Federal Agency Decisions
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board, each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Morgan v. Arch of Illinois
Discrimination dismissal vacated and remanded
Gary Morgan reported mine dust conditions and alleged improper dust sampling while working at Arch of Illinois's Kathleen Mine. After the mine closed, Arch did not recall him to an available position at the Conant Mine, where he failed hands-on equipment tests. An ALJ dismissed Morgan's…
Kenamerican Resources, Inc.
Request to reopen penalty assessment remanded for Rule 60(b) review
Kenamerican Resources intended to contest one penalty assessment but its accounting department sent the hearing request with a check paying 10 other assessments. The operator said the filing error resulted from an accounting and computer-processing mistake, and the Secretary did not oppose…
Rostosky Coal Company
Direction for review vacated after amended petition was not filed
Rostosky Coal Company sought review of an ALJ decision that affirmed a citation and order, assessed a $2,000 penalty, and directed dismissal after payment. The Commission accepted the petition despite its one-day lateness and allowed Rostosky 20 days to amend it because the filing did not meet the…
West Sand & Gravel Co., Inc.
Defective welding truck citation affirmed
West Sand & Gravel operated the Lynwood Farm Plant, where an MSHA inspector found a welding truck's left front tire leaning into the fender and loose control-arm bolts. The operator had known about the condition for weeks, and the judge found that it had not corrected the defect in a timely manner…
Berwind Natural Resources Corp., Kentucky Berwind Land Company, Kyber Coal Company, and Jesse Branch Coal Company
Berwind Natural Resources Corp. and related companies (FMSHRC KENT 94-574-R through KENT 94-797-R, KENT 94-862-R): Operator-status rulings after Elmo No. 5 Mine explosion
These consolidated proceedings involved 225 citations and orders issued after an explosion at the Elmo No. 5 Mine that killed one miner. The Commission held that operator status under the Mine Act turns on an entity's substantial involvement in engineering, financial, production, personnel, and…
Applegate Aggregates, Inc.
Five crushing-plant citations affirmed
Applegate operated a small shale crushing plant with a crusher, conveyor belts, screens, and stockpiles. After an inspection, MSHA alleged five violations involving electrical grounding records, a cracked loader windshield, a nonfunctional backup alarm, an uncovered junction box, and the lack of a…
Moniger Excavating, Inc.
Trench protection and ladder items vacated for lack of employee exposure
OSHA cited Moniger Excavating after finding a narrow trench about 4.5 to 5.5 feet deep with vertical walls, no protective system, and no nearby ladder. No employee was inside the trench during the inspection, and the company explained that its force-main sewer pipe was assembled and measured from…
Russell B. Le Frois Builder, Inc.
Citation vacated after Secretary declined to file complaint
The Commission remanded Russell B. Le Frois Builder's case for further proceedings. Chief Judge Irving Sommer then ordered the Secretary of Labor to file a complaint within twenty days. The Secretary declined to do so, and the judge vacated the May 14, 1998 citation in its entirety.
Lumex Medical Products, Inc.
Failure-to-abate notice dismissed because the presses were never cited
Lumex settled an earlier power-press case covering two cited presses and separately agreed to a correction schedule for 57 additional presses. After a reinspection, OSHA issued a $178,500 failure-to-abate notice for 12 of the additional presses. The Commission held that the settlement did not amend…
Montgomery KONE, Inc. and Parsons Brinckerhoff Construction Services, Inc.
Elevator pit held to be a confined space
Montgomery KONE employees were modernizing a hydraulic freight elevator at a Philadelphia postal facility when a welding arc ignited flammable vapors in the elevator pit, causing an explosion that injured two workers. The vapors came from primer and cement used to assemble a 70-foot PVC liner and…
Black Diamond Construction Inc.
