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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CNB Coal Company, Inc.
Motion to dismiss denied because late filing did not prejudice the operator
CNB Coal Company asked the judge to dismiss a civil penalty proceeding because the Secretary filed the penalty petition after the 45-day deadline. The judge found that the unusually large number of citations and contests processed during the period provided adequate cause for the delay. CNB did not…
S & L Coal Company
Motion to dismiss late penalty petition denied
S & L Coal Company asked the judge to dismiss a civil penalty proceeding because the Secretary filed the penalty petition after the deadline in Commission Rule 27. The Secretary explained that an extraordinary volume of citations and contest notices had caused the delay. Judge James A. Broderick…
Price Chopper Supermarkets, A Golub Corporation Company
Injury log required at each store
Price Chopper kept separate OSHA injury and illness logs for its 76 supermarkets at a central office. Employees could request a store's log by telephone and receive it at home by mail or at the store by truck delivery within about 48 hours. The Commission held that this procedure did not satisfy…
Peters & Garman Construction
Defaults vacated and settlements approved
Peters & Garman Construction and the Secretary reached settlements in two civil penalty proceedings, but the settlement papers were delayed while the operator's counsel was out of state. Judge Paul Merlin found that relief from default was warranted because default is a harsh remedy and the parties…
Right-Gard Corporation
Pro se employer given hearing on default relief
An OSHRC judge dismissed Right-Gard Corporation's notice of contest and assessed $13,470 after the company did not answer the Secretary's complaint or retrieve and respond to a certified show-cause order. The Commission found that the required notice procedures had been followed and that postal…
Mountaineer Coal Company, Inc.
Common-issues findings lead to a mine-specific trial
This consolidated proceeding concerned roughly 5,000 citations issued to more than 800 mines for alleged intentional alteration of respirable-dust filter weights. After a common-issues trial, Judge James A. Broderick found that the Secretary's circumstantial evidence did not establish that the…
Betty B Coal Company, Inc.
Dust citation settlement approved for $2,880
Betty B Coal Company and the Secretary settled three alleged respirable-dust violations under 30 C.F.R. § 70.209(b). The violations had originally carried total proposed penalties of $3,600, and the parties disputed whether the conduct was deliberate and the degree of negligence. Judge James A…
Consolidation Coal Company
High-risk injury program found discriminatory
Union safety committeemen Larry E. Swift, Mark Snyder, and Randy Cunningham challenged Consolidation Coal Company's Dilworth Mine Program for High Risk Employees. The program increased counseling, retraining, suspension, and discharge based on reported work-related injuries, including some injuries…
Mettiki Coal Corporation
Petition for reconsideration denied
The Commission had previously remanded this proceeding to the presiding administrative law judge. Mettiki Coal Corporation then petitioned for reconsideration, and the Secretary of Labor filed a response. The Commission denied the petition after considering both filings.
Mettiki Coal Corporation
Motion to vacate respirable-dust citations denied
Mettiki Coal Corporation and several other operators asked the judge to vacate 87 respirable-dust citations issued after MSHA found abnormal white centers on submitted samples. They argued that the Secretary had not issued the citations with reasonable promptness and that the delay prejudiced their…
Shick, employed by Muncie Sand & Gravel, Inc.
Knowing brake violation affirmed with $400 penalty
Robert Shick was the mine superintendent at an open-pit sand and gravel mine. MSHA found that a front-end loader had defective service brakes but was still used to load customer trucks and travel on inclined haulage roads. Judge William Fauver found that Shick knowingly authorized and ordered the…
United Mine Workers of America on Behalf of Dan Nelson,
United Mine Workers of America on behalf of Dan Nelson and others (FMSHRC SE 88-93-D and SE 88-92-D): Discrimination complaints dismissed
The United Mine Workers of America filed two discrimination proceedings on behalf of miners against MSHA and individual MSHA employees. The complaints alleged violations of section 105(c) of the Mine Act. Judge Avram Weisberger concluded that MSHA and its employees were not persons subject to…
Zeigler Coal Company
Citation affirmed on summary decision
Zeigler Coal Company operated Mine No. 11. Judge Avram Weisberger granted the Secretary of Labor's motion for summary decision on Citation No. 3847634. He affirmed the citation as a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.316, consistent with a decision by Judge George A. Koutras in a related docket. The order…
Zeigler Coal Company
Citation affirmed on summary decision
Zeigler Coal Company operated the Spartan Mine. Judge Avram Weisberger granted the Secretary of Labor's motion for summary decision on Citation No. 3847637. He affirmed the citation as a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.316, consistent with a decision by Judge George A. Koutras in a related docket. The…
