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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New Warwick Mining Company
Coal-dust rulings partly affirmed and remanded
New Warwick Mining Company was cited for coal dust accumulations at its Warwick underground coal mine. In docket PENN 94-54, the Commission affirmed that the §75.400 accumulation violation resulted from unwarrantable failure and affirmed that the operator did not violate the preshift examination…
Superior Tank and Trailer Co.
Press-brake item affirmed, three other items vacated
Superior repaired commercial tanks and trailers that had carried products ranging from food to gasoline and acids. The judge found that its contractor washouts, supervisor checks, atmospheric testing, periodic retesting, and forced-air ventilation adequately evaluated the units and prevented them…
Nevada Cement Company
Fatal-accident citations affirmed in settlement
Nevada Cement’s mechanic Preston Niemeyer was fatally injured when a service truck rolled over him while he worked beneath it. The judge found that the truck’s parking brake should have been set and its wheels blocked, because the mechanic was not in a position to prevent the truck from moving. The…
Ambrosia Coal & Construction Company
Highlift violation affirmed, penalties remanded
Ambrosia Coal operated a surface coal mine where a highlift was used with ineffective brakes. The Commission affirmed that operating the highlift violated the requirement to keep equipment in safe operating condition, that the violation was significant and substantial and resulted from…
L & J Energy Company, Inc.
Civil penalty payment ordered after remand
L & J Energy’s civil penalty proceeding returned to the administrative law judge after the Commission directed further proceedings on whether the penalty would affect the company’s ability to continue in business. Judge Avram Weisberger found that the company had not provided competent evidence…
Manalapan Mining Company
Penalty reassessed after Commission remand
The Commission remanded Manalapan Mining’s penalty proceeding after reversing an earlier finding about whether a preshift-examination violation was significant and substantial. On remand, Judge Avram Weisberger found the violation relatively serious and reassessed the penalty for Order No. 4238749…
Consolidation Coal Company
Water-pump fire-protection violation affirmed
Consolidation Coal was cited after an underground water pump lacked the required fireproof enclosure or fire-suppression system and was ventilated with air used for the working section. The Commission held that the pump did not qualify for the regulatory exemptions for pumps near a working section…
Wiser Construction
Highwall citations affirmed, penalty reduced
Wiser Construction operated at the Monroc Pit, where loose material and large rocks remained on a highwall above front-end-loader work areas. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found two violations of the requirement to slope loose material to the angle of repose or otherwise protect the pit perimeter. He found…
REB Enterprises Incorporated
Mixed rulings and $2,400 penalty
REB Enterprises operated a limestone quarry in Arkansas. Judge Avram Weisberger considered citations and orders involving electrical testing, seat belts, equipment windows, machine guarding, and individual liability under the Mine Act. He found some violations, dismissed or withdrew other matters…
Energy West Mining Company
Coal outburst citation vacated
Energy West Mining Company operated the Cottonwood underground coal mine in Utah. MSHA cited the mine under 30 C.F.R. § 75.202(a) after a coal outburst, also called a bounce, disrupted ventilation and stopped production for more than an hour. Judge August F. Cetti found that the Secretary did not…
T H Agriculture & Nutrition Company, Inc.
In re T H Agriculture & Nutrition Company, Inc. (EAB CERCLA 106(b) Petition No. 94-20): reimbursement petition denied
T H Agriculture & Nutrition Company asked EPA to reimburse $1,752,673 in costs it incurred while complying with a unilateral administrative order to clean up a former pesticide formulation site in Albany, Georgia. The company argued that EPA required removal of more subsurface soil than its own…
Niemand Industries, Inc.
Talc items vacated after court rejected sampling method
OSHA cited Niemand for excessive talc exposure, unapproved dust masks, and failure to use feasible engineering or administrative controls. The Commission initially affirmed those items based on gravimetric sampling. The Eleventh Circuit held that OSHA could not prove a Table Z-3 violation with a…
Lakeview Rock Products, Inc.
