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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Martin Sales & Processing
Summary default reinstated after missed remand response
Martin Sales & Processing failed to provide a substantive response to an ALJ remand order after the Commission had vacated earlier summary default decisions and sent the matters back for further proceedings. Judge George A. Koutras found that the operator had received the orders and had ample…
Boswell v. National Cement Company
Backpay award vacated as beyond remand
Ronny Boswell was found to have been unlawfully disqualified from his utility-laborer position and reassigned by National Cement Company, and the Commission had remanded the case for further review of the discrimination merits. On remand, the ALJ sustained the complaint and awarded Boswell…
Broward County, Florida
In re Broward County, Florida (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 92-11): review denied in part and permit remanded in part
Broward County sought review of EPA Region IV's denial of an evidentiary hearing request concerning its NPDES permit for the Northern Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Environmental Appeals Board ordered the Region to supplement the record on whether the plant's effluent had a reasonable…
Quarto Mining Company
Known loader steering defect affirmed as unwarrantable failure
Quarto Mining Company kept a Caterpillar 988 front-end loader in service even though its steering intermittently locked when turned fully right. The shop foreman had known about the problem for several months, but the defect was not corrected and the loader was not removed from service before MSHA…
Glenn Burwick, Employed by Burwick Construction Company
$400 settlement approved
Glenn Burwick, employed by Burwick Construction Company, faced a civil penalty proceeding at the Alexander Sand Pit. Judge William Fauver reviewed the parties' settlement motion and supporting documentation under the statutory civil-penalty criteria. He approved the settlement and ordered payment…
Ohio Pizza Products Supply Co., Inc., d/b/a Presto America's Favorite Food
Willful sheeter citation reduced to serious
Presto used a dough sheeter in its pizza-shell bakery, where larger dough balls repeatedly jammed beneath a guard near the machine's rollers. Two employees sustained hand injuries while trying to push dough through the rollers. The judge found the guard inadequate and rejected the company's…
National Engineering & Contracting Company
Electrical and rebar violations affirmed for $400
OSHA inspected National Engineering & Contracting Company while it served as general contractor on an interstate bridge replacement project in Ohio. The judge rejected challenges to the anticipatory inspection warrant and found no credible basis for the company's claim that OSHA acted vindictively…
Art Specialty Company
Lamp manufacturer receives mixed ruling and $5,700 penalty
OSHA cited Art Specialty Company, a 29-employee lamp manufacturer, for numerous serious and other-than-serious conditions. The judge vacated a stairway citation because the Secretary did not prove employees used the stairs, and vacated the metal-shear portion of a machine-guarding item because the…
A.R. Contractors, Inc.
LP-gas traffic-protection citation vacated
A.R. Contractors used two liquid-petroleum gas tanks to fuel roofing operations at a Florida commercial construction project. OSHA alleged that the tanks were exposed to possible damage from construction traffic without adequate precautions. The judge rejected the contractor's argument that the…
Mullins and Sons Coal Company, Incorporated
Coal-dust findings modified to ordinary negligence
Mullins and Sons Coal Company faced two significant and substantial coal-dust violations after MSHA found accumulations in the No. 2 Section and inadequate rock dusting. The operator stipulated to the violations and their S&S character, but disputed whether the conditions resulted from…
USX Corp, Minnesota Ore Operations
Penalty corrected and $800 overpayment refunded
USX Corporation had paid a $5,767 assessment in LAKE 92-399-M-A, including an $800 penalty for Citation 3892662. A later settlement decision also included that citation and reduced its proposed penalty to $311, so the operator asked to reopen the matter after discovering the duplication. Judge Paul…
Jerry Ike Harless Towing Incorporated, Harless, Inc.
