Federal agency decisions, searchable in plain English.
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) and mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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3-D Builders, LLP
Ladder and willful fall violations affirmed
3-D Builders performed residential roofing work at heights of approximately 10 to 22 feet without guardrails, safety nets, personal fall arrest systems, or other fall protection. Workers also used an extension ladder whose side rails extended only about two feet, six inches above the roof landing…
Masis Multi Services, Inc.
Default entered after contest abandoned
Masis Multi Services timely contested a serious OSHA citation carrying a proposed $3,622 penalty. The company then failed to appear for two scheduled prehearing conferences and did not respond to repeated communications or two orders to show cause. The judge found that Masis displayed a pattern of…
Pro-Spec Corporation, dba Pro-Spec Painting
Contest dismissed for discovery violations
Pro-Spec Painting timely contested OSHA citations but did not provide required documents or written interrogatory answers during prehearing discovery. The company cited bankruptcy and lack of resources, yet it failed to comply after multiple extensions, an order compelling discovery, and explicit…
Cranesville Aggregate Companies, Inc., d/b/a Scotia Bag
Case remanded after court reversal
An administrative law judge vacated six OSHA citations after concluding that Mine Safety and Health Administration standards applied to the cited conditions and preempted OSHA authority. That ruling became a final Commission order. The Second Circuit reversed, holding that the Commission had not…
Frame Q, LLC
Late contest dismissed after address change
Frame Q received serious, willful, and repeat citations with $20,680 in proposed penalties after an OSHA inspection of a New Jersey construction site. The company filed its notice of contest long after the deadline and claimed it had moved and did not receive the citation package. The judge found…
Wright Touch Landscaping & Heavy Equipment, Inc.
Fall-protection and reporting items affirmed
Wright Touch Landscaping performed tree-trimming work using an aerial lift and from the roof of a Miami residence. A worker was hospitalized after sustaining a head injury at the worksite and later died without leaving the hospital. The judge found that Wright Touch employed the worker because the…
Arctic Glacier U.S.A., Inc.
Partial settlement approved and penalties set
Arctic Glacier operated an ice-manufacturing facility that received seven serious citation items and one repeat item with $67,000 in proposed penalties. The parties reached a partial settlement that vacated five serious items, accepted the repeat item and two other items, and reclassified one…
Missouri Basin Well Service, Inc.
Well-site fire citation vacated
Missouri Basin Well Service was circulating an oil well when flammable vapors from a discharge tank ignited near a diesel mud pump, causing a fire that gave an employee second-degree facial burns. The Commission found that placing the ignition source less than 30 feet from the vapor discharge…
Central Site Development, LLC
EAJA fees awarded after citations vacated
Central Site Development sought attorney fees after it prevailed against two OSHA citation items arising from a fatal incident at a construction site. The underlying decision vacated a general duty clause item alleging a struck-by hazard and a recordkeeping item alleging failure to provide an OSHA…
North Eastern Precast LLC Masonry Services, Inc. dba MSI
Duplicative power-line item vacated
North Eastern Precast and Masonry Services worked near energized power lines carrying up to 13.2 kilovolts while erecting a multistory building. Despite utility cease-and-desist orders and an OSHA warning, work continued until employees built a masonry wall around part of the live line and a crane…
Seward Ship’s Drydock, Inc.
Respirator assessment item vacated
Seward Ship’s Drydock employees welded inside enclosed voids on a deck barge, using rods that could release carbon monoxide and iron oxide fumes. OSHA alleged that the company failed to identify and evaluate respiratory hazards under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.134(d)(1)(iii). The Commission held that this…
Meadows Construction Company, LLC
Citations upheld despite expired inspector credential
OSHA inspected Meadows Construction’s public-school roofing project after receiving a complaint that employees were working without fall protection. The administrative law judge affirmed machine-guarding, ground-fault protection, housekeeping, power-tap, and fall-protection items, assessing $24,400…
Trinity Marine Products, Inc.
