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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Baker Concrete Constr. Co.
Scaffold-access citation vacated for lack of fair notice
Baker Concrete employees climbed formwork to reach a partially dismantled scaffold at a shopping-mall construction site. An administrative law judge affirmed a serious citation for failing to provide a ladder or equivalent safe access and assessed $2,500. The Commission reversed because three OSHA…
Construction Materials Corporation
Default order reopened and remanded
Construction Materials Corporation did not answer the Secretary's proposed civil penalty or an order to show cause, so the ALJ entered a default order and assessed $645. The company later said it had responded in letters to the judge and asked for reconsideration. The Commission treated the late…
General Motors Corporation, Delco Chassis Division
Lockout citations vacated
General Motors employees serviced automated manufacturing equipment without locking out its energy sources, relying instead on interlocked gates, emergency stops, and machine controls. The Commission held that the lockout/tagout standard applied only when unexpected energization, startup, or…
Buck Creek Coal Company
Blanket stay vacated
Buck Creek Coal Inc. challenged an ALJ's order that continued a blanket stay covering more than 300 contest and civil-penalty proceedings while the Secretary considered related criminal investigations. The Commission held that the record did not show enough overlap between the civil and criminal…
Midwest Material Corporation
Crane-boom citation affirmed with $1,500 penalty
Midwest Material Corporation operated a sand and gravel processing facility in Illinois. A miner died after a section of a crane boom dropped while he was helping extend the boom without first lowering it to the ground or mechanically securing it. Judge Arthur J. Amchan found a significant and…
RGM Construction Company
Four bridge-safety items affirmed and two vacated
RGM Construction Company was widening a Texas bridge when OSHA cited fall-protection and water-safety conditions. The Commission affirmed a serious fall-protection item because tying a lanyard to an unsecured work platform could pull the platform down with a falling employee. It also affirmed items…
Ross Incineration Services, Inc.
In re Ross Incineration Services, Inc. (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 93-3): review denied over separate metal feed limits
Ross Incineration Services sought a Class II RCRA permit modification to add a rotary kiln to its hazardous waste incinerator. Ross proposed one system-wide set of metal feed rate limits based on its assumption that the kiln was the worst feed location, but the trial burn showed statistically…
Branham & Baker Coal Company
Discrimination settlement approved
Garis Martin brought a Mine Act discrimination complaint against Branham & Baker Coal Company. The parties submitted a settlement agreement, and Martin consented to it on the record. Judge Gary Melick approved the settlement and ordered the company to pay a nominal $1 civil penalty within 30 days…
Cougar Coal Company
Smoking-sweep interference citation affirmed
Cougar Coal Company told an underground foreman that MSHA inspectors were at the mine during a surprise inspection intended to find smoking materials. Judge Arthur J. Amchan held that the warning interfered with MSHA's reasonable inspection technique and violated the Mine Act's right-of-entry…
Griesmer Stone Company
Loose-ground violations split
Springfield Underground and Griesmer Stone operated a limestone mine where MSHA alleged hazardous loose-ground conditions in several areas. Judge Roy J. Maurer found that some rock had to be excavated with powerful mechanical equipment and was not loose ground under the cited standard, so three…
Doverspike Brothers Coal Co.
Settlement approved with reduced penalty
Doverspike Brothers Coal Co. faced a proposed civil penalty of $3,200 for a Mine Act violation. The Secretary and the operator submitted a settlement that reduced the penalty to $2,200. Judge Avram Weisberger found the settlement acceptable under the statutory penalty criteria, approved it, and…
S.A. Healy Co.
Double-jeopardy defense rejected and penalties remanded
S.A. Healy Co. was the tunneling contractor on a Milwaukee sewer project where a methane explosion killed three employees. OSHA issued 68 willful citation items under its instance-by-instance policy, and 49 of those items covered conduct for which the company was also criminally convicted and fined…
ConAgra, Inc.