Mine jurisdiction split between related companies
Jerry Ike Harless Towing, Inc. dredged sand from the Calcasieu River, while related Harless, Inc. sold sand and other aggregates. Judge Jerold Feldman held that the dredging and processing activities were subject to the Mine Act and affirmed the registration citation against Harless Towing. He…
A-1 Grit Company
Default order vacated and case remanded
This civil penalty proceeding involved A-1 Grit Company's failure to answer the Secretary's proposed civil penalty notice and an administrative law judge's order to show cause. The judge entered an order of default and assessed the proposed $942 penalty. A-1 later asserted that it had timely…
Davis Trucking Company, Inc.
Default order vacated and case remanded
This civil penalty proceeding involved Davis Trucking Company's failure to answer the Secretary's proposed civil penalty notice and an administrative law judge's order to show cause. The judge entered an order of default and assessed the proposed $2,000 penalty. Davis's counsel later moved to…
R.B.S., Incorporated
Discrimination case settled and dismissed
The Secretary of Labor brought a discrimination proceeding on behalf of Paul H. Brooks against R.B.S., Incorporated. The Secretary moved to approve a settlement and explained that the evidence might not establish that Brooks adequately communicated legitimate safety concerns, so that a section…
Tanglewood Energy, Inc.
Temporary reinstatement ordered
The Secretary sought temporary reinstatement for Perry Poddey, a miner who said Tanglewood Energy discharged him after he complained to MSHA and his foreman about a defective parking brake on the scoop he operated. MSHA issued citations concerning the parking brake, and Mr. Poddey was discharged…
Tanglewood Energy, Inc.
Temporary reinstatement ordered
The Secretary sought temporary reinstatement for Perry Poddey, a miner who said Tanglewood Energy discharged him after he complained to MSHA and his foreman about a defective parking brake on the scoop he operated. MSHA issued citations concerning the parking brake, and Mr. Poddey was discharged…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Motion to reopen final penalty orders denied
Jim Walter Resources sought to reopen uncontested civil penalty assessments after paying them in full, arguing that the penalties had been improperly increased under the Secretary's interim excessive-history program. The Commission held that it has jurisdiction to reopen final orders in appropriate…
C&B Mining Company
Citation affirmed and penalty reduced to $500
MSHA inspector Dennis Myers was denied entry to C&B Mining Company's No. 2 Vein Slope Mine while attempting a spot inspection related to possible abandoned workings. Judge David F. Barbour found that C&B violated the Mine Act by refusing entry to an authorized MSHA inspector and found the violation…
Raleigh R. Hunt v. Canada Coal Company
Discrimination case dismissed after settlement
Raleigh R. Hunt brought a discrimination complaint against Canada Coal Company under section 105(c) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act. The parties moved to dismiss the case based on a settlement. Judge William Fauver granted the motion and dismissed the case. The order does not state a…
Higman Sand & Gravel, Inc.
Default order vacated and case remanded
This civil penalty proceeding involved Higman Sand & Gravel's failure to answer a complaint proposing a $292 penalty for an alleged violation involving toilet facilities at a surface metal and nonmetal mine. An administrative law judge entered a default order after Higman did not answer the…
Higman Sand & Gravel, Inc.
Default order vacated and case remanded
This civil penalty proceeding involved Higman Sand & Gravel's failure to answer a complaint proposing a $362 penalty for an alleged violation involving an audible warning device at a surface metal and nonmetal mine. An administrative law judge entered a default order after Higman did not answer the…
North Bergen Animal Hospital
Withdrawal leaves late-contest dismissal final
OSHA issued North Bergen Animal Hospital two citations and proposed penalties, but the hospital filed its notice of contest after the 15-working-day deadline. The hospital explained that a receptionist had opened the citation mail and placed it with solicitation mail that remained unread for…
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
In re Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 92-5): permit remanded
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company operated a Beaumont, Texas plant that manufactured solution crumb rubber, hydrocarbon resins, and isoprene monomers. EPA Region VI applied both the Solution Crumb Rubber and Organic Chemicals, Plastics and Synthetic Fibers effluent guidelines to the plant's combined…
Burwick, employed by Burwick Construction Co.