Penalties assessed across 27 violations
Lakeview Rock Products operated a sand and gravel pit in Salt Lake City, Utah. Judge Arthur J. Amchan addressed three MSHA inspections and 27 contested or withdrawn violations involving electrical protection, guarding, workplace examinations, footwear, berms, access, and related safety…
Manalapan Mining Company, Incorporated
Preshift violation reversed and remanded
Manalapan Mining operated underground coal mines in Kentucky. The Commission reviewed whether violations involving fire suppression, fire extinguishers, and a preshift examination were significant and substantial. It left standing the ALJ's findings for the fire suppression and fire-extinguisher…
New Warwick Mining Co.
Dust sampling violation affirmed
New Warwick Mining operated the Warwick Mine in Pennsylvania. The Commission reviewed whether the company violated the respirable-dust sampling rule by collecting designated-occupation samples inside a miner’s airstream helmet. It affirmed the ALJ’s findings that the sampling method violated 30…
Amax Coal Company
Coal-dust violations affirmed, S&S issue remanded
Amax Coal Company was cited for accumulations of combustible material in a coal mine. The Commission affirmed the ALJ’s conclusion that Amax violated 30 C.F.R. § 75.400, including by allowing accumulations on diesel-powered equipment in active workings. It vacated the significant-and-substantial…
Island Creek Coal Company
Mixed reporting and safety rulings
Island Creek Coal Company and two employees were involved in consolidated proceedings at the Ohio 11 Mine. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon dismissed the individual matters in KENT 95-502 and KENT 95-519, vacated and dismissed two company actions in KENT 95-214, modified one order by reducing negligence and…
Broward County, Florida
In re Broward County, Florida (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 95-7): review denied for permit conditions
Broward County's wastewater treatment plant sought review of the denial of an evidentiary hearing on several NPDES permit conditions. The county challenged the total residual chlorine limit, the absence of a positive reopener clause, and the species and duration required for toxicity testing. The…
Powder Rock, Inc.
Hard-hat and signal items affirmed, blast-area item vacated
Powder Rock performed secondary blasting for a sewer trench project. One blast unexpectedly sent rock and debris high across the worksite, seriously injuring a general-contractor employee. The judge affirmed the hard-hat item because Powder Rock's two employees worked around recurring blasting…
Extra Energy, Inc.
Two violations affirmed
Extra Energy operated a small surface mine in West Virginia. Judge Gary Melick found that the company violated standards concerning a contractor vehicle and the reporting of a fatal carbon-monoxide poisoning at the mine. He affirmed both citations and assessed penalties of $50 and $500, for a total…
R. J. Taggart Construction Company, Incorporated
Settlement disapproval order
R. J. Taggart Construction Company faced a citation after a miner being trained on a front-end loader rode unsecured outside the operator’s cab, fell when the loader backed over a rock, and was killed. Judge Paul Merlin denied the parties’ motion to approve a settlement reducing the proposed…
Utah Fuel Company
Roof-fall citations vacated
Utah Fuel Company operated the Skyline No. 1 underground coal mine in Utah. The case followed a fatal rib and roof fall accident during rehabilitation work in a previously caved area. Judge August F. Cetti found that the Secretary did not prove violations involving accident reporting, roof and rib…
Harlan Cumberland Coal Co.
$10,340 penalty assessed
Harlan Cumberland Coal Company operated the C-2 and H-1 underground coal mines in Kentucky. Judge Avram Weisberger evaluated consolidated violations involving roof and rib control, electrical equipment, ventilation, methane, and compliance with an approved plan. He dismissed two citations…
Jim Smith Body Shop Wrecker Serv.
