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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Warrior Investment Co., Inc.
Penalty assessment remanded for reopening review
Warrior Investment Co., Inc. asked the Commission to reopen a $12,166 penalty assessment that had become a final order after the company said it never received the original assessment. The Commission could not determine from the record whether the company maintained the correct address with MSHA or…
Slinger Drainage, Inc.
In re Slinger Drainage, Inc. (EAB CWA Appeal No. 98-10): liability and $90,000 penalty affirmed
Slinger Drainage installed drainage tile across a wetland without a Clean Water Act section 404 permit. The Environmental Appeals Board considered whether returning excavated soil to the trench was nonregulable incidental fallback or a discharge requiring a permit. It held that the company…
Dessau Brass, Inc.
Late contest dismissed despite OSHA inexperience and financial hardship
Dessau Brass received serious citations on December 10, 1998, but did not contest them until March 29, 1999, after OSHA sought overdue penalties. The company said it had corrected the conditions, was unfamiliar with OSHA, misunderstood the fifteen-day deadline, and would suffer financial hardship…
Capeway Roofing
Settlement reclassifies citation and sets $1,000 penalty
Capeway Roofing contested one serious citation arising from a December 1998 OSHA inspection. At the hearing, the parties announced a complete settlement and later submitted it in writing. Judge Ann Z. Cook approved the agreement, reclassified the item as a Section 17 violation, affirmed it as…
George Campbell Painting Corporation
Bridge fall violation reduced from willful to serious
A Campbell painter fell 35 feet from the Queensboro Bridge while maneuvering a heavy spray pump through a wall opening without tying off. The Commission allowed the Secretary's post-hearing amendment from guardrail standards to the fall-protection standard at § 1926.105(a) because Campbell had made…
B. A. Ward, Inc.
Default dismissal conditionally reopened after unserved show cause order
B. A. Ward timely contested five serious construction citations carrying $4,050 in proposed penalties, but its non-lawyer representative failed to answer the Secretary's complaint or keep the company informed. The chief judge dismissed the contest after a show cause order went unanswered. The…
Aviation Constructors, Inc.
Willful excavation violation affirmed but penalty reduced
Aviation Constructors hired a subcontractor to install a shotcrete shoring system for a baggage-tunnel excavation at Atlanta's airport. The company knew a registered professional engineer had not approved the design, yet it allowed subcontractor employees to work for ten days in the excavation…
Ragnar Benson, Inc.
Floor-cover items vacated for lack of employer knowledge
An OSHA compliance officer found plywood covers over floor holes that were neither secured nor marked at a construction project where Ragnar Benson was the general contractor. On review, the Secretary abandoned the theory that Ragnar was liable solely through general-contractor control and relied…
Sproule Construction Co.
Discrimination settlement approved
Sproule Construction Co. was accused of unlawfully discharging miner Steven Shaffer after protected activity under section 105(c) of the Mine Act. At the hearing, the parties negotiated a settlement that required Sproule to pay Shaffer $2,000, expunge his personnel record, post a notice affirming…
Target Industries, Inc.
Multiple fan violations affirmed and penalties assessed
Target Industries operated the Target No. 1 Mine, where MSHA cited ventilation and fan conditions across six consolidated dockets. Judge David Barbour found multiple violations involving fan signals, testing, continuous operation, methane ventilation, and withdrawal of miners, and found several…
Valley Caliche Products, Inc.
Two citations affirmed after fatality investigation
Valley Caliche Products operated the Beck Quarry, where MSHA cited an inadequate conveyor guard and accumulated material after investigating a fatality. Judge Avram Weisberger found both violations significant and substantial and assessed the operator's negligence as low for each. He affirmed both…
Belden Brick Co.
OSHA silica exposure calculation upheld
OSHA sampled six employees at Belden Brick's Ohio manufacturing facility and found exposure to respirable dust containing crystalline silica above the permissible limits. Belden argued that each calculated silica limit should be compared only with the pure silica portion of the dust sample, rather…
Ohio Cast Products, Inc.