Welding-fume items vacated
Trinity Marine Products builds barges at a Tennessee facility where OSHA sampled welders for airborne contaminants. The samples showed exposures above limits for zinc oxide, total dust, and a zinc oxide and copper mixture. The judge found that the cited maritime standards did not specify a…
E&N Construction, Inc.
Four scaffold items affirmed and penalties reduced
E&N Construction employees installed brick veneer from a two-tier scaffold at an apartment project. OSHA cited inadequate platform planking, unsafe frame climbing, failure to inspect the scaffold before the shift, missing fall protection above 10 feet, and a missing cross-brace. The judge affirmed…
Elmer Cook Construction, Inc.
Fall-protection and ladder items affirmed
Elmer Cook Construction employees applied waterproofing material on a low-slope roof while using fall-protection equipment incorrectly. One employee was not connected to a lifeline, and another used an improperly attached system that would not prevent a fall to the ground. The employees also used a…
Earth Developers, Inc.
Citations vacated for untimely service
OSHA inspected an Earth Developers worksite and proposed three serious violations with $5,976 in penalties. OSHA generated a citation within six months, but postal tracking showed no evidence that it was ever deposited in the mail. After discovering the problem more than two months later, OSHA…
Guzzo Masonry Inc.
Scaffold safety items mostly affirmed
Guzzo Masonry employees performed stucco repair from a two-level scaffold at a Delaware home. OSHA observed an employee working about 14 feet above the ground on a partially planked platform without guardrails, and another employee used the scaffold cross-braces for access because no ladder was…
Valmet, Inc.
Settlement remanded for corrected agreement
An administrative law judge approved a settlement agreement between Valmet and the Secretary. The parties later reported that they had inadvertently submitted an earlier draft containing an incorrect abatement date. The Secretary filed an unopposed motion to vacate the approval order and submitted…
Secretary of Labor v. Carter Machinery Co., Inc.
Secretary of Labor v. Carter Machinery Co., Inc. (FMSHRC VA 2017-0104): Competing summary motions denied over oil-accumulation facts
MSHA cited Carter Machinery for an alleged motor-oil accumulation near the turbo and alternator of a maintenance truck under 30 C.F.R. § 77.1104. Carter argued that the Secretary lacked evidence about the material, amount, temperatures, and fire hazard, while the Secretary's conference litigation…
CME Corporation
Pit fall and reporting items affirmed
A CME Corporation employee fell more than 10 feet through an unguarded opening into a construction pit and required multiple surgeries. CME argued that the opening was an access point that did not require a guardrail, but the judge found it was not being used for access when the employee worked…
Austal USA, LLC
Unsafe miller tool item affirmed
Austal USA used angle grinders fitted with toothed saw blades, known at its shipyard as miller tools, for cutting and finishing aluminum. The grinder manufacturer did not approve toothed blades for the tools, and the combination created a heightened kickback risk. The judge found that Austal knew…
North Pac Corporation
Default affirms five safety items
OSHA cited North Pac Corporation for electrical and scaffold violations at a Northern Marianas College construction project. During the Commission case, North Pac repeatedly failed to answer discovery, participate in required conferences, and comply with multiple written orders and extended…
Bronco Oilfield Services, Inc.
High-pressure line item partly affirmed
Bronco Oilfield Services used truck-mounted pumps and rigid piping to pressure-test an oil well at up to 9,500 psi. The judge affirmed a general duty clause instance because most of the high-pressure line was not secured against movement if a connection failed, and the company’s buffer zone did not…
T. E. Stevens Company, Inc.
Trench cave-in item affirmed
T. E. Stevens Company installed drain lines in a blasted and excavated trench at a grocery-store construction project. Testing classified the disturbed soil as Type B, and OSHA measured the trench at seven feet four inches deep and fourteen feet wide where two employees were working. The resulting…
Auchly Roofing, Inc.
Roof and ladder fall items affirmed
Five Auchly Roofing employees worked on a steep residential roof 11 to 18 feet above the ground without an approved fall-protection system. The company relied on toe boards, pick boards, ladder jacks, and kneepads, but did not prove that compliant systems created a greater hazard or that it…
Payton Roofing, Inc.
