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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Active Fire Sprinkler Corp.
One electrical item withdrawn, cord strain-relief violation affirmed
Active Fire Sprinkler Corp. was installing sprinkler piping at a New York construction site when OSHA inspected in May 1996 and issued a two-item serious electrical citation. At the hearing the company showed that the worker exposed to the condition in Item 1 was not its employee, so the Secretary…
Mercer and Atlantic Counties Resource Recovery Facility
In re Mercer and Atlantic Counties Resource Recovery Facility (EAB PSD Appeal No. 96-7): permit extension remanded
Three New Jersey groups challenged an extension and modification of a PSD permit for a proposed resource recovery facility. The project’s public financing and construction plans changed, the original permittee said it would no longer build the facility, and a possible transfer to another operator…
Delta Line Construction Company
Highway barricade violation affirmed
Delta Line Construction placed a utility-truck bucket over an open highway lane while an employee rewired a traffic signal. A tractor-trailer struck the bucket, separating it from the boom, and the employee fell and sustained serious injuries. The judge found that the applicable traffic-control…
S & M Construction, Inc.
Training orders modified and affirmed
S & M Construction operated an open-pit surface coal mine. MSHA issued withdrawal orders after finding that nine employees lacked required newly employed experienced miner training and two employees lacked required new miner training. Judge George A. Koutras found that the Secretary did not prove…
Kennecott Holdings Corporation (McLaren Tailings Site)
In re Kennecott Holdings Corporation (EAB CERCLA § 106(b) Petition No. 94-23): petition dismissed with prejudice
Kennecott Holdings Corporation and EPA Region VIII reported that they had settled the claims related to Kennecott's CERCLA reimbursement petition and a separate EPA demand for response costs. The settlement was embodied in a consent decree entered by the United States District Court for the…
N. M. Savko & Sons, Inc.
Confined-space item affirmed, trench items vacated
N. M. Savko & Sons installed sewer pipe and required an employee to enter a manhole to set up a laser. The judge found the sewer was a confined space and that the employee had not been instructed about its hazards, precautions, or emergency equipment. That serious training violation was affirmed…
Environmental Waste Control, Inc., General Motors Corp., The Budd Company, and the Ford Motor Company
In re Environmental Waste Control, Inc., General Motors Corp., The Budd Company, and the Ford Motor Company (EAB CERCLA 106(b) Petition No. 94-21): $143,535 settlement approved
Environmental Waste Control, Inc., General Motors Corp., The Budd Company, and the Ford Motor Company sought reimbursement for response-action costs at the Northline Drums Site in Romulus, Wayne County, Michigan. The petitioners said they incurred approximately $5.3 million while performing work…
Continental Roof Systems, Inc.
Mootness dismissal reversed and case remanded
OSHA cited Continental Roof Systems for sixteen alleged roofing, scaffold, fall-protection, equipment, training, and recordkeeping violations, with $139,600 in proposed penalties. The ALJ dismissed the case as moot after Continental went out of business and had no employees. The Commission had…
Meridian Contractors, Inc.
Dismissals reversed and citation cases remanded
OSHA issued Meridian Contractors serious and willful construction citations with proposed penalties after two inspections. The ALJ dismissed both cases under Commission precedent treating the actions as moot because Meridian had stopped employing workers and was preparing to dissolve. After that…
Oklahoma Metal Processing Company, Inc. d/b/a Houston Metal Processing Company and Newell Recycling Company, Inc.
In re Oklahoma Metal Processing Company, Inc. and Newell Recycling Company, Inc. (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 97-5): appeal dismissed as interlocutory
Newell Recycling Company tried to appeal a partial accelerated decision that resolved liability issues but did not decide the proposed civil penalty. The Board explained that an initial decision must resolve all issues and claims in the proceeding. Because the ruling was interlocutory, Newell…
B.J. Carney Industries, Inc.
In re B.J. Carney Industries, Inc. (EAB CWA Appeal No. 96-2): liability affirmed and penalty remanded
B.J. Carney Industries, Inc. operated a nonpressure wood pole treating facility that discharged pentachlorophenol-contaminated water into a publicly owned treatment works in Sandpoint, Idaho. The Presiding Officer found 18 violations of the pretreatment regulation and assessed a $9,000…
M.B. Waterproofing, Inc.