Unmailed protest did not preserve contest rights
Jim Smith Body Shop received OSHA's citations and proposed penalties on January 25, 1996, making its notice of contest due February 15. The owner began a protest letter dated February 7, but the postage meter was dated February 16 and the letter did not reach the Little Rock post office until…
Minnesota Ore Operations, USX Corporation
Temporary reinstatement ordered
Ronald A. Markovich filed a discrimination complaint after Minnesota Ore Operations, USX Corporation suspended him with intent to discharge him. The Commission held that the complaint was nonfrivolous and that the ALJ had required too much evidence at the temporary-reinstatement stage. It reversed…
Minnesota Ore Operations, USX Corporation
Temporary reinstatement ordered
Ronald A. Markovich filed a discrimination complaint after Minnesota Ore Operations, USX Corporation suspended him with intent to discharge him. The Commission held that the complaint was nonfrivolous and that the ALJ had required too much evidence at the temporary-reinstatement stage. It reversed…
BHP Minerals International Inc.
Circuit-breaker violation remanded
BHP Minerals International operated the Navajo surface coal mine in New Mexico. The Commission reviewed the setting of an instantaneous circuit breaker that protected an electric motor and found that placing it at the highest setting did not provide the required overcurrent protection. It reversed…
Gary Development Company
In re Gary Development Company (EAB RCRA (3008) Appeal No. 96-2): appeal dismissed as untimely
Gary Development Company sought to appeal an administrative law judge's decision concerning hazardous waste disposal at an Indiana landfill. The initial decision required closure, post-closure care, and groundwater monitoring and assessed an $86,000 penalty. The Environmental Appeals Board found…
Kirila Contractors, Inc.
Fifth excavation offense affirmed as willful
Kirila excavated beside a highway to push a gas line and allowed its president and another employee to work in an area at least five feet deep without sloping or another protective system. The judge rejected the claim that only a small sump hole exceeded five feet and found that the cited wall was…
Primrose Coal Company
Electrical citations affirmed
Primrose Coal Company operated the Primrose Slope mine in Pennsylvania. Judge Gary Melick considered three consolidated civil penalty proceedings involving electrical grounding, bonding, and frame-grounding requirements. He affirmed the citations, approved a reduced settlement penalty for some…
Manalapan Mining Co.
Accident-reporting citations affirmed
Manalapan Mining operated Mine No. 9 in Kentucky. Judge Gary Melick considered six citations concerning failures to report accidents or occupational injuries under 30 C.F.R. § 50.20. He approved a settlement reduction for four citations, found little negligence for one disputed reporting violation…
Glenn's Trucking Co., Inc.
Settlement approved at $1,350
Glenn's Trucking Co. faced a proposed civil penalty of $2,000. Judge Gary Melick approved the parties' settlement, reducing the penalty to $1,350, and ordered payment within 30 days. The order does not identify the underlying safety standard or describe the cited condition.
Knife River Coal Mining Co.
Misfired-shot safety violations affirmed
Knife River Coal Mining operated the Savage Mine in Montana. After a shot misfired, a supervisor required a miner to return to the pit in street clothes and without required protective equipment to help detonate it. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon affirmed two violations, found the conduct an unwarrantable…
Day Branch Coal Company, Inc. and Bobby Joe Hensley
Dismissal vacated and remanded
Day Branch Coal Company and Bobby Joe Hensley asked the Commission to review dismissal of a large group of contest proceedings. The Commission found that the ALJ dismissed the cases before the operators’ response period had expired under the Commission’s service rules. It vacated the dismissal…
Secretary of Labor o/b/o Perry Poddey v. Tanglewood Energy, Inc.
Penalty vacated and back-pay offset reversed
Tanglewood Energy operated an underground coal mine where a scoop's emergency-parking brake repeatedly became ineffective after its securing bolt loosened. Miner Perry Poddey reported the problem to mine personnel and an MSHA inspector, then was discharged after confronting a foreman about the…
Gouverneur Talc Co., Inc.
Highwall violations modified with $3,000 penalty
Gouverneur Talc operated a surface talc mine with benches and highwalls. Judge Avram Weisberger found that the mine used a loader at a muck pile whose height exceeded the equipment's reach, and that loose material above a travelway was not taken down or supported. He found both violations were not…
Mutual Mining, Inc.