Joint motion ends Commission review
OSHA cited ConAgra after an employee at a Buffalo grain elevator was seriously injured when a rail-car puller's wire cable snapped. The underlying judge affirmed a general-duty-clause violation as serious, affirmed stair and platform guarding violations, and vacated a lockout…
John H. Quinlan, d/b/a Quinlan Enterprises
Crane and fall-protection items affirmed
Quinlan Enterprises was erecting steel for a Georgia retail building when OSHA observed employees installing roof decking more than 36 feet above the ground without fall protection. The Commission affirmed the serious fall-protection item because the steel-erection rules did not displace the…
Well Solutions, Inc., Rig No. 30
Blowout-preventer and training violations affirmed
A Well Solutions crew was changing a pump at a horizontal oil well in south Texas when a blowout and fire killed two employees and seriously injured two others. The Commission found that the well-servicing industry recognized the need for a blowout preventer under the conditions at this relatively…
DiGioia Brothers Excavating, Inc.
Trench protection and inspection violations affirmed
DiGioia Brothers Excavating installed residential water and sewer lines in an excavation more than eight feet deep. The Commission found that most contemporaneous soil tests showed compressive strength below the threshold for Type A soil, while tests performed months later at nearby locations did…
Deatley Company, Inc.
Settlement approved for $252 penalty
Deatley Company, Inc. faced a proposed civil penalty for a citation at its Plant No. 3 operation. The parties agreed that the company would pay the originally proposed $252 penalty. Judge Richard W. Manning found the settlement appropriate under the Mine Act's penalty criteria, approved it, and…
Zenith Tech, Inc.
Bridge-opening fall citation vacated
Zenith Tech performed bridge-demolition work on a Milwaukee freeway project. OSHA alleged that employees cutting rebar, attaching lifting chains, and cleaning the deck came too close to an unguarded opening about 15 feet above the ground. The compliance officer estimated distances from about half a…
K.O. Manufacturing, Inc.
In re K.O. Manufacturing, Inc. (EAB EPCRA Appeal No. 93-1): reporting violation found and remanded for penalty
EPA Region VII alleged that K.O. Manufacturing failed to file a Form R for glycol ether compounds processed during calendar year 1987. K.O. argued that 2-Butoxyethanol had its own CAS number but was not individually listed in the applicable chemical lists, so the reporting requirement was unclear…
Walker Stone Company, Inc.
Crusher citations split
Walker Stone Company operated a quarry and mill where an employee was fatally crushed while workers were clearing a plugged impact crusher. Judge Roy J. Maurer vacated one citation because the cited repair and maintenance standard did not apply to the work being performed. He affirmed a second…
Donley's Inc.
Parking-garage guardrail violation affirmed
Donley's Inc. reconstructed a parking garage by removing floor sections and replacing them with formwork and metal pans. Employees worked beside an opening to the floor 12 feet below, where the company used sawhorses as warnings instead of standard guardrails. The Commission reversed the judge's…
CECO Corp.
Ladder and scaffold violations affirmed after fatal fall
A CECO laborer suffered a fatal 18-foot fall from an improvised stairwell scaffold made from a narrow aluminum plank, a straight ladder, and closed stepladders. The Commission admitted evidence that the judge had excluded, but found that the employee's prior statements did not undermine his…
Arkhola Sand & Gravel, Inc. and Vernon McMahon
Conveyor citation vacated and personal-liability docket dismissed
Arkhola operated a sand plant in Oklahoma where a conveyor accident seriously injured a maintenance employee after the conveyor was restarted while he was on it. The judge found that the cited lockout standard, 30 C.F.R. § 56.12016, addressed electrical hazards and was not the applicable standard…
Baker Tank Co./Altech, a Div. of Justiss Oil
Tank-entry training and electrical violations affirmed
Baker Tank employees entered an emptied crude-oil storage tank to cut apart an internal aluminum roof using electric saws. Residual sludge contained volatile solvent, and an explosion after the crew reentered the tank killed three employees. The Commission found that Baker had not adequately…
Dunkard Mining Company
Default order vacated and remanded
Dunkard Mining Company failed to answer a proposed civil penalty assessment and a show-cause order, so the ALJ entered a default order assessing $1,949. The company later sent the Commission a letter stating that it had responded to the penalty proposal, but the response used the wrong docket…
American Bridge Company
Lead-exposure washing-facilities violation affirmed
American Bridge Company rehabilitated two Ohio bridges by cutting and burning steel coated with lead-based paint. OSHA monitoring found one employee's full-shift airborne lead exposure was about 3.8 times the applicable limit, and wipe samples found lead on his hand, shoe, hard hat, and lunch box…
Basin Resources, Inc.