Contest after signed settlement dismissed
OSHA issued M.B. Waterproofing a three-item serious citation and a six-item other-than-serious citation. The company's manager negotiated and signed an informal settlement that reduced the penalties and expressly waived the right to contest. The company later arranged an installment plan but did…
M.B. Construction Company
Nine-month-late contest dismissed
OSHA issued M.B. Construction a serious citation with ten items after inspecting a construction site. The company received the citation in July 1995 but did not file its notice of contest until May 1996, nine months after the statutory deadline. The judge rejected the company's claim that OSHA…
GMC Delco Remy
In re GMC Delco Remy (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 95-11): permit review denied in part and remanded in part
GMC Delco Remy operated a hazardous-waste facility in Indiana with federal and State portions of a RCRA permit. After the State portion ended when the active regulated unit closed, EPA Region V modified the federal portion to add newly identified solid waste management units to corrective-action…
A.M.C.C. Corporation, Inc.
Willful excavation violation affirmed
A.M.C.C. employees worked in a detention-tank excavation with an inadequately sloped wall and a large spoil pile at the edge. Project representatives repeatedly warned the superintendent, issued a stop-work order, and contacted company management, but employees resumed work before adequate…
NE Hub Partners, L.P.
In re NE Hub Partners, L.P. (EAB UIC Appeal Nos. 97-1 and 97-2): appeals remanded and dismissed without prejudice
EPA Region III asked the Environmental Appeals Board to remand the UIC permit matter so the Region could reconsider comments submitted by Penn Fuel Gas, Inc. and CNG Transmission Corp. during the permit process. The Region said it would take the steps required by 40 C.F.R. parts 124, 144, and 146…
Trinity Masonry & Stucco, Inc.
Settlement approval affirmed
An ALJ approved the parties' settlement agreement. The employer petitioned for review, and the settlement order was directed for Commission review. After reviewing the case, the Commission affirmed the ALJ's order.
Traylor Brothers, Inc.
Unsecured fall-arrest anchorage violation affirmed
Traylor Brothers was the general contractor on a bridge project where a subcontractor's employee attached his safety lanyard to a suspended track during form-setting work. The track slipped from its clamp, fell from the bridge, and pulled the employee into the river, where he drowned. The judge…
Northern Energy, Inc.
Late contest caused by vacation dismissed
Northern Energy received an OSHA citation on December 12, 1996, and had until January 6, 1997, to contest it. The company sent its contest letter on January 8 after the official responsible for OSHA matters returned from a scheduled vacation. The judge found no improper conduct by OSHA and no…
Christman Quarry
Citation vacated and proceeding dismissed
Christman Quarry contested a citation alleging a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 56.14207. An ALJ had affirmed the citation and assessed a $1 civil penalty, after which the Commission granted the operator's petition for discretionary review. The Secretary later vacated the citation and asked to dismiss…
Bedlam Brass Corporation
Repair letter did not preserve contest rights
Bedlam Brass received OSHA citations on July 22, 1996, and had until August 12 to file a notice of contest. Its August 22 letter listed repairs the company had made but did not say that it contested the citations or penalties. The judge found that the citation and accompanying booklet clearly…
All American Asphalt
Layoffs found discriminatory and remedies remanded
All American Asphalt operated an asphalt plant, quarry, and aggregate plant in California. After employees raised safety concerns and gave a video of plant hazards to MSHA, the company failed to recall four employees after a 1992 layoff and later laid them off again in 1993. Judge August F. Cetti…
Gary J. Klinefelter
Request to reopen remanded to an ALJ
Gary J. Klinefelter asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment after he said he did not receive the proposed assessment until months after it was issued. The record showed that MSHA sent the assessment by certified mail to his correct address, but service was not successfully completed…
Ambrosia Coal & Construction Company
Company penalty affirmed, individual penalty remanded
Ambrosia Coal operated a tipple where a highlift had defective service and parking brakes for weeks. The Commission had previously affirmed the violation and held that foreman Wayne Steen could be liable under section 110(c), but sent the penalties back for reassessment. On remand, the Commission…
Meer Corporation
Process-safety citations vacated, shaft guard item affirmed
Meer Corporation used large quantities of methanol and ethanol while manufacturing botanical products. OSHA alleged numerous process safety management violations, arguing that atmospheric storage tanks were connected to the production process. The judge found that OSHA's witnesses gave inconsistent…
White Chemical Corporation Superfund Site
In re White Chemical Corporation Superfund Site (EAB CERCLA 106(b) Petition Nos. 94-16, 94-17, and 94-18): petitions dismissed with prejudice
Monsanto Company, PPG Industries, Inc., and Rhone-Poulenc, Inc. had filed petitions seeking reimbursement connected to the White Chemical Corporation Superfund Site. The petitioners later agreed in a consent decree approved by the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on or…
All American Asphalt
Show-cause request denied
All American Asphalt asked the Commission to issue a show-cause order and dismiss a remanded discrimination proceeding, arguing that the Secretary had not complied with two ALJ orders about a supplemental brief. The Commission denied the request because the case and related motions remained with…
Harold Moody, employed by Grand River Quarry, Inc.