Default order vacated and case remanded
The ALJ entered a default order against Glen Burwick, an employee of Burwick Construction Company, after he failed to answer a proposed civil penalty or an order to show cause. The judge assessed the Secretary's proposed $400 penalty. The Commission treated a later letter as a timely petition for…
Garden Creek Pocahontas Company
Settlement approved for conveyor citation
This civil penalty proceeding involved one alleged violation of a mandatory safety standard at Garden Creek Pocahontas Company's VP-6 Mine. The citation concerned a belt conveyor that periodically started unexpectedly while idled in sequence mode. The parties settled the proposed $189 penalty for…
Kem Coal Incorporated
Seven citations settled and S&S findings removed
This civil penalty proceeding involved seven alleged violations at Kem Coal's No. 1 Surface Mine under standards in Parts 71 and 77 of the mine safety regulations. The parties agreed to settle the proposed penalties, reducing the total from $2,222 to $500. They also agreed to remove the…
Kem Coal Incorporated
Settlement approved and one citation vacated
This civil penalty proceeding involved four alleged violations of mandatory safety standards at Kem Coal's No. 2 Surface Mine. The parties settled three citations for $655, $595, and $595, and agreed that a fourth citation involving an inaudible backup alarm should be vacated because the vehicle…
C.W. Mining Company
Citation vacated and appeal dismissed
An MSHA inspector cited C.W. Mining Company for allegedly lacking a fire sensor at the tailpiece of an underground belt conveyor. The ALJ affirmed the citation and assessed a $20 penalty, but the Commission granted review of how the standard's 24-hour installation grace period applied. The…
Wallace Enterprises, Inc.
Default judgment entered for $1,540
Wallace Enterprises did not appear at the hearing in three civil penalty proceedings involving its Middle Fork Mine. The company also did not respond to the judge's order to show cause why a default decision should not be entered. Judge Avram Weisberger granted the Secretary's motion for default…
Harlan Cumberland Coal Co.
Elmer Darrell Burgan v. Harlan Cumberland Coal Co. and Dixie Fuel Company (FMSHRC KENT 92-915-D and KENT 93-101-D): Discrimination complaints dismissed
Elmer Darrell Burgan alleged that Harlan Cumberland Coal Company suspended and transferred him because he complained about blocked shuttle-car breakers, and that Dixie Fuel Company denied his request to transfer closer to home because of his safety complaints. Judge Jerold Feldman found that Burgan…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Hose items withdrawn, confined-space welding violation remains
OSHA inspected Trinity Industries' railroad-car and tank plant after a welder was fatally injured in an explosion inside a liquid-petroleum-gas tank. The ALJ found that the employee's failure to follow established leak-testing and ventilation procedures was unpreventable misconduct, but he affirmed…
Douglas E. DeRossett v. Martin County Coal Corporation
Untimely discrimination complaint dismissed
Douglas E. DeRossett alleged that Martin County Coal Corporation discriminated against him because he complained about mine safety hazards. He claimed that the company moved him to a second shift, did not rehire him after a reduction in force, and discharged him because of those complaints. Judge…
Fluidics, Inc.
Mixed construction ruling assesses $13,600
Fluidics performed mechanical-system renovations at a Philadelphia public-housing project with unusually difficult site-security conditions. The judge affirmed serious violations involving unsecured and improperly separated compressed-gas cylinders, missing GFCI protection, exposed energized…
Amoco Oil Company
HF respiratory-protection violations affirmed for $7,000
Amoco operated an alkylation unit containing large quantities of hydrofluoric acid at its Texas City refinery. A maintenance employee experienced HF exposure while opening a line that had not been fully depressurized, and the employee was wearing an air-fed chemical hood that was not a respirator…
Redondo Construction Corporation
Ladder and repeat guardrail violations affirmed
Redondo Construction was the general contractor for a pier and passenger-terminal project in San Juan, Puerto Rico. OSHA found a portable ladder whose side rails did not extend three feet above the landing and that lacked a required grabrail, even though employees used it for access. OSHA also…
PDC, Inc.