Three roof fall items affirmed
OSHA inspected Payton Roofing crews at two residential buildings and cited several fall-protection conditions. After multiple items were withdrawn, the judge addressed an unguarded roof opening, two employees connected to a single-user anchorage, and a damaged lifeline that had not been removed…
Secretary of Labor obo Jonathan Holskey v. Pennyrile Energy, LLC
Secretary of Labor obo Jonathan Holskey v. Pennyrile Energy, LLC (FMSHRC KENT 2018-0004 D): Temporary economic reinstatement approved
The Judge had previously ordered Pennyrile Energy to return Jonathan Holskey to his former job after finding his discrimination complaint non-frivolous. The parties then negotiated temporary economic reinstatement instead of Holskey physically returning to the Riveredge Mine. Judge Kenneth R…
Secretary of Labor v. Brody Mining, LLC
Secretary of Labor v. Brody Mining, LLC (FMSHRC WEVA 2009-1000, et al.): Seven orders reassessed at $85,000 on remand
The Commission remanded findings for seven section 104(d)(2) orders issued at Brody Mine No. 1 for coal accumulations, ventilation-plan failures, an inadequate preshift examination, a flooded escapeway, and an unguarded shuttle-car opening. Judge L. Zane Gill reconsidered S&S, unwarrantable…
The Thomas J. Dyer Company
Gas-cylinder storage item vacated
The Thomas J. Dyer Company kept oxygen and fuel-gas cylinders in separate compartments of a steel cage while performing daily welding and cutting work at a medical-center project. The judge found that OSHA did not prove the cylinders were “in storage” because the cage was accessed as needed and gas…
GMJ Contracting Corp. d/b/a GMJ Masonry
Wrong settlement order set aside
An administrative law judge approved and docketed a settlement agreement in GMJ Masonry’s case. The agreement actually concerned a different GMJ citation in another docket and did not resolve the one-item serious citation at issue here. The approval order nevertheless became final because the error…
Aspen Products, Inc.
Settlement correction remanded to judge
An administrative law judge approved a settlement in two consolidated Aspen Products cases. The Secretary later reported that a typographical error caused the agreement to group the wrong violations and substitute the wrong violation. The normal response period for Aspen’s position on the…
Wymac Ent., Inc., dba Work Shop Denver
Secretary’s withdrawal closes case
OSHA cited Wymac Enterprises for an alleged construction-safety violation and proposed a $1,630 penalty. The Secretary withdrew the citation one day before the initial pretrial conference. Wymac then filed motions seeking sanctions, compliance with prior orders, and a stay of the withdrawal. The…
Richard Carrier Trucking, Inc.
Pressurized diesel citation vacated
Richard Carrier Trucking drivers used pressurized canisters to spray diesel fuel inside timber trailers so wood chips would not freeze to the surfaces. OSHA alleged that the canisters were repurposed fire extinguishers and that the practice exposed employees to fire and burn hazards. The compliance…
Francis J. Palo, Inc.
Bridge load-bearing item affirmed
Francis J. Palo served as general contractor for the phased demolition and reconstruction of a concrete arch bridge. The company placed a tracked excavator weighing more than 90,000 pounds on the section being demolished while cuts through the supporting abutments were underway. That side of the…
Truston Technologies, Inc.
Access item affirmed and sling item vacated
Truston Technologies supervised Navy mooring-maintenance work in Pearl Harbor where an 11,500-pound buoy detached during a crane lift, killing two subcontractor employees and seriously injuring two others. The judge vacated a sling shock-loading item because the backup sling did not establish the…
Urban Erectors, LLC
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA mailed Urban Erectors a two-item serious citation with $9,240 in proposed penalties. The company’s secretary signed for the citation, but the company said she did not open the envelope and misplaced or discarded it. Urban Erectors filed its notice of contest about four months after the…
Midwest Steel, Inc.
Scaffold items affirmed after fatal fall
A Midwest Steel ironworker fell 33 feet from a temporary platform while welding steel columns at a hospital construction project and died. The judge vacated allegations concerning the worker’s synthetic lanyard because OSHA did not prove the cited heat-related hazard under the general duty clause…
LM Sanderson Construction, Inc.