Individual liability reversed and remanded
Grand River Quarry used a modified Caterpillar 631 scraper on an elevated roadway whose berm was below the required mid-axle height. The Commission held that general manager Harold Moody had reason to know the berm was inadequate because he controlled quarry operations, visited the quarry daily…
Kawaihae Cogeneration Project
In re Kawaihae Cogeneration Project (EAB PSD Appeal Nos. 96-9, 96-10, 96-11, 96-14, and 96-16): permit review denied
The Hawaii Department of Health issued a PSD permit and approval to construct a 58-megawatt cogeneration power plant near Kawaihae Harbor. The Environmental Appeals Board considered petitions from Hawaii Electric Light Company and nearby residents challenging the permit's selective catalytic…
Pepperidge Farm, Inc.
Recordkeeping and lifting violations affirmed, repetitive-motion items vacated
OSHA cited Pepperidge Farm for 176 recordkeeping violations, 21 lifting allegations, and 175 repetitive-motion allegations at a cookie and baked-goods plant. The Commission affirmed the recordkeeping violations as willful and assessed instance-by-instance penalties totaling $289,603. It held that…
Midwest Materials Company
Settlement approved for $15,000
Midwest Materials Company faced a civil penalty proceeding at its Lacon Plant. The judge approved the parties' settlement after finding it consistent with the Mine Act's penalty criteria. The company was ordered to pay $15,000, including $1,500 already received and a $13,500 balance in 12 monthly…
George Campbell Painting Corp.
Scaffold-transfer violation affirmed as serious
George Campbell Painting used suspended swing scaffolds while repainting a bridge cable. A painter died after falling more than 300 feet while repositioning a scaffold in the air even though a closed traffic lane was available below. The serious general-duty violation itself was not under review…
Consol of Kentucky, Inc.
Settled proceedings dismissed
Consol of Kentucky and Norman Blankenship faced a temporary-reinstatement proceeding and a related discrimination proceeding involving Dewey Runyon. After the parties reached a settlement, the Secretary requested permission to withdraw both the application and complaint. Judge Gary Melick approved…
Apex Minerals, Inc.
Water-outburst citation vacated
Apex Minerals contested a citation issued after a water outburst from old mine workings near its Apex No. 1 Mine. The ALJ found that the outburst occurred in Eastern Mine No. 7, outside Apex's sealed mining area, and that Apex had no physical connection or legal responsibility for that mine after…
Unique Electric
Grounding citation modified and penalty reduced
Unique Electric, a small electrical contractor and sole proprietorship, installed electrical equipment for an underground gold mine in California. After the mine's general manager died while moving an energized pump in flooded workings, MSHA alleged that the pump circuit was not properly grounded…
Bruce Young and Yogo, Inc.
