duty citation vacated
On remand from the Third Circuit, the Commission considered whether Hanovia should have required two-person teams for high-voltage laboratory testing. The Secretary's expert said many major companies used that practice, but the evidence also showed that laboratories varied their approach depending…
Sierra Permaneer
Settlement approved after union service completed
The parties settled a 27-item nonserious citation through penalty reductions, extended abatement dates, amendment of one cited standard, vacation of items 4, 14, and 23, and withdrawal of the company's contest to the remaining disputed items. Review initially focused on whether posting alone…
Canton Elevator & Manufacturing Co.
Settlement and $150 penalty affirmed
Canton Elevator contested only the proposed penalties. The Secretary agreed to reduce two $100 penalties to $50 each, producing a total settlement penalty of $150, and the company withdrew its contest. The Commission affirmed the settlement under precedent holding that workplace posting gave…
C & R Cabinet Company
Failure-to-abate and posting penalties assessed
A follow-up inspection found six unabated machine-guarding violations involving ripsaws, radial saws, sanders, and a conveyor. C & R Cabinet had corrected seven other items and had ordered some missing guard parts, so the judge reduced the proposed $1,675 failure-to-abate penalty to $825. The…
Alcap Electrical Corp.
Subcontractor citations affirmed for employee exposure
Alcap Electrical was an electrical subcontractor at a building project where employees encountered unguarded floor openings, unguarded stairs, unsecured gas cylinders, and other construction hazards. Alcap argued that it did not create or control the hazardous conditions. The Commission held that a…
R. P. Drywall, Inc.
Citation withdrawal conditioned on employee notice
R. P. Drywall installed drywall on construction and reconstruction projects in Miami. OSHA cited the company over the condition and inspection of hand-held electric tools and extension cords, but later sought to dismiss the complaint and withdraw the citation because it lacked sufficient evidence…
Carling Electric, Inc.
Settlement affirmed after employee-service issue became moot
Carling Electric contested one item of a non-serious citation carrying a proposed $40 penalty. The parties settled by extending the item's abatement date to November 1, 1974, and asking that the citation and penalty be affirmed. The record did not show that affected employees received the…
Kisco Company, Inc.
Welding equipment citation vacated for lack of proof
Kisco fabricated coil and sheet metal products at a Missouri plant. OSHA cited the company after a maintenance electrician was fatally shocked while repairing a side seam welding machine, alleging violations involving its disconnect switch and maintenance practices. The judge found that the switch…
Hartwell Excavating Co.
Mixed ruling on blasting, equipment, and noise items
Hartwell Excavating was cited for eight nonserious violations involving explosives, equipment guards and alarms, and occupational noise at an Idaho sewer project. The Secretary moved to withdraw citation items 1 through 4 after the judge's decision. The Commission allowed withdrawal of items 2…
Donovan's Blacktop, Inc.
Settlement affirms citations and reduces penalties
Donovan's Blacktop faced citations from inspections of its garage and two Massachusetts construction sites. The cited conditions included poor housekeeping, improper electrical grounding, an unsupported trench, missing eye protection, and gasoline carried in an unapproved container. The parties…
Allstate Trailer Sales, Inc.
Penalties reassessed after citations became final
Allstate Trailer Sales manufactured recreational vehicles at a Seattle plant. OSHA issued a serious citation involving unguarded saws and an eleven-item nonserious citation covering posting, recordkeeping, machine guarding, electrical grounding, and eye protection. Allstate's timely notice…
Garland Call Pole Co.
Two final violations restored and one item vacated
Garland Call Pole operated a small Idaho pole yard where OSHA cited unguarded debarker components, flammable liquids near welding and cutting equipment, and inadequate protection for a debarker operator. Garland timely contested only the penalties for the first two violations, then attempted to…
Laminating Services
Failure-to-abate penalties reduced to $400
Laminating Services manufactured wood and vinyl wall covering at a Kentucky plant. It did not timely correct final citation items involving unguarded machine points of operation and unguarded sprocket wheels and chains. The company sought an extension only after the abatement deadline, and the…
Robert E. Lee Plumbers, Inc.
Exposing subcontractor held liable for site hazards
Robert E. Lee Plumbers was the plumbing subcontractor on a project involving four six-story residential buildings. Its employees had to move throughout the site and were exposed to debris, unguarded wall openings, and stairways without railings. The Commission held that the company could be cited…
Consolidated Pine, Inc.