Silica dust calculation and $8,000 penalty affirmed
Ohio Cast Products sampled an employee performing work with silica-containing sand and disputed OSHA's method for deciding whether his exposure exceeded the permissible limit. The company argued that the calculated limit should be compared only with the pure silica portion of the sample. The…
Associated Electric Corporation, Inc.
Review dismissed as moot
Associated Electric and MSHA jointly asked the Commission to dismiss a petition for discretionary review as moot. MSHA had vacated the citation and order after the Eighth Circuit held that the area involved was not a mine under section 3(h)(1) of the Mine Act. The Commission granted the motion…
Illinois Power Company
Premature settlement approval vacated for union objections
The chief judge approved a settlement between the Secretary and Illinois Power before the full objection period had run for I.B.E.W. Local 51, the authorized employee representative. Commission rules added three days for service by mail and excluded weekends from the ten-day period. The union's…
Black Construction Corporation
Unprotected manhole trench affirmed for $500
Black Construction excavated a trench near Guam International Airport to replace a manhole and redirect a sewage pipe. An employee worked in a section measured at six and one-half feet deep without sloping, shoring, or another cave-in protective system. Judge Nancy J. Spies rejected the Secretary's…
Guam Top Builders, Inc.
Roof fall and short ladder-rail items affirmed
Guam Top Builders repaired typhoon-damaged condominium roofs about 18 feet above the ground. Employees worked near the roof edge without conventional fall protection while the person identified as safety monitor operated a forklift across the street, outside the required visual and speaking range…
Black Micro Corporation
Saipan airport excavation required cave-in protection
Black Micro excavated a 54-foot-long pit for taxiway construction at Saipan International Airport. Six employees worked in vertical walls five and one-half to six feet deep without sloping, shoring, or another protective system. Judge Nancy J. Spies excluded OSHA's soil sample because it was…
Malu Construction Co., and its successors
Jury-rigged scaffold items affirmed for $8,000
Malu called its framing workers independent subcontractors, but it supplied their scaffold and safety equipment, assigned their work, provided training, and retained authority to stop work. Judge Stanley M. Schwartz therefore treated them as Malu employees under the common-law control test. OSHA…
Cleveland Construction, Inc.
Skylight fall item reduced from willful to serious
Cleveland Construction supervised replacement of large skylight panels at a university building. OSHA videotaped the company superintendent and another worker next to an uncovered skylight opening 18 to 22 feet above the floor without fall protection. Judge Ken S. Welsch found the skylight standard…
North Pacific Enterprises
Unprotected 25-foot scaffold work affirmed for $525
Two North Pacific employees worked from a narrow board on a wooden scaffold more than 25 feet above a concrete parking lot without guardrails or personal fall protection. The company president had seen the same conduct the previous day but did not stop or discipline the workers, and the foreman…
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co.
Compensation settlement approved
The United Mine Workers of America sought compensation for 25 members who were idled after a withdrawal order at Lehigh Coal and Navigation's No. 14 Preparation Plant. The parties settled, with Lehigh agreeing to pay the affected miners their usual 1998 rate for the November 19 through 23, 1998…
Durango Gravel
Discrimination finding affirmed
Durango Gravel operated a small sand and gravel pit in Colorado. After miner Clay Baier discussed highwall safety with MSHA inspectors, Durango terminated him, and an ALJ found that the termination violated Mine Act section 105(c). The Commission affirmed, finding substantial evidence that Baier's…
Newell Recycling Company, Inc.
In re Newell Recycling Company, Inc. (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 97-7): liability and $1.345 million penalty affirmed
Newell Recycling was responsible for PCB-contaminated soil that remained stockpiled at a Houston industrial facility for years. The Environmental Appeals Board considered whether the enforcement action was timely, whether the stockpiling was regulated disposal, whether Newell was the proper…
D.W.K. Contractors, Inc.