Attorney-fee payment order after settlement
Andy Howard, Jr. brought a discrimination proceeding against Bruce Young and Yogo, Inc. The parties had previously reached a settlement, but Howard later sought payment of the settlement and related attorney fees. After an earlier order required payment, Howard moved again to compel payment of…
Foit-Albert Associates, Architects & Engineers, P.C.
Concrete citations vacated for inspection-only engineer
Foit-Albert provided engineering inspection services at a university construction project where concrete collapsed from one floor onto another. OSHA cited the firm under cast-in-place concrete standards. The Commission found that Foit-Albert's contract limited it to inspecting work for compliance…
Enlow Fork Mining Company
Accumulation violation found S&S and unwarrantable on remand
Enlow Fork Mining Company was ordered to reconsider a coal-dust, loose-coal, and oil accumulation violation after the Commission rejected parts of the judge's earlier analysis. On remand, Judge Avram Weisberger found that methane could be present in explosive concentrations and that continued…
IBP, Inc.
Contractor lockout violations affirmed as serious
IBP hired a sanitation contractor to clean meat-processing machinery each night. Contractor employees repeatedly worked on moving or unlocked equipment, and one employee was killed while removing debris from an energized machine. The Commission held IBP responsible even though only contractor…
Fluor Constructors International, Inc.
Scaffold grounding requirement affirmed
Fluor employees performed arc cutting and welding from wire-suspended scaffolds inside a boiler renovation project. Two scaffolds fell after electrical current reached and severed their suspension cables, injuring employees despite fall-arrest equipment. Fluor tried to isolate the scaffolds with…
Dean Heyward Addison
Reopening request remanded for Rule 60(b) review
Dean Heyward Addison asked the Commission to reopen an individual penalty assessment that had become final because he did not timely request a hearing. Addison said he misunderstood that the individual assessment would be combined with a separate assessment against his employer. The Commission…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed after refusal of task training
Marvin E. Carmichael claimed that Jim Walter Resources suspended him after he refused task training to operate a scoop because of safety concerns. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that the refusal was not protected activity because the training was intended to teach safe operation, the miners did not…
Spitzer Great Lakes Ltd. Co.
In re Spitzer Great Lakes Ltd. Co. (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 97-4): appeal dismissed as untimely
Spitzer Great Lakes, Ltd. appealed an initial decision assessing a $165,000 penalty for violations involving the use and storage of PCBs and PCB items. The initial decision was served on February 3, 1997, and the EAB held that an appeal had to be filed within 20 days after service, with five…
Kenny Niles, d/b/a Kenny Niles Construction & Trucking Company
Business closure did not moot OSHA penalties
OSHA cited Kenny Niles for two willful and nine serious violations after a trench collapse injured an employee. The ALJ dismissed the case as moot after Niles closed his excavation and trucking businesses, sold equipment, and no longer employed anyone. Reconsidering its prior precedent, the…
J.V. Peters and Company, David B. Shillman, and Dorothy L. Brueggemeyer
In re J.V. Peters and Company, David B. Shillman, and Dorothy L. Brueggemeyer (EAB RCRA (3008) Appeal No. 95-2): liability and penalty affirmed
J.V. Peters and Company operated a hazardous-waste storage and reclamation facility in Ohio, where an EPA inspection in December 1980 identified numerous violations of RCRA requirements. After multiple rounds of administrative and judicial proceedings, the Presiding Officer found the partnership…
East Coast Limestone, Inc.
