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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Daniel O'Connell's Sons, Inc.
Lifesaving-skiff citation settled for $5,000
Daniel O'Connell's Sons, Inc. performed bridge work over the Connecticut River and was cited for failing to make a lifesaving skiff immediately available. The administrative law judge had affirmed the item as willful with a $35,000 penalty. While the case was under Commission review, the parties…
Central Operating Co.-Philip Sporn
First-aid crew bloodborne-pathogen items affirmed as nonserious
Central Operating Company designated 82 employees at its Philip Sporn plant as members of a first-aid crew. The company argued that rendering aid was voluntary, so the crew members were good samaritans rather than employees with occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens. The judge rejected that…
Kunz Construction Co., Inc.
Four serious excavation-safety violations affirmed
Kunz Construction Co., Inc. was inspected while working near the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas. OSHA found a foreman without a hard hat, an access ladder that did not extend three feet above the excavation, an unguarded plank used as a crossing, and employees in an excavation that was neither…
Triplett Brothers Excavating
$22,000 relief approved in a discrimination case
Richard E. Gawthrop brought a discrimination complaint against Triplett Brothers Excavating after his January 11, 1994 discharge. An earlier decision found that the discharge was discriminatorily motivated in violation of section 105(c) of the Mine Act. The parties then stipulated to $9,086 in back…
Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company
Two citations affirmed as modified and one vacated
Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company operated the Kemmerer Mine and faced three safety citations. Judge August F. Cetti found combustible material and hydraulic oil accumulated on a car-pusher hydraulic unit, and found that a haul-road caution sign was required, but deleted the…
Fielding Hydroseeding
Settlement reduced penalties to $5,000
Fielding Hydroseeding faced a civil penalty proceeding involving the Murphy No. 1 Prep Plant. The Secretary of Labor and the company proposed a settlement that reduced the total penalties from $6,000 to $5,000, payable under an installment plan. Judge Arthur J. Amchan found the settlement…
Tri-City Electrical Contractors, Inc.
Compressed-gas and extension-cord violations affirmed
Tri-City Electrical Contractors, Inc. was completing electrical work at a Builder's Square store in Fort Myers, Florida. OSHA found an unsecured and uncapped carbon-dioxide cylinder connected to an air gun, and an energized extension cord that was repeatedly run over by material-handling equipment…
Franklin E. Skepton
Twelve construction-safety violations affirmed
Franklin E. Skepton was the general contractor for a high-school addition in Pennsylvania. OSHA cited conditions including unguarded floor and wall openings, missing hard hats, unsafe compressed-gas handling, unprotected electrical equipment, unstable and unguarded scaffolds, improper gasoline…
Mechanicsville Concrete Inc.
Jurisdiction issue barred by collateral estoppel
The Secretary of Labor asked the judge to prevent Mechanicsville Concrete from relitigating whether its Pit No. 1 mine was subject to Mine Act jurisdiction. An earlier decision had held that the company and its mines were subject to MSHA jurisdiction, and the Commission had denied review of that…
Pontiki Coal Corporation
Partial dismissal issue deferred
Pontiki Coal Corporation moved to dismiss a discrimination complaint brought on behalf of Charles H. Dixon. At hearings, an affidavit indicated that Dixon may have been a representative of miners before April 15, 1994. Judge Gary Melick amended an earlier interlocutory order by deleting the finding…
Broken Hill Mining Company
One citation modified and one vacated
Broken Hill Mining Company and employee Donald Kidd faced separate citations after a lighter was found in Kidd's lunch bucket at the No. 1 Mine. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that the evidence did not prove Kidd willfully carried the lighter underground, so he vacated Kidd's citation and dismissed…
Energy West Mining Company
$50 citation affirmed
Energy West Mining Company was cited at its Cottonwood Mine after three nonpermissible diesel trucks were found in a two-entry longwall panel during equipment installation. The judge held that the belt-haulage entry remained a belt-haulage entry while the conveyor was being modified, and that the…
Swing-A-Way Manufacturing Co.