Full back pay ordered after remand
Judge Arthur J. Amchan had previously found that Mutual Mining violated section 105(c) by discharging five complainants. He had ordered back-pay amounts for Cletis Wamsley, Clark D. Williamson, Samuel Coyle, John B. Taylor, and Robert A. Lewis, subject to subtracting unemployment compensation under…
Connelly Construction Corp.
Scaffold guardrail violation affirmed as willful
Connelly performed masonry work from multi-level scaffolding at a shopping mall construction site. The judge found serious violations for employees without hard hats, inadequate scaffold access, missing overhead screening above a building entrance, and unguarded stairways. The principal…
Lu Mar Enterprises
Settlement of excavation citations approved
OSHA issued Lu Mar two citations alleging serious and willful excavation-related violations at a New Jersey worksite. After hearings on three dates, the parties reached a settlement and placed its terms on the record. The judge approved and incorporated the stipulated settlement in full. The…
Vecellio & Grogan Incorporated
High-voltage violation affirmed with $6,000 penalty
Vecellio & Grogan operated White Rock Quarries, a limestone quarry. A foreman was electrocuted after a boom truck contacted an energized 13,200-volt overhead power line while the foreman held the boom chain and signaled the operator. Judge Paul Merlin found a violation of the 10-foot clearance and…
Stillwater Mining Company
One chute citation affirmed and one vacated
Stillwater Mining operated an underground platinum mine where a chute gate assembly failed and a miner was buried under falling ore. Judge Arthur J. Amchan affirmed a violation alleging that the chute-gate bolts were used beyond their design capacity, but assessed a $1,500 penalty instead of the…
Yellow Freight Systems, Inc.
DOT rules did not preempt OSHA spill protections
OSHA cited Yellow Freight after hazardous-material spills at its Colorado freight terminal. The Commission held that the governing transportation statute expressly prevented Department of Transportation actions from preempting OSHA enforcement for the cited working conditions. It remanded the…
Fluor Daniel, Incorporated
Service-brake citation reinstated and remanded
Fluor Daniel operated an open-pit gold mine where a forklift rolled on a grade after its service brakes failed, causing a worker to fall from a bench and sustain fatal injuries. The ALJ had vacated the service-brake citation, but the Commission held that the standard applies whether or not the…
Black Star Mining Company, Incorporated
Roof citation modified with $463 total penalty
Black Star Mining operated the No. 3 Mine. Judge Avram Weisberger approved settlements of two citations, one for $50 and another reduced from $690 to $363. He found a roof-support violation involving cracks above the supported roof area, but found it was not significant and substantial and that the…
Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co.
Settlement approved with $10,000 penalty
Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining used drill power to remove an adapter, and a wrench flew off and struck a miner who later died. The parties agreed that the evidence did not support the inspector's findings of high negligence and unwarrantable failure because the procedure had been used for years and…
Lion Mining Company
Roof-control violation affirmed on remand
Lion Mining Company was cited after it mined a notch from a coal pillar without first installing roadway posts required by its roof control plan. On remand from the Commission, Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that the violation was significant and substantial and resulted from unwarrantable failure…
Minnesota Ore Operations, USX Corporation
Temporary reinstatement denied
Ronald A. Markovich, a miners' representative at Minnesota Ore Operations, was discharged after the company determined that he had repeatedly removed or tampered with No Smoking stickers in an elevator. The Secretary of Labor sought his temporary reinstatement, alleging that the discharge was…
William W. Long, employed by APAC, Arkansas Incorporated, McClinton - Anchor Division
$600 settlement approved
William W. Long, an employee of APAC, Arkansas Incorporated's McClinton-Anchor Division, was assessed an individual civil penalty after a conveyor belt was not deenergized and locked out before employees removed a large rock and applied belt dressing to the head pulley. The violation resulted in an…
Badger Underground Constr., Inc.