Trench-exit item affirmed, cave-in item vacated
PDC employees installed a gas line in a trench beside a Georgia highway that ranged from four and a half to eight and a half feet deep. The trench had no ladder or other safe means of egress, and workers exited by placing their hands on the ground and jumping from the shallow end. The judge…
Parmer Building Corporation
Aerial-lift rail violations affirmed for $1,000
Parmer Building Corporation performed steel erection at a large Texas construction project. An OSHA compliance officer observed two employees standing on the top and middle rails of an aerial-lift basket while connecting a girder about 52 feet above ground. The employees were also tied off to the…
Phelps Dodge Chino Inc.
Citation vacated with prejudice
MSHA moved to vacate a citation issued to Phelps Dodge Chino Inc. after prehearing preparation and discovery, citing insufficient evidence. Phelps Dodge asked for dismissal with prejudice or, alternatively, declaratory relief concerning future enforcement. Judge Michael A. Lasher vacated the…
Pittsburg and Midway Coal Mining Company-York CNYN Complex
Penalties assessed and citations modified or vacated
The Secretary of Labor pursued 12 alleged violations across four dockets involving Pittsburg and Midway Coal Mining Company's York Canyon and Cimarron mines. The parties settled most citations, including agreements to remove several significant-and-substantial designations and pay specified…
Ralph Taynton, d/b/a Service Specialty Company
Secretary withdraws all citations
OSHA cited Service Specialty Company, a marine-construction contractor, for eighteen alleged serious violations and one other-than-serious posting violation, with $32,700 in proposed penalties. The ALJ found that the company's business affected interstate commerce but that OSHA had not proved it…
Donald R. Bowling v. Perry Transport, Inc., et al.
Discrimination settlement approved
The Secretary filed one Mine Act discrimination action seeking temporary reinstatement for Donald R. Bowling and a second action seeking permanent reinstatement. The cases named Perry Transport, Stevie Caldwell Trucking, Stevie Caldwell, and other respondents. The parties submitted a settlement…
Prabhu Deshetty, employed by Island Creek Coal Company
Knowing coal-dust violation and $1,500 penalty
Prabhu Deshetty, the mine manager for Island Creek Coal Company's Hamilton No. 2 Mine, was charged as an agent who knowingly authorized, ordered, or carried out a violation involving coal dust accumulations. Judge Gary Melick found large accumulations along the No. 1 beltline, including a 36-inch…
Concrete Materials
Settlement approved for substation fence citation
Concrete Materials was cited because the fence around an electrical substation was below the required six-foot height and had rips and tears. The Secretary proposed reducing the penalty from $690 to $50 and deleting the significant-and-substantial designation because the fence was only slightly…
LCP Chemicals-New York
In re LCP Chemicals-New York (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 92-25): permit review denied
LCP Chemicals-New York, a division of the Hanlin Group, challenged an EPA Region II hazardous-waste permit for its facility in Onondaga County, New York. LCP argued that the permit incorporated conditions from a state permit, failed to explain changes made after public comment, imposed unauthorized…
Secretary of Labor v. Consolidation Coal Company
Walkaround citation and $1,000 penalty affirmed
Consolidation Coal prevented miners' representatives from accompanying an MSHA inspector into an underground bleeder system because company supervisors believed the area was too dangerous. Judge Roy J. Maurer held that the Mine Act's walkaround right could not be restricted on that basis by the…
Secretary of Labor v. Peabody Coal Company
Reconsideration denied after remand
The Commission had previously affirmed part of an administrative law judge's decision, reversed another part, and remanded the question of whether a disputed ventilation-plan provision was suitable for the mines' conditions. Peabody Coal asked the Commission to reconsider and to stay the earlier…
Lehigh Portland Cement Company
Discrimination case settled for $1,500
Gerald Sapunarich brought a Mine Act discrimination case against Lehigh Portland Cement Company. The parties proposed a settlement requiring the company to pay a $1,500 civil penalty and post the settlement agreement on the mine bulletin board for at least 30 days. Judge William Fauver found the…
Varra Companies, Inc.