In re Swing-A-Way Manufacturing Co. (EAB EPCRA Appeal No. 94-1): nickel reporting violation and $48,000 penalty affirmed
Swing-A-Way Manufacturing made manual can openers and ice crushers in St. Louis, Missouri. EPA alleged that it failed to file required EPCRA Form R reports for nickel and sulfuric acid. The Environmental Appeals Board held that EPA proved Swing-A-Way processed more than the 25,000-pound nickel…
North Western Resources Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Carl Stoecker alleged that North Western Resources Company discharged him because of safety-related complaints at its Jewett Mine. Judge Jerold Feldman found that Stoecker’s concerns about a substitute crusher operator and a coworker’s ability to perform heavy lifting were protected activity. The…
Midwest Materials Corporation
$1,500 settlement approved
Midwest Materials Corporation was the respondent in a civil penalty proceeding involving its employee Edward Schumacher at the Lacon Plant. The parties asked the Judge to approve a settlement that reduced the penalty from $9,500 to $1,500. Judge Arthur J. Amchan found the settlement consistent with…
Hico Transport, Inc. and Jay Crase
Default judgment entered
Jerry Slone alleged that Hico Transport, Inc. and Jay Crase discharged him in retaliation for activity protected by the Mine Act. After MSHA declined to find a violation, Slone filed his own Commission action under section 105(c)(3). The respondents did not answer the complaint or comply with…
Sav-Mart, Inc.
In re Sav-Mart, Inc. (EAB FIFRA Appeal No. 94-3): $5,000 penalty assessment upheld
Sav-Mart operated supermarkets in Arizona. Its owner diluted registered Diazinon Spray, put the mixture into used detergent bottles, and offered the bottles for sale with copied and handwritten labels. Sav-Mart admitted four FIFRA violations, and the Presiding Officer assessed a combined $5,000…
Cavenham Forest Industries Inc.
In re Cavenham Forest Industries Inc. (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 93-2): appeal dismissed as moot
Cavenham Forest Industries challenged conditions in an EPA Region VI corrective-action permit for property near Urania, Louisiana. The company asked EPA to remove five oil pits and two drainage ditches from the permit table listing solid waste management units requiring an immediate RCRA Facility…
Winn Construction Company, Inc.
Three-mine settlement approved for $9,700
Winn Construction Company, Inc. faced civil penalty proceedings involving the Browns Valley, Maxwell, and Free Silver Mines. The parties proposed reducing the combined penalty from $27,500 to $9,700. Judge Gary Melick found the settlement acceptable under the Mine Act's statutory criteria. He…
Ky Harlan Coal Co., Inc.
$4,000 settlement approved
Ky Harlan Coal Co., Inc. was the respondent in a civil penalty proceeding involving its Prep Plant and Loading operation. After a hearing, the parties jointly moved to approve a settlement. Judge William Fauver found the settlement consistent with the purposes of section 110(i) of the Mine Act and…
Winn Construction Company, Inc.
$800 settlement approved
Winn Transportation Corp. was the respondent in a civil penalty proceeding involving the Browns Valley Mine. At the hearing, the Secretary moved to approve a settlement and dismiss the case, and the respondent agreed to pay the proposed $800 penalty. Judge Gary Melick found the settlement…
Peabody Coal Company
$302 settlement approved
Peabody Coal Company was the respondent in a civil penalty proceeding involving the Martwick Underground Mine. The Secretary proposed a settlement reducing the penalty from $378 to $302. Judge Gary Melick found the settlement acceptable under the Mine Act criteria and approved it. The $302 penalty…
Peabody Coal Company
Contest dismissed as moot after settlement
Peabody Coal Company contested a citation involving its Martwick Underground Mine. At a January 31, 1995 hearing, the Judge found that the contest had become moot because the parties settled the associated penalty for the underlying citation in KENT 94-1321. Judge Gary Melick dismissed the contest.