Settlement preserves repeated classification
Consolidated Pine contested a $90 repeated violation involving a work platform and a willful-serious violation involving unguarded trim saws. The parties settled by reclassifying the saw violation as serious, reducing its proposed penalty from $5,400 to $1,000, and allowing the company to withdraw…
Petrolane Offshore Construction Service, Inc.
Maritime work citations affirmed under OSHA coverage
Petrolane performed offshore construction and ship repair work at a Louisiana site, including conversion of a barge and sandblasting a drilling-platform structure. OSHA issued seventeen nonserious citation items covering recordkeeping, cranes, abrasive blasting, compressed-gas cylinders, scaffolds…
Paccar, Inc.
Press-brake guarding violation affirmed, tank-roll item vacated
Paccar used a tank roll machine and eight press brakes to form metal parts at a truck manufacturing facility. The Commission found that the press brakes lacked point-of-operation protection and that guards over their power-transmission components did not address that separate hazard. It held that…
Cooper Industries, Inc.
Spray-booth penalty restored to proposed amount
Cooper Industries operated a small Ohio metal fabrication, welding, and painting plant. The citation included items involving respirators, a dip-tank railing, a forklift horn, spray-booth ventilation, and combustible residue in a spray booth. On review, the Commission declined to decide whether the…
All United Rent
Trench citation vacated as unpreventable occurrence
All United Rent supplied a backhoe and an experienced operator for excavation of a sewer-connection trench in Utah. The trench was about 18 feet deep, had steep unsupported sides, and collapsed while the operator and two other workers were inside. OSHA cited the equipment lessor for failing to…
Horowitz Bross., Inc.
Serious trench citation vacated for lack of proof
Horowitz was laying water pipe in a trench that was about 88 feet long, roughly six feet deep, three feet wide at the bottom, and seven feet wide at the top. OSHA alleged that the trench violated the rule for hard or compact soil because it was not adequately shored or sloped. The Commission held…
Pollard, Inc.
Excavation citation affirmed and penalty reduced
Pollard installed concrete pipe in wet, sandy-clay excavations near a heavily traveled Utah highway. Two employees worked in excavations whose walls were not protected by shoring, adequate sloping, or another equivalent method. The Commission affirmed the violation because the employees were…
Isaacson Structural Steel Co.
Fall-protection citation vacated where cited methods were infeasible
Isaacson erected a structural-steel A-frame over water as part of a log deck at an Alaska paper mill. One employee worked at the top of the frame while two welders worked from a float scaffold, all more than 25 feet above the water. The Commission rejected the Secretary's late request to apply the…
Safeway Stores, Inc.
Wheel-chocking citations vacated on joint motion
Safeway received multiple nonserious citations for failing to block or chock truck wheels while powered industrial trucks boarded them. Safeway had raised but then waived a defense that Department of Transportation regulation displaced OSHA authority over the working conditions. After the…
F. F. Green Construction Co., Inc.
Serious trench citation and $900 penalty affirmed
F. F. Green installed a water main in an Alaska trench that was about eleven and a half feet deep in wet, sandy, unstable soil. At least two employees worked where the trench was not adequately shored or sloped, and the citation also included ladder-access and flammable-liquid-container items. The…
D.R. Johnson Lumber Company
Edger-guard charge vacated for lack of employer knowledge
D.R. Johnson operated a sawmill where an edger's power-transmission guard was removed and replaced several times during adjustment work. The edger was later operated while the guard and maintenance workers were absent, but the record did not show that company supervisors knew or reasonably could…
Adams & Mulberry Corp.
Trench violation reduced from willful to serious
Adams & Mulberry installed underground conduit in a narrow Louisville trench that was eight to ten feet deep, had vertical sides, and contained unstable soil and water. Two inexperienced employees entered beyond the completed shoring while positioning additional plywood sheets, and one employee was…
Weyerhaeuser Company
Life-jacket citation affirmed without penalty
Weyerhaeuser's boom men worked on logs, boom sticks, and walkways at a Washington log pond without wearing required buoyant devices. The company had supplied life jackets and encouraged their use, but most organized employees resisted wearing them and had previously stopped work over the issue. The…
Julius Nasso Concrete Corp.
Construction-site fire, floor-opening, and crane citations affirmed
Julius Nasso was a concrete contractor on a New York project involving three twelve-story buildings. OSHA cited inadequate firefighting equipment, unguarded floor openings, and an unbarricaded crane swing radius. The judge found that the available water equipment did not cover the required floor…
Park Construction Co.