U. S. Steel Mining Company, Inc.
Weekly examination citation affirmed, one citation vacated
U. S. Steel Mining Company operated the Pinnacle Prep Plant and Gary No. 50 Mine. Judge Roy J. Maurer approved a settlement that affirmed Citation No. 3340442 for $112 and vacated Citation No. 3340443. He also affirmed Citation No. 3741045 under 30 C.F.R. § 75.512-2 because electrical equipment had…
Jeddo-Highland Coal Company
Proceeding dismissed after penalty paid
Jeddo-Highland Coal Company paid the proposed $1,100 penalty in full on January 20, 1992. The Secretary of Labor moved to dismiss the civil penalty proceeding after payment. Judge James A. Broderick granted the motion and dismissed the proceeding.
Zeigler Coal Company
Power-connection violation affirmed with $275 penalty
Zeigler Coal Company operated the Murdock Mine, an underground bituminous coal mine. MSHA cited the company after return air was coursed over nonpermissible power connection points outby the last open crosscut, in violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.507. Judge George A. Koutras found the violation…
Walker Coal Company
Settlement approved at $4,000
Walker Coal Company faced five alleged violations of 30 C.F.R. § 70.209(b) in two civil penalty proceedings. The parties disputed whether the violations resulted from a deliberate act and disagreed about the degree of negligence. Judge James A. Broderick approved their settlement, reducing the…
Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corporation
Temporary reinstatement ordered
Robert W. Buelke, an electrician at Santa Fe Pacific Gold's Rabbit Creek Mine, reported electrical safety concerns and was later discharged. The Secretary of Labor determined that his discrimination complaint was not frivolously brought and applied for temporary reinstatement while the…
Peters & Garman Construction
Default order vacated and case remanded
Peters & Garman Construction failed to answer the Secretary of Labor's civil penalty petition and an order to show cause, so the chief administrative law judge entered a default order and assessed the proposed $227 penalty. The parties later asked to rescind the default order and approve their…
Peters & Garman Construction
Default order vacated and case remanded
Peters & Garman Construction failed to answer the Secretary of Labor's civil penalty petition and the judge's order to show cause. Chief Administrative Law Judge Paul Merlin entered a default order and assessed the Secretary's proposed $40 penalty. The parties later asked to rescind the default…
Navasota Mining Company Incorporated
Citations vacated and penalty docket dismissed
At Navasota Mining Company's Gibbons Creek Mine, MSHA first cited a hazardous side-clearance condition on a haul road after a collision that resulted in fatal injuries to a coal truck operator. MSHA later terminated that citation after corrective action, then attempted to modify it more than 13…
Highlands County Board of Commissioners
Two citations affirmed with $35 total penalty
Highlands County Board of Commissioners operated the Charlotte County Shell Pit Mine, where MSHA cited an unguarded pump belt drive and a front-end loader parking brake that would not hold the machine on a grade. Judge George A. Koutras affirmed both citations, finding that the pump belt drive was…
Consolidation Coal Company
Discrimination complaint withdrawn and dismissed
Larry E. Swift asked to withdraw his discrimination complaint against Consolidation Coal Company. Judge Gary Melick granted permission to withdraw the complaint under 29 C.F.R. § 2700.11 and dismissed the case.
Trinity Industries Inc.