Peabody Coal Company
Partial settlement approved and remaining citation stayed
Peabody Coal Company faced a civil penalty proceeding involving the Martwick U.G. Mine. The parties proposed reducing the penalties for two citations from $2,067 to $1,867, and Judge Gary Melick found that partial settlement acceptable under the Mine Act criteria. He approved the $1,867 penalty…
Peabody Coal Company
$1,300 settlement approved
Peabody Coal Company was the respondent in a civil penalty proceeding involving the Martwick Underground Mine. The Secretary proposed a settlement reducing the penalty from $2,000 to $1,300. Judge Gary Melick found the settlement acceptable under the Mine Act criteria and approved it. The $1,300…
Thor Construction
Fall-protection and tagline violations affirmed
Thor Construction was cited for nine serious violations during a structural-steel construction project. Before the hearing, the parties settled seven items by vacating three, reclassifying four as other than serious, and agreeing to $3,000 in penalties. The judge found that several employees worked…
Consolidation Coal Company
Dust-abatement violation affirmed as non-S&S
Consolidation Coal Company was cited after it did not timely reduce respirable dust at its Blacksville No. 2 underground coal mine during the abatement period for an earlier dust citation. The Commission affirmed in result the judge's determination that the conceded dust-abatement violation was not…
F.W. Contractors, Inc.
Default relief sent back to the judge
F.W. Contractors received a $2,700 civil penalty after it failed to answer the Secretary's penalty proposal and a judge's show-cause order. The company's safety director later said that F.W. had answered the penalty petition in an October 20, 1994 letter to the Department of Labor's regional…
Harlan Cumberland Coal Company
Settlement approved at $426
Harlan Cumberland Coal Company and the Secretary jointly asked the judge to approve a settlement for two citations at the C-2 Mine. The proposed settlement reduced the total penalty from $534 to $426, with each citation reduced from $267 to $213. Judge Roy J. Maurer found the settlement appropriate…
Earl Caudill
Settlement approved for $1,250 penalty
Earl Caudill agreed to pay a proposed civil penalty of $1,250 in a case involving the Polly #3 mine in Perry County, Kentucky. The Secretary asked the judge to approve the settlement and dismiss the case. Judge Gary Melick found the settlement acceptable under the Mine Act's penalty criteria. The…
Aubrey-National, Inc.
Case dismissed after Secretary withdrew citation
Aubrey-National, Inc. operated a plastic manufacturing facility where an employee was electrocuted after falling into exposed conductors in a regrinding machine's electrical control box. OSHA cited the company for failing to guard live electrical parts with an approved enclosure. The administrative…
Consolidation Coal Company
Three safety orders affirmed with $9,600 penalty
Consolidation Coal was cited at its Arkwright No. 1 underground coal mine for three alleged safety violations. The ALJ found that a water pump lacked required fire protection, combustible material had accumulated around a belt-line pony drive, and a stopping created about 600 feet of dead air where…
Big "B" Mining Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Randall Patsy alleged that Big "B" Mining Company discriminated against him when it discharged him. The judge found that Patsy was working at a mobile home campground when he was discharged, not at a mine, and therefore was not a miner covered by the Mine Act at that time. Patsy also failed to…
Brickfield Builders, Inc.
Scaffold-foundation citation vacated
Brickfield Builders, Inc. was the masonry contractor for a school addition in Galena Park, Texas. OSHA alleged that the foundation of the south-side scaffold was unstable because it shared part of a haphazard anchorage supporting a west-side scaffold. The administrative law judge credited the…
Phoenix Roofing Inc.
Unguarded translucent skylight violation affirmed
Phoenix Roofing Inc. was reroofing a Texas warehouse when an employee fell through an unguarded skylight made of translucent material and died. The Commission held that the term “skylight opening” in the cited standard includes an intact skylight when its material cannot protect a worker from…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Contest resolved and settlements approved
Judge David F. Barbour resolved a consolidated group of contest and civil-penalty proceedings involving Jim Walter Resources and several individuals at the No. 4, No. 5, and No. 7 Mines. He affirmed an order issued after a hoisting-equipment accident and affirmed the related reporting citation…
Brushy Creek Coal Co., Inc.