Crane-lubrication citation affirmed under excavating standard
Park Construction used a crawler crane for excavation work while an employee lubricated its suspension system. The revolving superstructure remained in operation, and the employee was struck by the rear of the cab and died. The Commission held that the crane standard originally cited applied to…
Tobacco River Lumber Co.
Mixed ruling on thirty sawmill citation items
Tobacco River operated a Montana sawmill and planing mill that received a thirty-item citation covering housekeeping, stairs, protective equipment, fire safety, tools, gas cylinders, machinery, and electrical conditions. The Commission upheld the inspection because a company employee with authority…
Sheet Metal Specialty Co.
Press-brake guarding citation affirmed
Sheet Metal Specialty used a press brake to form metal ductwork in its Virginia fabrication shop. The operator and helper held sheets by hand with one hand as close as six to twelve inches from the unguarded point of operation. The Commission held that the general point-of-operation guarding…
Danco construction Company
Mixed ruling on sewer-work citations and penalties
Danco received consolidated citations from three Little Rock sewer-construction sites involving posting, hard hats, fire protection, fuel handling, trenching, electrical equipment, ladders, traffic visibility, and spoil placement. The Commission held that Danco's timely contest of a citation also…
Wilmorite, Inc.
Construction citations withdrawn with prejudice
Wilmorite was adding six floors to an existing building in Syracuse, New York. OSHA cited an unguarded tenth-floor perimeter, a short ladder extension, unguarded floor and ladderway openings, and construction debris. The judge vacated the citations after finding, among other things, that the…
Garrison & Associates, Inc.
Press-brake guarding citation restored
Garrison custom-fabricated sheet metal with two press brakes whose points of operation were unguarded. An employee was observed forming a small piece with his hands close to the operating point, although holding tools were available for small pieces. The judge vacated the guarding item after…
Leon Marrano & Sons, Inc.
High-rise fall and head-protection citations affirmed
Leon Marrano was the concrete subcontractor on a nineteen-story apartment project in New York. Employees working with flying forms on the tenth floor moved around the forms by swinging partly over the building edge without safety belts or lifelines. The judge found that the company had not…
Island Steel & Welding, Ltd.
Safety-belt citation affirmed under protective-equipment rule
Island Steel assigned two employees to weld steel members while standing on top of a wall at heights of about sixteen to twenty-five feet. They had no safety belts or other fall-protection device, and the company superintendent knew they were working without belts. The Commission held that the…
General Electric Company, Inc.
Mixed ruling on extensive turbine-plant citations
OSHA issued General Electric numerous serious, nonserious, repeated, and willful citations after inspecting its Schenectady steam turbine and generator facilities. The Commission affirmed or restored violations involving ladder safety, portable tools, welder fall protection, housekeeping, fire…
Smith's Transfer Corporation
Wheel-chocking case remanded after summary dismissal
Smith's Transfer was cited for failing to chock the rear wheels of trucks or trailers while powered industrial trucks boarded them at a Pittsburgh facility. The company moved to dismiss on the ground that Department of Transportation regulations displaced OSHA authority over the working conditions…
Dravo Corp.
Toxic-paint spray citations vacated for lack of timely proof
Dravo manufactured and repaired river barges at a Pennsylvania boat yard. OSHA cited the company over respirators, hazard information, employee instruction, and protective clothing for workers allegedly spray painting Tectyl-400B in confined barge spaces. The judge found that the Secretary did not…
Atlantic & Gulf Stevedores, Inc.; Nacirema Operating Company, Inc.;Holt Marine Terminal, Inc.; and International Terminal Operating Corporation of Ameriport
Mixed hard-hat ruling for port employers
Four Port of Philadelphia employers were cited because longshore employees did not wear required protective hats. The Commission held that the longshoring rule imposed a duty on employers and that incorporation of the referenced private consensus specifications was legally permissible. It also…
Kingery Construction Company
Forklift-platform hazard charge vacated, other items affirmed
Kingery used a platform attached to forklift forks to place an employee about eighteen feet above the ground for concrete-chipping work. OSHA alleged a serious general-duty violation because the forklift was unattended and the employee had no platform controls. The Commission affirmed vacation of…
Les Mares Enterprises, Inc.
Log-splitter citation vacated for lack of commerce coverage
Les Mares employed workers to clear land in Napa County and split removed trees into firewood. The company had considered using the land for grape production, but no vines had been planted and the intended use was never carried out. The only shown sales were local firewood sales within nearby…
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.