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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ASARCO, Inc.
Medical-removal benefit violation affirmed, $2,125 assessed
ASARCO operated a primary lead refinery in Omaha, Nebraska. Maintenance welder Michael Dougherty was medically removed to lower-exposure areas and then was not considered for an open mason position solely because that job involved work above OSHA's lead action level. The judge held that Dougherty's…
Sommer Builders, Inc.
Scaffold item affirmed as willful, penalty reduced to $7,500
Sommer Builders performed masonry work from tubular welded-frame scaffolds at a Boise construction project. Employees faced an interior fall through window openings guarded only by loose rebar and exterior falls from unguarded outrigger platforms, including potential falls of about 38 feet. The…
Mingo Logan Coal Company
Smoking-materials citation affirmed
Mingo Logan Coal Company operated the Mountaineer Mine, where a contractor was mining in an underground section. Inspectors found 13 cigarettes and a butane lighter on a roof bolter and issued a citation under the rule barring smoking materials underground. Judge William Fauver held the mine…
Nats Creek Mining Company
Ten citations and two imminent-danger orders affirmed
Nats Creek Mining operated the Sugarloaf No. 2 underground coal mine in Kentucky. After a fatal accident involving a scoop operator, MSHA cited the mine for missing or inoperative methane monitors and an inoperative fire-suppression system on scoops. MSHA also cited an underground battery charging…
Johnson Pacific, Incorporated
In re Johnson Pacific, Incorporated (EAB FIFRA Appeal No. 93-4): $4,080 penalty affirmed
Johnson Pacific sold swimming-pool brominating tablets in unlabeled plastic bags and told a purchaser that the product could be used in spas, although its registration covered swimming pools. The Presiding Officer found three FIFRA violations and assessed a $4,080 penalty after considering the…
Savage Zinc, Inc.
Escapeway citation and withdrawal order affirmed
Savage Zinc operated the Elmwood-Gordonsville zinc mine in Tennessee. The mine’s Stonewall production area had only one usable escapeway from its lowest working levels after the No. 6 Shaft became unsafe. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that the area required two separate escapeways, rejected the…
Texas A.C.A., Inc.
Commission affirms vacatur of all scaffold citations because a diligent contractor did not know of conditions other trades kept disturbing
Texas A.C.A., Inc. was the plastering contractor on a four-story hospital construction project in Bedford, Texas. Texas erected the tubular welded frame scaffolding around the building, but other contractors used it too and frequently moved or removed the planks without telling Texas, so Texas had…
Peabody Coal Company
Order modified and settlement approved
Peabody Coal contested a withdrawal order alleging that return air was reaching power connection points in the Martwick Underground Mine, and the parties separately settled another citation for a $100 penalty. Judge Gary Melick found that the ventilation violation occurred, but the Secretary did…
Birchfield Mining, Inc.
Settlement approved for $800
Birchfield Mining contested a Mine Act withdrawal order and faced a related civil penalty proceeding. The parties asked the judge to approve a settlement. Judge William Fauver found the settlement consistent with the purposes of the Mine Act, approved it, and ordered Birchfield to pay $800 within…
Lakeview Rock Products, Inc.
Mixed citation results with $1,750 in penalties
Lakeview Rock Products operated a sand and gravel pit in Salt Lake City, Utah. The case involved a highwall condition, vehicle seat-belt use, berms and bumper blocks, access to electrical and examination records, and a defective back-up alarm. Judge Arthur J. Amchan vacated the proposed penalty for…
Litton Industrial Automation Systems, Inc., New Britain Machine Division
In re Litton Industrial Automation Systems, Inc., New Britain Machine Division (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 93-4): inspection evidence admitted and $36,000 penalty affirmed
EPA Region I charged Litton's New Britain, Connecticut facility with failing to properly mark and store polychlorinated biphenyls. Litton argued that state inspectors were not authorized EPA representatives, that EPA could not use TSCA grant funds to support the inspection, and that the inspection…
Waste Technologies Industries
In re Waste Technologies Industries (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 93-16): permit review denied for ECIS conditions
Waste Technologies Industries operated a hazardous-waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio, and added an Enhanced Carbon Injection System to reduce dioxin and furan emissions. EPA Region V required quarterly testing during the first year, advance notice of tests, operation of the system whenever…
Pulaski Construction, Inc.