Settlements approved at $4,286
Brushy Creek Coal faced two proposed penalties involving respirable dust and an underground fire-suppression system. The respirable-dust matter involved samples averaging 2.3 mg/m3 against a 2.0 mg/m3 limit, and the fire-suppression matter involved nozzles that were not directed at the top belt…
C.W. Mining Company
Citations split between vacated and affirmed
C.W. Mining Company was cited at the Bear Canyon No. 1 Mine for ventilation, fire-protection, smoking-control, and self-contained self-rescue requirements. The judge approved a partial settlement for several citations, vacated six citations for insufficient evidence or inoperability, and affirmed…
Residential Contracting, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA issued Residential Contracting, Inc. a serious citation and proposed penalty. After certified mail sent to the company president's residence was returned unclaimed, a compliance officer delivered the documents to the company's designated mail-receiving location with the president's approval…
Voodoo Constr. Corp.
Broken-fax excuse did not save late contest
OSHA issued Voodoo Construction Corporation serious and repeat citations that the company received on November 29, 1993. The company said it faxed the documents to its attorney, but his fax machine malfunctioned and neither the company nor counsel followed up in time to file a contest. The judge…
ASARCO, Inc.
Dismissal vacated and matter remanded
The Commission reviewed an administrative law judge's dismissal of civil penalty proceedings against ASARCO, Inc. The judge had dismissed the cases based on an earlier Commission decision concerning single-shift samples used to determine violations of the respirable dust standard for underground…
Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co.
Coal-dust and preshift citations affirmed
Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company was cited for coal and float-coal-dust accumulations along a longwall belt entry and for preshift examiners' failure to report hazardous conditions. The judge found the coal-dust conditions and the preshift-examination violation proven, significant and substantial…
R.G. Friday Masonry, Inc.
Repeated guardrail violations affirmed, penalties reduced
R.G. Friday Masonry was the masonry subcontractor at two Pittsburgh construction sites where employees worked on tubular welded-frame scaffolds with missing or inadequate guardrails. The company argued that guardrail installation had to be delayed for orderly work flow and material handling, but…
Mingo Logan Coal Company
Contractor training violation affirmed
Mingo Logan Coal Company operated the Mountaineer Mine and was cited after an independent contractor employee received experienced-miner training instead of new-miner training. The judge held that Mingo Logan could be cited because the contractor's employee worked near Mingo Logan miners and could…
Buck Creek Coal, Inc.
Stay continued pending status conference
Buck Creek Coal, Inc. faced a large group of civil penalty and contest proceedings involving its Buck Creek Mine. The ALJ had stayed the cases while the United States Attorney considered related criminal prosecutions. After the criminal cases were completed, the Secretary requested another 90-day…
Ruhlin Co.
EAJA expense award reduced to $120.08
Ruhlin Company sought fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act after prevailing on two construction citation items. The Commission held that reasonable and necessary attorney travel expenses customarily charged to a client are recoverable, so it allowed $57.04 for mileage and…
L & M Lignos Enterprises
Safety-training violation affirmed, penalty reduced to $750
L & M Lignos Enterprises was a bridge painting and sandblasting firm working beneath a bridge in Cleveland, Ohio. Employee Emmanuel Kleoudis fell from a suspended scaffold onto a barge and later died from his injuries. Although the company told employees to use safety belts and lifelines above 10…
Woronoffs Furniture
Untimely contest dismissed, citations affirmed
Woronoffs Furniture received two OSHA citations and proposed penalties on April 4, 1994, making its notice of contest due by April 25. The company claimed it had mailed an April 11 letter requesting both an informal conference and a contest of the penalties, but OSHA had no record of receiving it…
Donald W. Thompson, Inc.