Three residential fall violations affirmed
LM Sanderson Construction employees framed townhomes while working about 20 feet above lower levels. Employees stood on stacked roof sheathing supported by an elevated telehandler fork, a foreman worked from the top plate of an exterior wall, and other employees installed sheathing on a steep roof…
Evergreen Environmental Services
Late contest reinstated after office damage
Evergreen Environmental Services received a two-item citation shortly before water damage disrupted its headquarters and forced its safety analyst out of her office. The citation was moved with wet paperwork and found after repairs, leading Evergreen to file its notice of contest six working days…
Action Electric Company
Lockout citation reinstated and remanded
An administrative law judge vacated a lockout/tagout citation item against Action Electric Company. That ruling became the Commission’s final order after review was discontinued. The Eleventh Circuit later vacated the final order and directed that the citation item be reinstated. After receiving…
The Lane Construction Corporation
Work-zone traffic citation vacated
A dump truck backing through a nighttime highway milling operation struck and killed a Lane Construction superintendent. OSHA alleged that Lane failed to implement an effective internal traffic control plan separating pedestrians from moving vehicles. The judge found that OSHA did not prove its…
Secretary of Labor v. Spartan Mining Company, LLC
Secretary of Labor v. Spartan Mining Company, LLC (FMSHRC WEVA 2017-0455): Settlement rejected because proposed penalty fell below statutory minimum
MSHA and Spartan Mining proposed settling two enforcement actions for $10,663, including the full $7,663 penalty for one order and a reduced $3,000 penalty for an accident-reporting citation. The citation alleged that Spartan waited at least 23 minutes after a 911 call to notify MSHA of an…
HBD / Thermoid, Inc.
Repeat catapuller guarding violation affirmed
HBD / Thermoid manufactured hose using catapuller machines with moving belts that created ingoing nip points. An employee’s arm was caught and crushed in one machine after employees had regularly lifted its small hinged Plexiglas side guard during operation to see and adjust the hose. The judge…
Dentsply US Prosthetics, LLC
Automatic press guarding violation affirmed
Dentsply US Prosthetics manufactured dental products using an automatic press with a Lexan shield that left an opening near the machine's moving parts. A trainee who had worked at Dentsply for about two weeks was operating the press without direct supervision when the machine crushed his hand…
Elite Builders, Inc.
Fall and forklift violations partly affirmed
Elite Builders was a residential roofing contractor inspected at two Nebraska worksites where employees worked on elevated roofs without conventional fall protection. At the second site, employees were lifted on an oversized, unguarded personnel platform attached to a rough-terrain forklift…
Harvey-Cleary Builders
Late notice of contest dismissed
Harvey-Cleary Builders was the general contractor at a Georgia construction site where OSHA issued an other-than-serious hazard communication citation. OSHA sent the citation by certified mail to the Maryland main-office address that the site superintendent had provided, and a company…
Sean Benschop d/b/a S&R Contracting
Willful unsupported-wall violation affirmed
S&R Contracting was demolishing a multi-story Philadelphia building with an excavator while a three-to-four-story masonry wall remained standing without lateral bracing. The wall collapsed onto an adjacent Salvation Army store, causing six deaths and injuring twelve people. The judge found that an…
Bergelectric Corp.