Trench-depth item vacated but spoil-pile violation affirmed
D.W.K. dug a trench to install a rainwater drain and placed excavated soil directly at both edges. OSHA measured one wall at eight and one-half feet by measuring from the top of the spoil pile, but Judge Covette Rooney held that trench depth must be measured from original ground level and OSHA had…
Island Creek Coal Company
Settlement approved and citation modified
MSHA alleged that Island Creek Coal Company violated the mine roof-control standard at Ohio No. 11 Mine and proposed an $8,000 penalty. The parties settled after the hearing, with Island Creek agreeing to pay $3,000. Judge Jacqueline R. Bulluck approved the settlement, directed MSHA to modify the…
ConAgra Soybean Processing Company
In re ConAgra Soybean Processing Company (EAB PSD Appeal Nos. 98-27 and 98-28): review denied with permit condition revised
ConAgra Soybean Processing Company sought a federal Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit for a soybean oil extraction plant in Indiana. Consolidated Grain and Barge Company and Valley Watch challenged the permit's treatment of ozone, particulate matter monitoring, PSD increment…
Reading Anthracite Company
Temporary reinstatement restored pending Commission review
Reading Anthracite Company was involved in a Mine Act discrimination proceeding concerning Leonard Bernardyn, a haulage truck driver. The Administrative Law Judge dismissed the Secretary's complaint and dissolved Bernardyn's temporary reinstatement order. The Commission held that the order could…
Groesbeck Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold decking, guardrail, and training items affirmed
Two Groesbeck Masonry employees washed an acid-cleaned brick wall from a scaffold 10 to 12 feet high while straddling two planks, without full decking or guardrails. A third employee dismantled the level above, but the workers had not been specifically trained to wait until the lower level was…
Rostosky Coal Company
Inspection-access violation affirmed with a $2,000 penalty
Rostosky Coal Company leased and operated the Stiteler Strip, a surface coal mine. The operator denied MSHA inspectors entry to conduct an inspection, tore up a citation, and continued refusing access after officials explained the legal requirement. Judge Jacqueline R. Bulluck found a violation of…
Murray Roofing Company, Inc.
Unsafe roof access and repeated fall violation affirmed
Six Murray Roofing employees reached a one-story roof by climbing a ladder to a canopy and then climbing the remaining three-foot elevation without a ladder or other safe access. OSHA also observed two roofers near an unprotected 15.5-foot edge after warning lines had been moved for membrane work…
Hechinger Investment Company of Delaware, Inc., d/b/a Builders Square
Defective ladder-stand locks affirmed
OSHA inspected a Builders Square store after the manager failed to respond to a complaint about ladder-stand wheels. Six of about twelve rolling ladder stands moved when tested because their automatic caster locks did not hold them firmly in place. An employee was using a wobbly ten-step stand with…
CAR-O-LIN
Two equipment citations affirmed with $50 in penalties
CAR-O-LIN operated a sand and gravel pit in Vermont. MSHA cited the operation after finding that a loader's backup alarm did not work and that a crusher's chain drive lacked a guard. Judge Avram Weisberger rejected the operator's arguments that the Mine Act did not apply to the site. He found both…
Steeltech, Limited
In re Steeltech, Limited (EAB EPCRA Appeal No. 98-6): nine reporting violations and $61,736 penalty affirmed
Steeltech operated a Michigan manufacturing facility that used reportable amounts of nickel, chromium, and cobalt but failed to file required Toxic Chemical Release Inventory Form Rs for nine violations. Steeltech admitted liability and challenged only the amount of the penalty. The Environmental…
Ron Coleman Mining, Inc.
One equipment citation dismissed and one modified
Ron Coleman Mining, Inc. operated a surface quartz mine in Arkansas. The ALJ considered a citation alleging that a dozer seatbelt was not maintained and an order alleging that the operator failed to wear a seatbelt. Judge Avram Weisberger dismissed the first citation because the Secretary did not…
Lyon County Landfill
In re Lyon County Landfill (EAB CAA Appeal No. 98-6): waiver interpretation reversed and complaint remanded
EPA Region V charged Lyon County Landfill with Clean Air Act violations involving asbestos-containing waste and related records and maps. The Presiding Officer dismissed the complaint after finding that EPA and the Department of Justice had issued an invalid waiver for violations occurring more…
BHP Copper, Inc.