Mixed citation results with $785 penalty
East Coast Limestone operated a limestone quarry in North Carolina where it drilled and blasted limestone, hauled it by truck, and processed it at a crushing plant. Judge Jerold Feldman affirmed five citations, modified two citations by removing their significant-and-substantial designations, and…
Broken Hill Mining Company
Default judgment affirmed across eight serious mine-safety orders
Broken Hill Mining operated Mine No. 3, and the operator did not appear at a scheduled hearing after receiving notice. The judge treated the operator’s absence as a default, affirmed eight orders involving electrical protection, cable splices, combustible accumulations, roof control, and…
Hospitality Management, Inc., d/b/a Executive Inn
Serious electrical violation affirmed after a maintenance worker was electrocuted
Hospitality Management ran the Executive Inn hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. OSHA inspected after a referral from the Fulton County Fire Department and cited the company for a serious violation of the electrical safety standard at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.333(a)(1), which requires live parts to be deenergized…
Alan Gregor, d/b/a Gregor Construction Company
Missing-safety-program citation affirmed against a metal-framing subcontractor
OSHA inspected a community-college construction site in Niceville, Florida, after a worker fell 85 feet to his death from a scaffold. That worker did not work for Gregor Construction, the metal-framing subcontractor, but the inspection led OSHA to cite Gregor for three serious violations. After the…
Broken Hill Mining Company
Commission affirms $1,000 penalty
Broken Hill Mining was assessed a penalty after MSHA found that a miner carried a cigarette lighter underground, which the Commission treated as evidence of an inadequate smoking-material search program. The Commission affirmed a $1,000 penalty after finding that the judge properly considered the…
EcoEléctrica, L.P.
In re EcoEléctrica, L.P. (EAB PSD Appeal Nos. 96-8 and 96-13): permit review denied
EPA Region II issued a PSD permit for EcoEléctrica, L.P. to build and operate a 461-megawatt cogeneration plant and a liquefied natural gas marine terminal in Puerto Rico. Two petitioners challenged the permit based on preconstruction air-quality monitoring, multi-source modeling, environmental…
James Fork Mining Company
Mine Act jurisdiction found and citations affirmed
James Fork Mining worked on a 20-acre Arkansas site containing a sealed underground coal mine. The operator said its grading, reclamation, and related work were intended to remove hazards and prepare the property for sale, not to prepare a mine. Judge Avram Weisberger found that the work, combined…
Walker Stone Company, Inc.
$7,500 penalty assessed after fatal crusher accident
Walker Stone operated an open-pit limestone quarry. After a crusher became clogged, miners entered the crusher and worked around its rotor while the power remained available. The rotor was jogged while Danny Boisclair was still inside, and he was fatally injured. On remand from the Commission…
Basin Resources, Incorporated
42-violation decision with $32,600 assessed
Basin Resources operated the Golden Eagle underground coal mine in Colorado, which later closed. Judge Richard W. Manning denied the Secretary's motion to add Basin's parent companies as respondents because the evidence did not show that they controlled or supervised the mine's day-to-day…
Basin Resources, Incorporated
Respiratory dust order affirmed with $5,000 penalty
Basin Resources operated the underground Golden Eagle coal mine in Colorado, which later closed. Judge Richard W. Manning denied the Secretary's motion to add Basin's parent companies as mine operators because the evidence did not show that they controlled or supervised the mine's day-to-day…
M & Y Services, Inc.
Reopening request remanded for Rule 60(b) review
M & Y Services asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after the company did not timely request a hearing. The company said it had repeatedly sought information from MSHA and was unable to obtain assistance before the deadline. The Commission found that the record…
Daanen and Janssen, Inc.
Motion to strike denied
Daanen and Janssen challenged the Secretary's request for more time to file a brief in a consolidated Mine Act case involving allegations that a front-end loader was not properly controlled or maintained after a fatal accident. The Secretary's counsel told the Commission that opposing counsel did…
Lion Mining Company
Gob storage order vacated and settlements approved
Lion Mining Company operated the Grove No. 1 coal mine. MSHA sought penalties for alleged violations involving coal dust and other material in the mine, including a $1,200 penalty for gob piles stored in unused crosscuts. Judge Jerold Feldman approved settlements totaling $733 in docket PENN 96-248…
Lion Mining Company
Gob storage order vacated and settlements approved
Lion Mining Company operated the Grove No. 1 coal mine. MSHA sought penalties for alleged violations involving coal dust and other material in the mine, including a $1,200 penalty for gob piles stored in unused crosscuts. Judge Jerold Feldman approved settlements totaling $733 in docket PENN 96-248…
Consolidation Coal Company
Commission directs review of penalty decision
This discrimination proceeding involved miners who refused work and later sought back pay and other relief. The Commission had already reversed the judge's earlier determination that the refusal was unreasonable and unprotected, then remanded for back-pay and penalty proceedings. The Commission…
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.