Ventilation violation found significant and substantial
Basin Resources changed the ventilation system at its Golden Eagle Mine without advance approval from MSHA. The judge considered whether the resulting violation of the mine's approved ventilation plan was significant and substantial after the Commission remanded that issue. He found that the…
Brown Brothers Sand Company
One citation vacated and four affirmed
Brown Brothers operated a sand mine with conveyor belts, shaker screens, and electrical equipment. The judge vacated a guarding citation for a conveyor head pulley because the walkway was used exclusively for maintenance and the pulley was remote from ordinary work areas. The judge affirmed four…
Jeddo-Highland Coal Company
Compensation settlement approved
The United Mine Workers of America filed a compensation complaint concerning miners at Jeddo-Highland Coal Company's No. 7 Breaker. The company moved to approve a settlement agreeing to pay each named miner for the listed hours at the miner's regular rate of pay. The judge found the settlement…
R B Coal Company
Settlement approved and penalties reduced to $5,690
R B Coal Company faced civil penalty proceedings involving KENT 94-908 and KENT 94-942. The proposed penalties totaled $42,320. The parties reached a settlement that reduced the total to $5,690, vacated an imminent-danger order in another related docket, changed several section 104(d)(1) matters to…
Tanoma Mining Company
Ventilation order modified and $1,600 penalty affirmed
Tanoma Mining Company was cited after an inspector found insufficient air in the last open crosscut at the Tanoma Mine, where methane was also detected. The judge found that the condition violated the ventilation standard and was significant and substantial because continued inadequate ventilation…
Copper Range Company
Shift-compensation complaint dismissed
United Steelworkers Local 5024 sought shift compensation for miners at Copper Range Company's White Pine Mine after a mine fire and an MSHA section 103(k) control order. The miners had already been evacuated and sent home before the order was issued. Judge Roy J. Maurer held that the miners were…
Otis Elevator Company
Extension-cord GFCI violation affirmed
Otis Elevator Company was installing an elevator in a building addition and powered tools and a portable lamp through an extension cord connected to the original building's permanent wiring. The Commission held that the cord's receptacle outlet still required ground-fault protection under the…
Meshach Coal Company
Dust-sampling settlement approved at $500
Meshach Coal Company failed to take a valid dust sample during a sampling cycle. The parties proposed reducing the penalty from $2,000 to $500 because the operator was experiencing financial difficulties and the mine was closed. Judge Paul Merlin approved the settlement and ordered payment of $500…
Utility Systems, Inc.
Willful utility-location violation affirmed after gas explosion
Utility Systems excavated for water service lines on a New Jersey street after snow and earlier trenching had obscured gas-line markings. Its superintendent requested a new markout but began digging before the gas company responded, despite uncertainty about service to one house. The backhoe struck…
Pontiki Coal Corporation
Remaining dismissal issues rejected
Charles H. Dixon filed a discrimination complaint involving Pontiki Coal Corporation, and the Secretary later filed a complaint on his behalf. Pontiki argued that the Secretary's filing was untimely, that Dixon's certificate of representation was defective, and that an amended complaint did not…
S & H Mining Co.