EAJA award increased on remand
Black Diamond Construction had successfully defended an earlier Mine Act matter and received an Equal Access to Justice Act award of $14,390.25. After the Commission remanded the fee proceeding, the parties agreed that Black Diamond should receive another $15,234.04 for fees and expenses incurred…
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…
Consolidation Coal Company
Two coal-accumulation orders affirmed
Consolidation Coal operated the Humphrey No. 7 Mine, where an inspector found large accumulations of coal spillage in active workings and found that a preshift examiner had not recorded the conditions. Judge Gary Melick affirmed two section 104(d)(2) orders, concluding that the accumulations…
U.S. Borax Incorporated
Late review proceedings reopened
Louis W. Dykhoff, Jr. filed a petition for discretionary review of an ALJ decision dismissing his discrimination complaint, but the petition arrived ten days after the 30-day deadline. The Commission had denied the late petition, then considered Dykhoff’s motion for relief from default and…
Sutter Power Plant
In re Sutter Power Plant (EAB PSD Appeal Nos. 99-6 and 99-73): permit review denied
Calpine Corporation sought a prevention of significant deterioration permit to build a 500-megawatt natural-gas power plant in rural Sutter County, California. One petitioner challenged the Region's treatment of plant siting, alleged respiratory-health effects and impacts on farming communities…
Exterior Insulation & Stucco, Inc.
Citations affirmed after incomplete discovery responses
Exterior Insulation & Stucco did not answer the Secretary's discovery requests until a judge ordered it to do so. Its eventual responses omitted witnesses, financial information, and the factual basis for its denials, and repeatedly promised information later instead of providing it. Chief Judge…
Standard Products Co.
In re Standard Products Co. (EAB UIC Appeal No. 99-6): permit decision vacated and remanded
Standard Products Co. held an underground injection control permit issued by EPA Region V. Tom O. Palmer petitioned the Environmental Appeals Board, asserting that Region V had not responded to comments and issues concerning the draft permit. Region V acknowledged that it had not fully addressed…
Nolichuckey Sand Co., Inc.
Stay of abatement denied
Nolichuckey asked the Commission to stay abatement of six citations involving guards on conveyor belts while review of the ALJ decision was pending. The Commission held that the Mine Act bars temporary relief from citations issued under section 104(a), even when the operator disputes the citations…
Mountain Top Trucking Company, Inc., Elmo Mayes, William David Riley, Anthony Curtis Mayes, and Mayes Trucking Company, Inc.
Mountain Top Trucking Company, Inc. and others (FMSHRC KENT 95-613-D): Backpay award vacated and remanded
The Commission reviewed a remand decision awarding truck driver Walter Jackson $32,642 in net backpay plus interest after finding that his discharge violated the Mine Act's discrimination provision. The operators argued that newly submitted evidence about Jackson's college attendance, prior…
Dags Branch Coal Co., Inc.
Bleeder-system orders affirmed
Dags Branch operated an underground coal mine where MSHA found that water blocked the bleeder system while miners were retreating pillars, allowing air from the gob area to pass toward active workings. The inspector also found that the operator’s ventilation plan was not being followed and that the…
Chicopee Coal Company, Inc.
Settlement approved and proceedings dismissed
Chicopee Coal Company agreed to settle discrimination complaints brought on behalf of Lewis Frank Bates and Earl Charles Albu after both miners raised safety concerns about supervisors and equipment at the Lilly Branch Surface Mine. Bates was economically reinstated while the proceedings were…
Storm Water Discharge Permit for the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System of Anchorage, Alaska
In re Storm Water Discharge Permit for the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System of Anchorage, Alaska (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 99-1): review denied
Cook Inlet Keeper challenged an EPA Region X decision involving the municipal storm sewer permit for Anchorage, Alaska. The organization argued that the permit should expressly require compliance with Alaska water quality standards. The Environmental Appeals Board held that the petition did not…
Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc.
In re Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. (EAB FIFRA Appeal No. 99-10): interlocutory review denied
EPA brought a FIFRA enforcement case against Zoo Med Laboratories involving alleged sales of unregistered and adulterated pesticides and an alleged failure to register a pesticide-producing facility. An ALJ had dismissed four counts under res judicata, and EPA sought immediate EAB review of that…
Mohegan Glass & Window Company, Inc.