Citation affirmed with a $60 penalty on remand
BHP Copper, Inc. contested Citation No. 7922328 at the San Manuel Mine for a violation of the Mine Act's inspection-access provision. The Commission had already found a violation and remanded the case for assessment of a penalty. Judge Richard W. Manning considered the penalty criteria, including…
RockGen Energy Center
In re RockGen Energy Center (EAB PSD Appeal No. 99-1): permit review partly denied and partly remanded
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued a PSD permit for RockGen Energy Center, a proposed 525-megawatt natural-gas and fuel-oil power facility. A petitioner challenged the permit's nitrogen oxide controls, demand-side alternatives, acid rain provisions, startup and shutdown limits…
Thomas Mlodzinski, d/b/a TNT Roofing
Unprotected hotel roof work affirmed
OSHA observed three TNT Roofing workers, including the owner, installing shingles on low- and steep-slope portions of a hotel roof 40 to 50 feet above the ground without fall protection. The crew had fall-arrest equipment and had used it earlier, but stopped because they felt secure without it…
White Electrical Construction Company
Active-train training and barricade violations affirmed
White electricians worked on an elevated Jacksonville transit line beside an active track carrying quiet, remotely operated trains. The foreman knew the unusual site and train-control procedures but gave only general warnings, provided no communication device to the remote crew, and used no…
Bardon Trimount, Inc.
Berm citation sustained after fatal haul-road accident
Bardon Trimount operated the Swampscott Quarry in Massachusetts. A haul truck left the road and fell over a concrete berm, and the driver was killed. MSHA cited the company for an allegedly unworn seatbelt and for a berm below the required height. Judge Avram Weisberger found the seatbelt violation…
Reintjes of the South, Inc.
Appeal dismissed after petition withdrawal
Reintjes of the South, Inc. challenged an ALJ's dismissal of its contest of Citation No. 7867335. After a $100 civil penalty was proposed, Reintjes agreed to pay it in full without changing the citation and moved to withdraw its petition for discretionary review. The Commission granted the motion…
Yenter Companies
Excavation spoil violation affirmed with penalty cut to $100
Yenter Companies relocated historic buildings and had employees constructing a wall near the bottom of an excavation about 15 feet high. OSHA observed rocks and excavated material within two feet of the edge, creating a falling-material hazard, and the company foreman was present. Judge Robert A…
Capitol Cement Corporation
Unwarrantable-failure findings affirmed
Capitol Cement Corporation operated a limestone quarry, crushing facility, and cement plant in West Virginia. The case involved violations arising from two workplace accidents, including a supervisor's contact with an energized crane rail and another supervisor's entanglement in a conveyor belt…
Roger Richardson
Individual penalty case dismissed
Roger Richardson was the superintendent of Solid Energy Mining Company's underground coal mine when MSHA alleged that the mine had second-mined coal pillars required by its approved ventilation plan. The Secretary sought an individual penalty under section 110(c) of the Mine Act, which requires…
Mountain Top Trucking Co., Inc., Elmo Mayes; William David Riley; Anthony Curtis Mayes; and Mayes Trucking Company, Inc.
Mountain Top Trucking Co., Inc., Elmo Mayes, William David Riley, Anthony Curtis Mayes, and Mayes Trucking Company, Inc. (FMSHRC KENT 95-604-D, KENT 95-605-D, KENT 95-613-D): Back-pay awards set on remand
The Commission had determined that Lonnie Bowling and Everett Darrell Ball were constructively discharged and had remanded their cases for relief. It also remanded Walter Jackson's case for recalculation of back pay. Judge Jerold Feldman awarded Bowling $26,557, Ball $17,237, and Jackson $32,642…
Tri-State Steel Construction Co., Inc.