Roof fall-protection violation partly affirmed
Bergelectric employees installed photovoltaic panels on a hangar roof using warning lines and a safety monitor instead of guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems. The judge found that installing solar panels was not roofing work under the standard, so Bergelectric could not use the…
Central Site Development, LLC
Struck-by and recordkeeping citations vacated
Central Site Development performed site-development work at a Florida apartment project where its supervisor, while operating a bulldozer in reverse, struck and killed an employee of a subcontractor. OSHA cited Central Site under the general duty clause for a struck-by hazard and separately for not…
Secretary of Labor v. Fairfax Materials
Secretary of Labor v. Fairfax Materials (FMSHRC WEVA 2015-1016-M): Wrongly checked penalty contest reopened
Fairfax Materials received an assessment containing two penalties and intended to contest one while paying the other. It accidentally selected the wrong citation for contest, paid the $100 penalty it meant to challenge, and proceeded with the other citation instead. Fairfax acted promptly after…
Secretary of Labor v. Kentucky Fuel Corporation
Secretary of Labor v. Kentucky Fuel Corporation (FMSHRC KENT 2013-1050): Timely response defeated default
Kentucky Fuel did not answer the Secretary's penalty petition, and a show-cause order was later deemed a default order when no response appeared under the correct docket number. The operator showed that it had responded before the deadline but mistakenly labeled its letter “WEVA 2013-1050” instead…
Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., #2828
Late contest dismissed and $152,100 penalty affirmed
OSHA inspected Dollar Tree store #2828 in Billings, Montana, and sent the resulting citation to the company's corporate office by certified mail. The corporate mailroom received it on March 3, 2017, making March 24 the deadline to contest, but the citation was not routed to the correct person…
William Trahant, Jr. Construction, Inc.
Roofing violations affirmed, including willful fall protection
William Trahant, Jr. Construction performed residential roofing work where employees lacked hard hats, used inadequate fall-arrest anchorages, and had access to a defective ladder. Employees also worked at least 20 feet above the ground without being tied off, and one worker had no harness or…
Lloyd Industries, Inc.
Machine guarding and health violations largely affirmed
Lloyd Industries manufactured fire dampers and HVAC products at a Pennsylvania plant where a former employee's fingers were amputated by a press brake. OSHA's safety and health inspections identified unguarded machine points of operation and power-transmission parts, improperly closed electrical…
Davis H. Elliot Company, Inc.
Power-line safety violations affirmed after electric shock
Davis H. Elliot Company employees were installing neutral conductor wire on a West Virginia power distribution line when the wire contacted an energized 7,200-volt primary line. Two employees received an electric shock, resulting in one death and one serious injury. The judge found that Elliot…
Chris Welch
Residential roofing fall and ladder violations affirmed
Chris Welch employed a worker who performed residential roofing more than 10 feet above the ground without fall protection. The worker accessed the roof using an extension ladder whose side rails did not extend three feet above the landing and that lacked an alternative secure handhold arrangement…
Stephen M. Rhim
Employee abatement-date contest dismissed as moot
OSHA cited the U.S. Postal Service for allowing untrained employees to operate powered hand jacks at an Indianapolis facility and set an abatement date less than a month after citation issuance. Affected employee Stephen M. Rhim contested only the abatement date, arguing that corrective action…
JH Traffic Control Co., LLC
Traffic-control citation vacated and reporting violation affirmed
JH Traffic Control employees were placing traffic barrels on a busy Boise road when one employee crossed an active lane to retrieve barrels and was struck by a car, causing serious injuries. OSHA alleged a general duty clause violation based on crossing live traffic lanes and setting barrels…
Secretary of Labor v. Buzzi Unicem USA
Secretary of Labor v. Buzzi Unicem USA (FMSHRC CENT 2016-0190): Old MSHA address excuses penalty-contest default
Buzzi Unicem failed to contest a proposed penalty within 30 days, causing the assessment to become a final Commission order. Its safety manager first mailed the contest to an obsolete address printed on MSHA's assessment form and resent it after the envelope was returned. Although the Secretary…
Camarata Masonry Systems, LTD
Crate-handling training citation vacated
Camarata Masonry Systems installed stone at a Houston construction project where an experienced forklift operator unloaded a damaged crate containing nearly 3,000 pounds of marble slabs. The operator removed a stabilizing strap while the load remained unstable, and the crate fell and injured him…
What these documents are
- Commission decisions: Rulings by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission itself, the highest level of agency review. These are citable as Commission precedent, though a decision may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance.
- ALJ decisions: Rulings by OSHRC Administrative Law Judges after a hearing. When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.
- 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 OSHRC public release, and the full text on the page is that release. The plain-English summaries are written by Ezel.