Machine and electrical case settled for $800
OSHA inspected two Trinity Industries railcar fabrication plants in Dallas and cited numerous machine guarding, crane, electrical, tool, fire extinguisher, sling, and hazard communication conditions. An OSHRC judge affirmed several serious and other-than-serious items and vacated others. During…
American Cyanamid Company
Label ruling narrowed but safety-data-sheet item affirmed
American Cyanamid manufactured resins and molding compounds for shipment to plastics-industry customers. OSHA alleged that several container labels lacked appropriate target-organ warnings and that material safety data sheets omitted short-term exposure limits. The Commission rejected OSHA's…
Tire Reclamation Services, Inc.
Parties allowed to revisit settlement after fire
Tire Reclamation Services agreed to settle OSHA citations for a total penalty of $450. After an OSHRC judge approved the agreement, the company's vice president reported that a fire had closed the business and left it without funds to pay. The Commission held that this changed circumstance did not…
Consolidation Coal Company
Settlement approved and contest dismissed
Consolidation Coal Company agreed to pay the proposed $379 penalty for an alleged violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.400 at the Robinson Run No. 95 Mine. Judge George A. Koutras approved the settlement after noting that the condition was rapidly abated and that the violation involved moderate negligence…
Consolidation Coal Company
Settlement approved and related contests dismissed
Consolidation Coal Company faced five alleged violations at the Robinson Run No. 95 Mine. Judge George A. Koutras approved settlements for two citations, reducing the proposed penalty from $310 each to $186 each after the citations were modified from significant and substantial to non-significant…
Essroc Corporation
Premature review petition dismissed without prejudice
Essroc Corporation sought Commission review of an ALJ decision involving Clifford Meek's Mine Act discrimination claim. The ALJ had found a violation of section 105(c) but had not set specific monetary relief and had ordered the parties to confer about damages. Because the December 24, 1991…
Essroc Corporation
Discrimination proceeding kept open for monetary relief
Clifford Meek brought a Mine Act discrimination proceeding against Essroc Corporation. An earlier decision found that Essroc discriminated against him by refusing to employ him because of his protected activities, but left monetary relief for a later decision. Judge William Fauver formally denied…
Thomas Cates, Employed by Green River Coal Company, Incorporated
Consolidated penalty cases dismissed
The Secretary of Labor brought civil penalty proceedings against Thomas Cates and Stephen Whitledge, agents of Green River Coal Company, under section 110(c) of the Mine Act. The cases alleged that they knowingly authorized, ordered, or carried out a mine operator's electrical-safety violation…
Shamrock Coal Company
Discrimination proceeding settled and dismissed
Elmer Richard Couch brought a Mine Act discrimination proceeding against Shamrock Coal Company. The parties filed a joint motion asking the judge to approve their settlement and dismiss the action with prejudice. Judge Roy J. Maurer approved the settlement, allowed Couch to withdraw his complaint…
Gray Stone Mining, Inc.
Contest dismissed after penalty payment
Gray Stone Mining contested a citation issued at the Pokey No. 1 Mine. The Secretary moved to dismiss after the company voluntarily paid the proposed penalty instead of contesting it. Judge James A. Broderick granted the motion and dismissed the contest. The citation and penalty became a final…
Anderson Equipment Company
Training citation affirmed without S&S finding
Anderson Equipment Company was cited after employee Timothy Drake worked at a mine site without comprehensive training under an MSHA-approved plan. Judge Roy J. Maurer found that Drake was a maintenance worker who worked frequently and for extended periods around mine hazards, so 30 C.F.R. §…
Blue Diamond Coal Company
Settlement approved and contests dismissed
Blue Diamond Coal Company contested eight citations at the Middle Taggart and Scotia Mines. The Secretary and the operator agreed to reduce the total proposed penalties from $10,800 to $8,740, and the operator agreed to withdraw its contests. The operator was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, so the…
Shamrock Coal Company, Inc.
Discrimination relief ordered
Shamrock Coal was previously found to have discharged Lonnie Ross and Charles Gilbert because they made safety complaints. Judge William Fauver set the monetary relief for both miners, including back pay, interest, medical costs, retirement-account tax penalties, tax withholdings, litigation costs…
United Rock Products Corp.