Late contest dismissed, citation affirmed
Pulaski Construction received an OSHA citation on May 14, 1993, making its written notice of contest due by June 4. Its contest letter was dated June 3 but postmarked June 11 and received by OSHA on June 15. The company president and a later letter from his clerk asserted that the notice had been…
Dynamic Painting Corp.
Three fall and water-safety items vacated, ring-buoy item affirmed
Dynamic Painting employees worked on a bridge and suspended scaffold above water at a Bay Shore, New York, site. The judge vacated the fall-protection item because the compliance officer gave inconsistent testimony about when the photographs were taken, where the employee was located, and whether…
Monfort of Colorado - Greeley Lamb
Settlement approved for $37,500
Monfort of Colorado - Greeley Lamb and the Secretary resolved citations arising from an OSHA inspection through a settlement approved by the Commission. The Secretary reclassified seven emergency-response and hazard-communication items from repeated to serious, and Monfort withdrew its contest to…
Peabody Coal Company
Ventilation-plan violation affirmed, but not S&S
Peabody Coal operated the underground Martwick coal mine in Kentucky. An inspector measured 2,340 cubic feet per minute of air at a continuous miner, below the 5,000 cubic feet per minute required by Peabody's ventilation plan, and the company conceded the violation. The Commission agreed with the…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Petition for review withdrawn and proceeding dismissed
Jim Walter Resources asked to withdraw its petition for review in a consolidated proceeding involving its ventilation plan at four mines. The company said that three mines no longer operated under the disputed plan and that MSHA's interpretation was clear at the remaining mine. The Secretary of…
Cold Springs Granite Company
Granite blocking violation affirmed, $157 penalty assessed
Cold Springs Granite operated a granite quarry and finishing yard in New York. During block-splitting work, a granite block tipped onto an employee, causing serious injuries to both legs that were later amputated. The judge found that the blocks were not positioned to prevent movement and that the…
Waste Technologies Industries
In re Waste Technologies Industries (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 93-11): permit modification upheld and revocation not required
Waste Technologies Industries operated a hazardous-waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio. EPA Region V added Von Roll (Ohio), Inc. as an additional permitted operator after learning that the company had been performing operational and maintenance work without prior EPA approval. The City of…
Buck Creek Coal Company, Inc.
Preshift violation upheld, S&S finding reversed, penalty remanded
Buck Creek operates an underground coal mine in Sullivan, Indiana. MSHA alleged that three miners entered the mine before the required preshift examination was completed and recorded at the surface. The Commission upheld the violation and the finding of unwarrantable failure, reversed the judge's…
ASARCO, Inc.
Silica-dust citation dismissal vacated and remanded
MSHA cited ASARCO at its underground Young Mine, a zinc mine in Tennessee, after a skip tender was exposed to an average of 2.3 milligrams of respirable silica-bearing dust per cubic meter of air. The administrative law judge dismissed the citation based on the Commission's earlier decision…
Amax Coal Company
Citations vacated and settlement approved
Amax Coal operates the Wabash Mine in southeastern Illinois. The judge considered a methane citation at a silo head house, a citation concerning ambient carbon monoxide levels in the mine ventilation plan, and three settled citations. The judge vacated the methane citation because the record did…
Noble Steel, Inc.
Rebar and access violations affirmed, $2,250 assessed
Noble Steel employees worked inside a roughly 10-foot-deep chlorine filter basin at an Oklahoma water-treatment project. Vertical reinforcing steel protruded from the floor without effective impalement protection, and employees entered and left by climbing rebar held by wire ties instead of using a…
Classic Homes Div. of Elite, Inc.