Default relief denied after certified notice
Badger failed to answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to a show-cause order, so its notice of contest was dismissed and the citations and proposed penalties became final. More than a year later, it appealed the Secretary's penalty-collection efforts and claimed that it had not received the…
Consolidation Coal Company
Fire-evacuation findings and penalties decided
Consolidation Coal Company and three individual mine officials were charged after a fire in the belt-drive area of the Blacksville No. 2 Mine. Judge David F. Barbour found that the company failed to follow its approved evacuation program, but deleted the significant-and-substantial finding and…
Cedar Coal Company, Inc.
Temporary reinstatement ordered
Steve Baker, a front-end loader operator for Cedar Coal Company, said he was fired after refusing to operate a loader whose heater and defroster did not work and whose windows were frosted. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that Baker's account was not inherently incredible and that conflicting testimony…
American Girl Joint Venture
Discrimination proceeding dismissed
Daniel A. Hernandez filed a complaint after American Girl Joint Venture terminated him, but he expressly said it was not a discrimination complaint and did not allege that he made a protected safety complaint or refused unsafe work. Judge Richard W. Manning also found that Hernandez did not respond…
Lothan Dwayne Skelton, employed by Skelton, Inc.
Agent penalties assessed
Lothan Dwayne Skelton, owner and working manager of Skelton, Inc., and Perry Lee Rowe, the mine foreman, were charged with knowingly authorizing or carrying out violations at the El-Jay Mine. Judge August F. Cetti found aggravated conduct supporting individual liability for several handrail…
ASARCO, Incorporated
Back pay and reinstatement ordered
David Hopkins was discharged by ASARCO after raising safety concerns about a high scaler at the Sweetwater Mine. In an earlier decision, the judge found that the discharge violated section 105(c) of the Mine Act. This supplemental decision awarded Hopkins back pay, bonus and vacation pay, expenses…
Lone Mountain Processing, Inc.
Ventilation citation vacated and settlement approved
Lone Mountain Processing operated the underground Darby Fork No. 1 coal mine in eastern Kentucky. The Secretary alleged that the mine failed to follow its approved ventilation plan because a check curtain was missing, after an inspector found elevated methane in a roof cavity. Judge Jerold Feldman…
Mutual Mining, Inc.
Back-pay awards remanded
Mutual Mining had been found to have discriminatorily discharged five miners, and the ALJ had awarded back pay while deducting unemployment compensation. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the discrimination findings but reversed that deduction. The Commission remanded the cases to the ALJ to recalculate…
Dynasty Resources, Inc.
Temporary reinstatement proceeding dismissed
The Secretary of Labor sought temporary reinstatement for Jimmy D. Carnes in a proceeding involving Dynasty Resources' No. 3 Mine. The Secretary moved to withdraw the application because Carnes had obtained other employment. Judge Gary Melick approved the withdrawal and dismissed the proceeding…
Amerisig Southeast, Inc.
Printing-press guarding item classified as repeated
Three Amerisig employees suffered serious hand injuries from unguarded printing or binding machinery over eight months. The citation on review arose when a press unexpectedly reversed during the webbing-up process and pulled an employee's hand into the rollers. The Commission found that an…
Dr. Dione Williams
Hepatitis B vaccination citation vacated
OSHA cited Dr. Dione Williams for allegedly failing to make hepatitis B vaccination available to an employee who requested it after initially declining it. The doctor told the employee that the vaccination was free at a nearby hospital. The employee knew the hospital's location, had transportation…
Minelli Construction Company, Inc.
Mixed ruling on bridge rehabilitation safety citations
Minelli Construction Company was a subcontractor performing rehabilitation work on a New York Thruway bridge. OSHA cited the company for alleged hazards involving eye and face protection, hazard communication, fall protection, electrical equipment, suspended scaffolds, access, and gasoline storage…
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.