Three serious items affirmed, $275 assessed
Donald W. Thompson, Inc. contested two OSHA citations and went to a hearing. Before evidence was taken, the Secretary withdrew Item 1 of the serious citation. The judge affirmed the three remaining serious items, finding that unguarded rebar and contact with a radial-saw blade could cause serious…
Jaxon Industrial Services, Inc.
EAJA fee request denied
Jaxon Industrial Services was cleaning a nonhazardous black-liquor spill at a Jacksonville paper mill when OSHA cited it for lacking an emergency response plan. The original hazardous-waste emergency-response allegation was dismissed, and the alternative emergency-action-plan citation was later…
Reading Anthracite Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed after settlement
The Secretary sought approval to withdraw a discrimination complaint filed on behalf of William Ploxa against Reading Anthracite Company. The settlement required Ploxa to withdraw his complaint and the company to rescind a proposed $5,000 civil penalty and expunge disciplinary records related to…
Vulcan Materials Company
Temporary reinstatement proceeding dismissed after settlement
The Secretary sought temporary reinstatement for Harold J. Wilson in a discrimination proceeding against Vulcan Materials Company, Midwest Division. Wilson accepted an agreement providing an economic settlement, and the Secretary asked to withdraw the application for temporary reinstatement. Judge…
Findley Adhesives, Inc.
In re Findley Adhesives, Inc. (EAB CERCLA § 106(b) Petition No. 94-10): reimbursement denied for noncompliance with cleanup orders
Findley Adhesives sent manufacturing waste to the Reno Barrel Recycling Site in Nevada and was named in EPA Region IX cleanup orders addressing hazardous substances at the site. Findley sought reimbursement of response costs under CERCLA section 106(b). The Environmental Appeals Board held that the…
Buck Creek Coal Inc.
Interlocutory petition denied as moot
Buck Creek Coal Inc. sought interlocutory review of an administrative law judge's order that continued a stay over hundreds of contest and civil-penalty proceedings while a criminal prosecution was being evaluated. The stay had expired, and the ALJ had issued a later order continuing the stay and…
Jericol Mining Incorporated
Settlement disapproved pending support
Jericol Mining and the Secretary jointly proposed reducing penalties for two violations from $5,700 to $2,298. One matter involved a disconnected methane monitor on a continuous mining machine, and the other involved loose ribs along a haulage roadway. Judge Paul Merlin rejected the settlement…
EBAA Iron, Inc.
Silica overexposure and control citations vacated
EBAA Iron operated a foundry in Cordele, Georgia, where OSHA sampled the breathing zone of an inner-diameter grinder operator and calculated exposure above the limit for respirable crystalline silica. EBAA showed that the grinding wheel contained 40 percent zirconium oxide and that OSHA's own…
Intermountain Mine Services
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Blake Sorensen, a roof bolter at the Apex underground coal mine, claimed that Intermountain fired him because he raised safety concerns about rock dusting while another miner wore a respirable-dust pump. Judge Richard W. Manning found that Sorensen engaged in protected activity, but concluded that…
Holst Escavating, Inc.
Default order reopened and remanded
Holst failed to answer the Secretary's proposed civil penalty assessment and a judge's show-cause order, so the judge entered a default order assessing $995. Holst later explained that it had sent bankruptcy filings to a Department of Labor solicitor and was waiting for a response. The Commission…
Pontiki Coal Corporation
Partial dismissal of discrimination complaint
The Secretary filed a discrimination complaint naming Charles H. Dixon, several other representatives of miners, and eleven unnamed Pontiki employees. Judge Gary Melick held that only Dixon had filed the underlying complaint with the Secretary, so the case could not proceed on behalf of the…
Waterbury Style, Inc.
Kick-press violation reclassified as nonserious, $750 assessed
Waterbury Style used a foot-operated kick press to assemble belt buckles. The operator needed both hands during the process and at times placed fingers in, or within a few inches of, the press's point of operation. The judge found the guarding violation clear because the standard requires a device…
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.