Settlement approved with $1,000 penalty
S & H Mining Co. employee Gary Byrge faced a civil penalty proceeding under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act. The Secretary proposed a $1,000 penalty, and Byrge agreed to pay it in full under a settlement. Judge Gary Melick found the settlement acceptable under the statutory criteria and…
Valdak Corp.
Willful machine-guarding penalty increased
Valdak Corporation used an industrial centrifuge extractor to dry towels at its North Dakota car wash. A 15-year-old employee suffered a severed arm, which was later reattached, after reaching into the extractor while its internal drum was spinning. The Commission held that Valdak willfully…
Condero Mining Company
Temporary reinstatement approved and proceeding dismissed
The Secretary of Labor filed an application for temporary reinstatement on behalf of Keith D. James after Cordero Mining Company terminated his employment. The parties agreed to a voluntary economic temporary reinstatement while a related discrimination case proceeded. Judge August F. Cetti…
Buck Creek Coal, Inc.
Interlocutory review granted
Buck Creek Coal Inc. sought interlocutory review of an ALJ order continuing a stay over hundreds of consolidated citations and orders. The Commission concluded that the stay order involved a controlling question of law and that immediate review could materially advance the proceeding. It granted…
Buck Creek Coal, Inc.
Interlocutory review denied
Buck Creek Coal Inc. asked the Commission to review an ALJ's order staying about 80 civil proceedings while a related criminal investigation continued. The Commission denied interlocutory review because it had already established the governing stay factors in an earlier Buck Creek decision and the…
Buck Creek Coal, Inc.
Blanket stay vacated
Buck Creek Coal Inc. challenged an ALJ's order that continued a blanket stay covering more than 300 contest and civil-penalty proceedings while the Secretary considered related criminal investigations. The Commission held that the record did not show enough overlap between the civil and criminal…
Marshall Durbin
Hearing-protection violations affirmed, one reduced to nonserious
Marshall Durbin operated a chicken-processing plant in Jasper, Alabama. The judge found that two employees exposed above the permissible noise limit were not required to wear hearing protection, affirming that item as serious. A second item was affirmed but reduced to other-than-serious because…
BSC Construction, Inc.
Default order vacated and remanded
BSC Construction, Inc. failed to answer a proposed civil penalty assessment and an ALJ's order to show cause. The ALJ entered default and assessed the Secretary's proposed $800 in civil penalties. BSC later sent letters that the Commission treated as a timely petition for discretionary review. The…
Power Operating Company
Mine safety violations split, penalties partly affirmed
Power Operating Company faced seven citations or orders arising from MSHA inspections at its Frenchtown surface coal mine and Leslie Tipple preparation plant in Pennsylvania. The judge affirmed violations involving an unsafe dump-truck tire, muddy haulage roads and impounded water, and combustible…
JEN, Inc.
Default order requiring payment of civil penalties
JEN, Inc. failed to answer the Secretary of Labor's civil penalty petitions in nine consolidated proceedings. The judge and the Commission gave the operator repeated opportunities to respond to orders to show cause, including after the Commission reopened and remanded the proceedings in the…
Tanoma Mining Company
Discrimination complaint settled for $500
Tanoma Mining Company was accused of discriminating against James P. Lamont after he reported four accidents during the previous year and received a disciplinary letter under the company's new accident reduction program. The Secretary's complaint sought remedies for Lamont and a civil penalty…
B & S Trucking Company
Raised truck bed violation affirmed with reduced penalty
B & S Trucking Company was cited after a driver walked beneath the unsupported raised bed of a coal truck while fueling it at the Manalapan No. 1 Mine. The judge found that the conduct violated the requirement to block raised machinery before work is performed underneath it and was significant and…
Sextet Mining Corporation
Cable and dust violations affirmed, one order modified
Sextet Mining Corporation faced four violations at the West Hopkins No. 11 Mine involving damaged trailing cables, combustible coal dust and loose coal, and inadequate rock dusting. The judge found the violations significant and substantial, and found aggravated negligence for the most seriously…
Pontiki Coal Corporation
Secretary of Labor v. Pontiki Coal Corporation (FMSHRC KENT 94-1274-D): Review petition dismissed as premature
The Secretary of Labor petitioned for discretionary Commission review of an ALJ order that partially dismissed a discrimination complaint involving Charles H. Dixon and 17 other individuals. The Commission held that the ALJ order was not final because it did not expressly direct entry of final…
Ebenezer Coal Company, Inc.