Late contest dismissed despite personal hardships
Mohegan Glass & Window filed its notice of contest after the 15-working-day deadline in the OSHA citation had expired. The company's president said he had limited written English, his usual business advisers were away, his wife was hospitalized, and he believed correcting the cited conditions ended…
Reading Anthracite Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed
William Kaczmarczyk, an applicant for employment with Reading Anthracite Company, claimed that the company discriminated against him by placing another employee in an electrician position instead of recalling him from layoff. He argued that the decision violated the collective bargaining agreement…
St. James Stevedoring Co., Inc.
First-aid and emergency-plan items affirmed on Mississippi crane barges
St. James Stevedoring used crane-mounted barges for midriver cargo transfers on the Mississippi River and refused an on-site OSHA inspection because it believed the Coast Guard had exclusive authority. Judge Ken S. Welsch held that OSHA could regulate the cited conditions because the barges were…
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…
Seyforth Roofing Co., Inc.
Propane-tank traffic violation affirmed with penalty reduced
Seyforth Roofing used a 250-gallon propane tank to heat a tar kettle while a large forklift repeatedly passed within several feet of the tank. Caution tape had been installed earlier but Seyforth's kettleman allowed another trade to remove it and relied on verbal warnings to the forklift driver…
Oasis Contracting, Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Oasis Contracting provided temporary labor to coal companies, and Anthony Williams worked at Performance Coal Company’s Upper Big Branch mine. Williams claimed that Performance laid him off and Oasis later terminated him because he might testify about a fatal mine accident and because he had…
Donald J. Riffe, employed by Knox Creek Coal Corporation
Late penalty petition dismissed
The Secretary of Labor filed a civil-penalty petition against Donald J. Riffe, employed by Knox Creek Coal Corporation, 26 days after the deadline. The Solicitor asked permission to file late and explained that she misunderstood the office procedure for drafting a new petition in a section 110(c)…
Black Diamond Construction, Inc.
EAJA award affirmed and remanded for additional fees
Black Diamond Construction performed work to eliminate a coal refuse impoundment so longwall mining could proceed beneath it. MSHA cited two Black Diamond employees under the Part 48 training rules, but the Secretary later vacated the citations before trial. An ALJ awarded Black Diamond $14,390.25…
Pickus Construction and Equipment Company, Inc.
Trench citation affirmed after repeated foreman warnings
OSHA observed a Pickus Construction employee grading inside an unprotected trench that was six feet deep in Type B soil. Chief Judge Irving Sommer credited the compliance officer's measurements over conflicting company testimony and found the cave-in-protection rule violated. Pickus argued…
The Doe Run Company
Penalty assessment reopened for inadvertent payment
The Doe Run Company intended to contest a $55 proposed penalty for Citation No. 7860390, but it paid the assessment with sixteen other assessments and did not return the contest card. Doe Run said that the employee normally responsible for reviewing assessments was out of the country, which caused…
Eagle Energy, Inc.
Discovery motion and subpoena request denied
Eagle Energy asked for an MSHA conference report and interview memoranda in three consolidated proceedings, while the Secretary argued that the materials were protected by the work-product and informant privileges. Judge Jerold Feldman found that the discovery motion was untimely and that Eagle…
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…
Ravalli County
Default order reopened and remanded for Rule 60(b) review
Ravalli County failed to answer the Secretary’s penalty petition and a show-cause order, so an ALJ entered a default order assessing a $954 civil penalty. Ravalli later sent its contest letter to MSHA’s district office instead of the Commission and asked to reopen the case, explaining that it…
Durango Gravel
Commission denies motion to reopen discrimination decision
Durango Gravel asked the Commission to reopen a prior discrimination decision after claiming that miner Clay Baier admitted he brought the case to recover withheld wages rather than because of safety concerns. The Commission treated the request as a motion for relief from a final judgment based on…
Hi Valley Crushing Inc.