Fall-protection items affirmed, penalties reduced to $1,600
Classic Homes was the general contractor for a house under construction in Colorado Springs. A roofing subcontractor's employees worked on a 17-foot-high roof without the required catch platform and near second-floor wall openings without adequate guardrails. Classic Homes argued that it did not…
Daniel Lee Coal Company, Incorporated
Roof-control violation assessed at $9,000
Daniel Lee Coal Company operated the No. 2 Mine, an underground coal mine in Kentucky. The judge found that the company changed from the approved 48-inch resin-grouted roof bolts to 36-inch mechanical bolts without notifying MSHA or obtaining approval. The judge found the violation significant and…
Kennie-Wayne, Inc.
$5,601 penalty assessed after ability-to-continue review
Kennie-Wayne, Inc. disputed whether paying proposed penalties would affect its ability to continue operating its coal mine. The judge found that the company had not shown the $5,601 penalty would determine whether it could remain in business. The judge concluded that the company's future depended…
Computer Sciences Raytheon
Two launch-platform items vacated, ramp item affirmed
Computer Sciences Raytheon employees opened camera boxes on Kennedy Space Center's mobile launch platform after space shuttle launches. The judge found that workers approached unguarded blast holes and perimeter edges before tying off, but she vacated those two items under the multi-employer…
Bionetics Corp.
Three launch-platform fall items affirmed, $2,750 assessed
Bionetics employees retrieved film from camera boxes on a mobile launch platform at Kennedy Space Center after space shuttle launches. During two launches, blast-hole and perimeter guardrails had been removed, the deck was wet and windy, and employees approached cameras within a few feet of…
Iva Coal Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Larry J. Nease alleged that Iva Coal Company discharged him in retaliation for safety-related activity, including his claim that he had worked under unsupported roof and threatened to report it. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that Nease did not prove he complained to management about the unsupported…
E.C.C.O. III Enterprises, Inc.
EAJA application denied
E.C.C.O. III Enterprises sought attorney fees and expenses after an earlier decision affirmed all five contested citation items but reduced three classifications from willful to serious. The judge first found the application deficient because the company did not provide the required detailed…
Clarence Wall and Ceiling, Inc.
Tool and platform violations affirmed, $2,475 assessed
Clarence Wall and Ceiling was erecting metal roof framing at a New York construction site when OSHA found an angle grinder without its designed guard, an excessively worn grinding wheel, and an aerial work platform without a building-side guardrail. The judge affirmed the grinder-guard item because…
Lawrence B. Wohl, Inc.
Mobile-scaffold penalties increased to $1,000
Lawrence B. Wohl employees installed lathing and sprayed fireproofing from small mobile scaffolds at a Yonkers waste-transfer-station project. One scaffold had unlocked casters and exposed an employee to a four-foot fall, while another lacked a midrail and toeboard and exposed two employees to a…
Merchant's Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold and forklift penalties increased to $8,400
Merchant's Masonry employees worked on an unguarded 18-foot scaffold, and the company also used a forklift without a seatbelt or working horn and left it running with raised forks. The willful scaffold classification was not disputed on review, but the Commission raised its penalty from $500 to…
Adena Fuels, Incorporated
Discrimination case dismissed after settlement
Larry E. Hatton brought a discrimination proceeding against Adena Fuels concerning the Diamond No. 1 Mine. After the hearing began and was postponed, Hatton requested permission to withdraw because the parties had reached an agreeable settlement. Judge Gary Melick granted permission to withdraw…
Lion Mining Company
Imminent-danger withdrawal order affirmed
Lion Mining operated the Grove No. 1 underground coal mine. After methane levels in a bleeder system rose above five percent, the mine was evacuated, equipment was deenergized, and ventilation was increased. MSHA issued a section 107(a) imminent-danger order, and Lion Mining argued that the order…
E & R Erectors, Inc.