Seat-belt orders affirmed with $2,100 in penalties
Varra Companies operated a sand and gravel mine where MSHA cited several seat-belt violations involving a loader and two dozers. The company withdrew contests to three enforcement documents, and Judge John J. Morris affirmed those orders and the proposed $400 penalties. He also affirmed three…
D.H. Shelton Associates, Inc.
Scaffold guardrail violation affirmed with reduced penalty
D.H. Shelton Associates was a subcontractor on an automobile dealership construction project in El Paso, Texas. The judge rejected the company's challenge to the OSHA inspection because the general contractor consented and a worker who identified himself as Shelton's foreman did not object. OSHA…
Clifford Meek v. Essroc Corporation
Discrimination finding affirmed, backpay remanded
Clifford Meek alleged that Essroc Corporation refused to hire him after it acquired the plant where he had worked because he had raised a safety concern to an MSHA inspector. The Commission affirmed the judge's findings that Essroc was a successor to Meek's former employer and that the non-hiring…
Peterson Brothers Steel Erection Company
Connector fall violation affirmed, penalty reduced
A connector erecting structural steel for an Austin office building was fatally injured after a suspended beam knocked him from a perimeter beam about 70 feet above ground. Peterson Brothers used temporary floors for interior fall protection and safety belts for bolters, but its connectors had no…
State Sheet Metal Company, Inc.
Roof-decking fall violations affirmed
State Sheet Metal employees installed metal roof decking on two one-story New Jersey warehouses at heights of approximately 27 and 32 feet without fall protection. The Commission held that the decking being installed did not itself satisfy the temporary-floor option because it did not protect…
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation
Willful locomotive-brake citation vacated
A Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel locomotive collided with a disabled train while pulling loaded hopper cars, fatally injuring the conductor and injuring the trainee engineer. OSHA alleged a willful general-duty violation because the company continued operating the locomotive after reports of…
Falcon Steel Company, Inc.
High-rise fall violations affirmed for $16,000
Falcon Steel erected structural steel for a 60-story Philadelphia high-rise and was cited for several fall hazards. The Commission affirmed a willful violation for using a crane-suspended man basket to carry employees to upper floors when elevators and ladders provided a conventional alternative…
Georgia-Pacific Corporation
Forward-loaded forklift violation affirmed
A Georgia-Pacific forklift carrying a 54-inch-high plywood load forward struck and fatally injured an employee who was crouched near a column in a heavily traveled plant aisle. The ALJ vacated the citation after interpreting the powered-industrial-truck standard to require a totally obstructed view…
Hern Iron Works, Inc.
Separate willful recordkeeping penalties upheld and reduced
OSHA cited Hern Iron Works, a small Idaho foundry, for failing to record multiple employee injuries on its OSHA 200 log and supplementary injury records. The Commission held that each separate failure to record an injury can constitute its own violation and support a separate penalty. It affirmed…
M.A.G., Inc.
Default orders vacated and remanded
M.A.G., Inc. failed to answer the Secretary's civil penalty proposal and an order to show cause, so the Chief Administrative Law Judge entered six default orders assessing $14,370 in proposed penalties. M.A.G.'s president later sent the Commission a letter asking to withdraw the defaults and…
Peabody Coal Company
Methane order and citation vacated
Peabody Coal contested an imminent-danger order and a significant-and-substantial citation issued after an MSHA inspector measured methane near a covered beltline at the Camp No. 9 Preparation Plant. Judge Roy J. Maurer found that the readings were taken too close to the coal to represent the…
Oklahoma Natural Gas
Excavation items reduced to nonserious violations
Oklahoma Natural Gas employees worked in a trench while installing a gas line in Oklahoma City. The judge found that one wall did not meet the protective-system requirements for the Type C soil and that the foreman was not a competent person under the revised excavation rules because he had not yet…
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.