Unguarded equipment and recordkeeping violations affirmed with reduced penalties
Hi Valley Crushing operated a small portable crushing plant in Colorado. The judge affirmed four citations and orders involving unguarded tail pulleys, an incomplete guard, missing electrical grounding tests, and missing workplace examination records, finding that the violations were serious or the…
Chicopee Coal Company, Inc.
Discovery disclosure order upheld and hearing stayed in part
Chicopee Coal Company was defending two miner discrimination proceedings involving Lewis Frank Bates and Earl Charles Albu. The judge denied the Secretary's request to reconsider an order requiring disclosure of the complainants' signed statements and denied certification for interlocutory…
Milford Power Plant
In re Milford Power Plant (EAB PSD Appeal No. 99-2): petition dismissed for lack of jurisdiction
Goal Line Environmental Technologies challenged the nitrogen-oxide best available control technology analysis in two prevention of significant deterioration permits issued by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection for a new power plant in Milford, Connecticut. The Board explained…
Chicopee Coal Company, Inc.
Signed statements ordered disclosed
Chicopee Coal Company sought signed statements that two miners had provided to MSHA during discrimination investigations. The judge granted the company's motion to compel, holding that a party's signed statement was not protected work product merely because an MSHA investigator prepared or…
Cousins' Aggregate Sales & Hauling, Inc.
Fatality-related violations modified with $2,250 penalty
Cousins' Aggregate Sales & Hauling operated a dredging site where employee Joseph Boudreaux fell from a pipeline into the water and drowned. The judge found violations involving failure to notify MSHA after the accident, failure to require a life jacket or belt while walking over water, and a…
Jobe Concrete Products, Inc.
Truck citations modified with $6,000 penalty
Jobe Concrete Products operated a small open-pit limestone mine in Texas. A truck driven by employee Valentine Moreno overturned, and Moreno died at the scene. The judge found that the operator violated standards concerning control of mobile equipment and seat belts, but concluded that Jobe was not…
Dumbarton Quarry Associates
One citation vacated and two access violations affirmed
Dumbarton Quarry operated two California quarries and faced proceedings involving workplace examinations and safe access to crushers. The judge vacated a workplace-examination citation because examinations were being made and recorded and the Secretary did not show that the examiner was incompetent…
Rostosky Coal Company
Late review petition allowed to be amended
Rostosky Coal Company, through co-owner Joseph Rostosky, sought discretionary review of an ALJ decision affirming a citation and an order and assessing a $2,000 penalty. The petition arrived one day after the 30-day filing deadline and did not meet the Commission's formatting requirements. The…
Reintjes of the South, Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed as untimely
James C. Keys alleged that Reintjes of the South fired him after he complained about mine safety and training. He filed a discrimination complaint with MSHA more than two years after the alleged firing, even though the Mine Act generally allows 60 days for that filing. The judge found the delay…
Joseph Rostosky Coal Company
Training-record citation affirmed and penalty reduced
Joseph Rostosky Coal Company operated the Stiteler Strip surface coal mine in Pennsylvania. The Secretary alleged that the company violated 30 C.F.R. § 48.29(c) by keeping copies of miners' training certificates at the owner's home instead of at the mine because of vandalism concerns. Judge David…
Walker Stone Company Inc.