Serious fall-protection violation affirmed, penalty reduced to $1,500
E & R Erectors was the structural-steel subcontractor for a Philadelphia warehouse project where employees laid roof decking roughly 30 feet above the ground without safety belts or nets. Employee Raymond Connors fell from the roof structure and suffered serious injuries. Although OSHA had not…
Consolidation Coal Company
Conveyor citation affirmed
Consolidation Coal operated the Blacksville No. 2 underground coal mine. MSHA cited the operator after finding a belt conveyor tailpiece packed with coal and coal dust, missing and stuck rollers, and a belt rubbing metal brackets, creating a potential fire hazard. Judge George A. Koutras found that…
Bluestone Coal Corporation
Citations mixed and $500 penalty
Bluestone Coal operated the Keystone No. 6 Strip Mine. After a coal truck overturned on a haulage road and the driver died, MSHA issued an imminent-danger order and citations involving haulage-road signs and equipment speed. MSHA later vacated the withdrawal order and one citation. Judge David F…
Amax Coal West Incorporated
Citations vacated because the wrong operator was cited
Amax Coal West operated the Belle Ayr strip coal mine, where independent contractors installed and used two tanks for spraying dust suppressant on coal. MSHA cited Amax for ladder violations on the tanks and sought a $100 penalty. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that the tanks and cited conditions were…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Conveyor and coal-dust violations modified
Jim Walter Resources operated the No. 7 Mine, where MSHA issued orders and citations involving conveyor alignment, damaged rollers, coal-dust accumulations, and a loose conveyor guard. Judge Arthur J. Amchan found the violations significant and substantial, but he rejected several…
Norma J. & Frank J. Echevarria d/b/a Echeco Environmental Services
In re Norma J. and Frank J. Echevarria d/b/a Echeco Environmental Services (EAB CAA Appeal No. 94-1): asbestos wetting violations affirmed
Echeco Environmental Services performed asbestos abatement work at the North Gem School in Bancroft, Idaho. An EPA inspector found that pipe insulation removed during the work was not adequately wet because it was stiff and dry and released dust and fibers when broken. The Environmental Appeals…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
$6,000 assessed for willful noise-program violations
The Eleventh Circuit remanded this case solely for the Commission to set penalties after holding that Trinity Industries' two noise-program violations were willful. One item involved failing to establish baseline and annual audiograms for covered employees, and the other involved failing to…
T. J. McKnight, Inc.
Settlement approved for $500
T. J. McKnight contested two significant-and-substantial citations at the Clarks Mine and faced a proposed $7,000 penalty. The parties jointly moved to approve a settlement after the hearing. Judge Roy J. Maurer vacated one citation because the evidence no longer supported the violation, reduced…
Hirsch Electric Company
Energized-wiring item affirmed, penalty reduced to $1,000
Hirsch Electric installed energized wiring for operating rooms under construction at Hillcrest Hospital in Ohio. A flexible conduit containing 270-volt lines hung into the area where another contractor's employees were installing metal duct diffusers, and one worker received an electrical shock…
Maher Terminals, Inc.
Two forklift-safety violations affirmed serious after a fatal fall, $7,650
Maher Terminals operates a marine terminal at Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, loading and unloading ocean-going ships. On November 15, 1992, a gang foreman was standing on the raised blades of a forklift to remove wooden boards from a shipping flat when a blade separated from the truck; he fell about…
Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company
Case dismissed after citation vacated
Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company's Bailey Mine was the respondent in a civil penalty proceeding involving one alleged violation. Judge Paul Merlin allowed an MSHA Conference and Litigation Representative to represent the Secretary under the Commission's regulations. MSHA later vacated the citation…
Pennsylvania Metallurgical, Inc.
Withdrawn citation items set aside
Pennsylvania Metallurgical and the Secretary had previously resolved parts of two related dockets through an administrative law judge's consent order. The Secretary later filed a notice withdrawing citation items in the consolidated case. The Commission acknowledged the withdrawal and set aside the…
Drillex, Incorporated
Construction-project crushing site was a mine
Drillex drilled, blasted, excavated, crushed, and processed stone at a residential construction project in Puerto Rico. The company argued that its work was an incidental construction operation or a borrow pit outside the Mine Act's jurisdiction. The Commission held that Drillex extracted minerals…
Homer City Coal Processing Corporation
Settlement approved and penalty reduced
Homer City Coal Processing Corporation was cited after fine coal and float coal dust accumulated below a conveyor in its preparation plant. The parties proposed reducing the penalty from $94 to $63 and reducing negligence from moderate to low. Judge Paul Merlin found the settlement appropriate…
New Point Stone Company, Inc.