EAJA cases remanded after circuit reversal
Tri-State sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Commission had previously combined Tri-State's net worth with that of its parent, National Engineering and Contracting Company, and found the resulting assets exceeded the $7 million eligibility ceiling. The…
Eighty Four Mining Company
Penalty assessments reopened after filing mistake
Eighty Four Mining Company asked to contest three proposed penalties after the 30-day deadline had passed. The company said it had marked the penalties for contest on the green card but that MSHA did not receive the card, while it paid the other proposed penalties. The Commission found that the…
Texas A.C.A., Inc., and its successors
Scaffold citations vacated for foreman misconduct
Texas A.C.A. employees performed stucco work from an incomplete scaffold with missing bracing, incomplete planking, unstable supports, unsafe access, and inadequate fall protection. The foreman knew the crew was assigned to roof work and that the scaffold was unfinished, but moved them onto it…
Drum Construction Co., Inc.
Employees outside trench box exposed to cave-in hazard
OSHA observed two Drum Construction employees working outside a trench box near a manhole in Type B soil. One area was about ten feet deep, another had been about eight feet deep during backfilling, and the trench walls were essentially vertical; the access ladder was also outside the protected…
Orion Construction, Inc.
$100 penalties upheld for low-gravity fall violations
Orion employees installed metal studs at an 11-foot edge where the guardrail midrail had been lowered, and other employees passed within a few feet of a partially covered stairwell opening protected only by caution tape. The Commission agreed that both conditions were serious violations but found…
United Mine Workers of America on behalf of William Keith Burgess, Glenn Loggins, David McAteer, B. Ray Pate and others
Complaints against MSHA employees dismissed
The United Mine Workers brought Mine Act discrimination complaints on behalf of miners against MSHA and four MSHA employees. After the D.C. Circuit held that MSHA officials acting under color of their authority could not be sued under section 105(c), it vacated the Commission's earlier decision and…
Akzo Nobel Salt, Inc.
Escapeway violation affirmed with $50 penalty
Akzo Nobel Salt operated an underground salt mine where one of two escapeway hoists was out of service for about three and a half hours while miners remained underground. The Commission held that 30 C.F.R. § 57.11050(a) requires two operational escapeways for miners who are underground and rejected…
RBV, Inc., d/b/a R.B. Ventures
Late contest dismissed despite officer's hospitalization
R.B. Ventures received an OSHA citation on November 18, 1998, making December 10 the contest deadline, but filed on December 14. The secretary-treasurer who normally handled all paperwork was hospitalized for cancer-related treatment from late November until December 13. Chief Judge Irving Sommer…
BHP Copper, Inc.
Witness-information citation remanded for penalty
After a fatal ground fall at BHP's San Manuel Mine, MSHA sought an injured miner's contact information so it could interview him during its investigation. BHP declined to provide the information without the miner's consent, and the ALJ dismissed the citation. The Commission held that Mine Act…
Schipper Construction, Inc.
Default set aside after pro se response was misdirected
Schipper Construction timely contested a willful excavation citation carrying a proposed $14,000 penalty but did not file a formal answer to the Secretary's complaint. When the Secretary sought default, the company's pro se president promptly wrote a response raising defenses but mistakenly mailed…
Chicopee Coal Company, Inc.
Temporary reinstatement affirmed
Chicopee Coal Company discharged miner Earl Charles Albu one day after he raised safety concerns about berms, miner certification, and truck brakes during a safety meeting. The Secretary found his Mine Act discrimination complaint nonfrivolous and sought temporary reinstatement. The Commission held…
Cannelton Industries, Inc.
Penalty assessment reopened and remanded
Cannelton Industries intended to contest a proposed penalty for a citation but accidentally filed the penalty notice instead of paying or contesting it while the company was undergoing a sale and staff duties were shifting. The Commission found that the misfiling qualified as inadvertence or…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Trash-accumulation case remanded for unwarrantable-failure analysis
Jim Walter Resources operated the No. 7 Mine near Birmingham, Alabama. MSHA cited the company after an inspector found combustible trash around a ventilation curtain, including a large accumulation in an inactive area and a smaller accumulation in an active area. The Commission held that the ALJ…
Cyprus Cumberland Resources Corporation
Clean-inspection issue remanded
Cyprus Cumberland operated the Cumberland Mine, an underground bituminous coal mine near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. MSHA issued a section 104(d)(1) order and later a section 104(d)(2) withdrawal order after inspectors found unsupported roof where a hydraulic jack used to abate a roof violation had…
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.