Seatbelt citation affirmed with reduced penalty
Walker Stone operated a portable plant where an employee was observed operating a bulldozer without a seatbelt. The judge found the violation significant and substantial, considering that the equipment could operate near a five- or six-foot highwall, but credited the company's training and prior…
Cyprus Cumberland Resources Corporation
Withdrawal-order modification reinstated
Cyprus Cumberland Resources operated the Cumberland underground coal mine in Pennsylvania. The case concerned whether MSHA inspectors' repeated travel through the inactive 60 West Mains haulage counted as a clean inspection between a section 104(d)(1) citation and a later section 104(d)(2)…
Nelson Brothers Quarries, Incorporated
Mixed citation results and $817 penalty
Nelson Brothers Quarries operated the small Quapaw limestone mine in Oklahoma. The ALJ considered 18 alleged violations involving guarding, brakes, access, warning devices, and on-shift examination records. Four citations were vacated, nine were affirmed, two were vacated by the Secretary, and…
Island Creek Coal Company
Compensation claim dismissed
Island Creek Coal Company operated the VP8 underground coal mine in Virginia. After inspectors found elevated methane, the operator withdrew miners before an MSHA inspector issued a section 107(a) withdrawal order. The United Mine Workers of America sought compensation for the miners under section…
Odell Geer Construction Company, Incorporated
Odell Geer Construction Company (FMSHRC CENT 98-131-M): Conveyor access violations affirmed and penalties reduced
Odell Geer Construction operated the Gibbs Pit wash plant in Texas, where employees climbed inclined conveyor belts to maintain head pulleys that were 12 to 20 feet above ground. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that the lack of catwalks, handrails, or another safe means of access created a significant…
Windsor Coal Company
Remand for unwarrantable-failure analysis
Windsor Coal Company operated an underground coal mine where MSHA found extensive combustible coal dust and coal spillage along a belt entry. The Commission considered whether the violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.400 resulted from Windsor's unwarrantable failure to comply with the standard. It vacated…
Consolidation Coal Company
Discrimination claim affirmed in result
Consolidation Coal Company reassigned Donald Zecco from a continuous-miner production section to a seal-construction project after he had complained about methane and sulfur conditions and followed additional safety precautions. The Commission considered whether the reassignment was motivated by…
U.S. Borax Incorporated
Late review petition denied as untimely
Louis W. Dykhoff, Jr. petitioned for discretionary review of an administrative law judge's dismissal of his Mine Act discrimination complaint. The petition arrived on the fortieth day after the judge's decision, beyond the 30-day filing deadline, and Dykhoff offered no explanation for the delay…
Millington Gravel Company
Walkway citation affirmed and penalty reduced
Millington Gravel operated a small sand and stone extraction and processing facility in Michigan. MSHA found a two-by-four-foot opening in an elevated walkway, creating a risk that a miner changing screens could fall 15 to 20 feet. Judge David F. Barbour found that the walkway was an unsafe means…
East Arkansas Contractors, Inc.
Reopening request remanded
East Arkansas Contractors asked to reopen a proposed civil penalty that had become a final Commission order after the company missed the 30-day contest period. The company attributed the missed filing to a personnel change and mishandling of the penalty notice, and the Secretary did not oppose…
Croman Corporation, and its successors
Damaged helicopter logging slings violated removal rule
Croman used wire rope chokers to lift logs by helicopter at an Idaho timber sale. OSHA found slings in service with more than five broken wires in a single strand near the nubbin, where field use concentrated stress. Judge Benjamin R. Loye held that the cited removal rule presumed a hazard when its…
Adanlock Office Environments, Div. of Superior Jamestown Corp.
Late contest dismissal affirmed for lack of excusable neglect
Adanlock received an OSHA citation on February 19, 1998, making March 12 the deadline to contest it, but did not file a notice of contest until June. Its human resources manager said she faxed the citation to counsel, yet neither she nor the company president confirmed receipt or followed up. The…
NYNEX
Relief from late contest denied after citation was redirected internally
OSHA mailed an asbestos citation by certified mail to NYNEX's Braintree office, but the mailing was redirected to a NYNEX office in New York, where an employee signed for and logged it. NYNEX did not contest the citation until more than 35 working days later and offered no evidence explaining what…
What these documents are
- The agencies: Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental permit and penalty appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB). Each decision page names its agency.
- Commission and Board decisions: Rulings by the agency's highest review level (the Commission at OSHRC and FMSHRC, the Environmental Appeals Board at EPA). These are citable as precedent, though a decision may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance.
- ALJ decisions: Rulings by the agency's Administrative Law Judges after a hearing. When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order that binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent: under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j) at OSHRC, and after the 40-day window of 30 U.S.C. § 823(d)(1) at FMSHRC.
- 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 public release from the deciding agency, and the full text on the page is that release. The plain-English summaries are written by Ezel.