Brake citation modified and $500 penalty assessed
MSHA cited New Point Stone after finding that a Mack haul truck had been operated for about a month with one of its six brake chambers removed. Judge Arthur J. Amchan found that the braking system was not maintained in functional condition under 30 C.F.R. § 56.14101, but he found insufficient…
Pride Petroleum Services
Review defaulted, $2,000 monitoring item became final
Pride Petroleum filed for Commission review after a judge decided respiratory-protection items arising from work at a Texas oil well. Commission rules required Pride to file a brief or a written notice relying on its petition within 40 days, but it did neither, did not answer the Secretary's…
New Warwick Mining Company
Coal-dust orders mixed, $5,975 total penalty assessed
New Warwick Mining Company's consolidated cases concerned coal and coal-dust accumulations, preshift examinations, a defective ladder, and battery-charger ventilation at its Warwick Mine. Judge Arthur J. Amchan affirmed several violations and orders, vacated others, and found the affirmed…
Susquehanna-Mt. Carmel, Inc.
Settlement approved for $1,000 penalty
Susquehanna-Mt. Carmel, Inc. faced a civil penalty proceeding involving the Natalie Banks mine. The Secretary moved to approve a settlement that reduced the proposed penalty from $4,400 to $1,000 and requested dismissal. Judge Gary Melick found the agreement acceptable under the Mine Act's penalty…
William T. Sinnott, II v. Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed as untimely
William T. Sinnott, II alleged that Jim Walter Resources terminated him in retaliation for refusing an assignment he believed was unsafe. He filed his complaint with MSHA more than three years after his August 1990 termination, after pursuing a separate Rehabilitation Act matter. Judge Roy J…
Lakeview Rock Products, Inc.
$32,250 assessment reopened and remanded
Lakeview Rock Products failed to contest a proposed $32,250 civil penalty assessment within the 30-day period in section 105(a) of the Mine Act, so the assessment became a final Commission order. Lakeview said the late filing resulted from a mistake in calculating the deadline and was only one day…
James C. Lin and Lin Cubing, Inc.
In re James C. Lin and Lin Cubing, Inc. (EAB FIFRA Appeal No. 94-2): penalty reduced to $17,000
James C. Lin and Lin Cubing, Inc. applied the restricted-use pesticide GASTOXIN to alfalfa cubes loaded in semi-tractor trailers. The Environmental Appeals Board held that an inspection challenge raised for the first time on appeal could not be considered, and that the respondents had not shown the…
Pacific Refining Company
In re Pacific Refining Company (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 94-1): PCB enclosure-marking penalty increased
EPA Region IX appealed the penalty assessed against Pacific Refining Company for failing to mark the fence enclosing a PCB transformer. The Environmental Appeals Board held that marking the transformer itself did not satisfy the separate requirement to mark the enclosure, because a fire could…
Kennie-Wayne Incorporated
$40,454 penalty upheld despite financial hardship claim
Kennie-Wayne Incorporated, a contract coal miner, did not contest the citations and orders, which the judge had already affirmed. The company asked for a penalty reduction, arguing that paying the proposed $40,454 would impair its ability to stay in business. The judge found that the company had…
Thomas Detamore and Edward T. Songer, employed by Pounding Mill Quarry Corp.
Thomas Detamore and Edward T. Songer (FMSHRC WEVA 93-416-M and WEVA 93-417-M): Individual penalties assessed after fatal explosives accident
Thomas Detamore and Edward T. Songer were, respectively, general superintendent and foreman at Pounding Mill Quarry's Mercer Crushed Stone Mine. After undetonated explosives were found in a muckpile, they directed miners to continue normal production, and the judge found that they knowingly…
Arthur L. Miller, employed by Mid-Wisconsin Crushing Company, Inc.
Individual penalty case remanded for timeliness finding
MSHA proposed an individual penalty against Arthur L. Miller under section 110(c) of the Mine Act for allegedly authorizing, ordering, or carrying out a violation involving Mid-Wisconsin Crushing. Miller said he timely mailed his hearing request, but MSHA said it was mailed one day late and that…
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.