Smoking-material citation modified and $250 penalty assessed
During an MSHA smoking sweep, an inspector found an unopened pack of cigarettes in a miner's lunch bag underground at Ebenezer Coal's No. 1 Mine. The company conceded a significant and substantial violation, but disputed the findings of high negligence, highly likely injury, and the proposed $2,500…
John Cullen Rock Crushing and Gravel
27 citations resolved with $912 in penalties
John Cullen Rock Crushing and Gravel operated the small Grant Pit sand and gravel operation in Colorado, along with an integrated silica plant. Judge Richard W. Manning found that MSHA had jurisdiction over the mine, the silica plant, and the shared equipment and workers. The decision addressed 27…
Marine Shale Processors, Inc.
In re Marine Shale Processors, Inc. (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 94-12): permit denial affirmed and remanded for final denial
Marine Shale Processors sought a RCRA permit to operate its Louisiana facility as an industrial furnace under the Boilers and Industrial Furnace rule. EPA Region VI denied the application after finding that the facility did not function as an aggregate kiln and that its output was not…
Costain Coal, Inc.
Settlements approved and coal-spillage citation vacated
Costain Coal operated the Wheatcroft Mine in western Kentucky. The parties settled the outstanding penalties in KENT 94-1001 and KENT 94-1056, including a modification that reduced one proposed penalty from $235 to $50. In KENT 94-1002, Judge Arthur J. Amchan found that the Secretary did not prove…
Jericol Mining Incorporated
Fifteen settlements approved and one denied
Jericol Mining and the Secretary proposed settlements for 16 violations, reducing the total proposed penalties from $7,723 to $5,994. Judge Paul Merlin approved settlements for 15 citations at their originally assessed penalties. He denied the proposed reduction for Citation No. 4470153, which…
Jericol Mining Incorporated
Five settlements approved and two denied
Jericol Mining and the Secretary proposed settlements for seven violations, reducing the total penalties from $3,411 to $2,830. Judge Paul Merlin approved settlements for five citations at their originally assessed penalties. He denied the proposed reductions for a citation involving coal brows…
Green Coal Company
Two citations settled for $175
Green Coal Company faced two civil penalty proceedings involving an open door on an electrical circuit breaker box and ineffective dust controls on a highwall drill. The parties agreed to reduce the proposed penalties from $431 to $125 for the electrical citation and from $128 to $50 for the…
Joseph Bueme
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA cited Joseph Bueme for failing to maintain a written hazard communication program and failing to provide employees with required chemical-hazard information and training. Bueme received the citation on February 11, 1994, but filed the notice of contest after the 15-working-day deadline. He…
Buck Creek Coal Inc.
Interlocutory petition held in abeyance
Buck Creek Coal asked the Commission to review an ALJ order continuing a stay in proceedings involving hundreds of citations and orders while a criminal prosecution was pending. The Secretary argued that interlocutory review was unavailable because the judge had not certified the ruling and had not…
Buck Creek Coal Company, Incorporated
Remand penalty reassessed at $5,500
The Commission reversed Judge T. Todd Hodgdon's earlier conclusion that Buck Creek's violation of the preshift examination standard was not significant and substantial. On remand, the judge treated the violation as significant and substantial, found that it involved a high degree of gravity, and…
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.