Default order vacated and remanded
United Rock Products failed to answer a civil penalty petition and a judge's show-cause order, so the judge entered a default order assessing the proposed $3,670 penalty. The company's safety director later sent its answer to the wrong office and asked that the default be revoked. The Commission…
Turner v. New World Mining, Inc.
Late review request allowed to proceed
Wayne Turner challenged an administrative law judge's decision that New World Mining had not discriminated against him under the Mine Act. His lawyer's filing arrived after the 30-day deadline and was treated as a brief instead of a petition for discretionary review. The Commission found that…
Smith v. Kem Coal Company
Discrimination decision vacated and remanded
Charles Smith said Kem Coal discharged him after he complained about coal falling onto his bulldozer and threatened to report safety concerns to MSHA. The administrative law judge found discrimination and awarded back pay, damages, and attorney fees. The Commission found unresolved conflicts in the…
Zeigler Coal Company
One citation settled and one affirmed
Zeigler Coal Company faced two ventilation-related citations at its No. 11 Mine. The company agreed to pay the full $20 penalty for a battery-charging-station citation under 30 C.F.R. § 75.1105, and that settlement was approved. Judge George A. Koutras found that the company also violated 30 C.F.R…
Brown Brothers Sand Company
Five safety citations affirmed with civil penalties
Brown Brothers Sand Company operated a small sand mine employing nine to ten people. Judge George A. Koutras affirmed five citations involving an unguarded V-belt drive, a shattered loader windshield, two inoperative parking brakes, and excessive dredge noise. He found the windshield and noise…
Explosives Technologies International, Inc.
Noise violation affirmed, equipment-defect violation vacated
Explosives Technologies International performed drilling and explosives work at a crushed granite surface mine in Oklahoma. An MSHA inspection found that a drill operator's noise exposure exceeded the permissible limit and that the operator was not using feasible engineering or administrative…
In re: Contests of Respirable Dust Sample Alteration Citations
Motion to compel denied as untimely
Contestants in a consolidated respirable-dust citation proceeding asked Judge James A. Broderick to compel the Secretary of Labor to answer interrogatories and produce documents. The parties had agreed to a discovery schedule, and later Commission orders extended the deadlines. The motion to compel…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Electrical penalty cut but four serious violations upheld
Trinity Industries manufactured chemical-processing tanks at its Sharonville, Ohio plant. The Commission upheld serious violations for failing to protect an employee walking on top of a tank from a nine-foot fall, leaving a compressed-gas cylinder without a valve cap, and allowing welding arcs to…
American Sterilizer Co.
Employees may designate monitoring observers
American Sterilizer monitored employees for noise and lead exposure at its Erie, Pennsylvania plant. It allowed monitored and other affected employees to observe the work and ask questions, but its policy barred union representatives acting in their official capacity from observing despite a…
Canyon Country Enterprises, D/B/A Curtis Sand & Gravel, a Corporation
Clyde C. Cole v. Canyon Country Enterprises (FMSHRC WEST 91-191-DM): Discrimination complaint dismissed as untimely and meritless
Clyde C. Cole claimed that Canyon Country Enterprises, doing business as Curtis Sand and Gravel, discriminated against him after he refused to operate a front-end loader that he believed was unsafe. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr. dismissed the complaint on two independent grounds. He found that…
David L. Stritzel
Stay lifted and discrimination case dismissed
David L. Stritzel brought a Mine Act discrimination proceeding against the Secretary of Labor, MSHA, and two individuals. The case had been stayed while the Court of Appeals considered Wagner v. Secretary of Labor. After that court affirmed the Commission's ruling that MSHA and its employees acting…
Peabody Coal Company
Fire-suppression citation vacated
Peabody Coal Company was cited after the tail valve for a remotely controlled continuous miner's water fire-suppression system became inoperable. The parties agreed that the system was required to operate when the miner made extended cuts under remote control, but the miner had not made an extended…
Southern Ohio Coal Company
Settlement approved with citations affirmed, modified, and vacated
Southern Ohio Coal Company and the Secretary of Labor presented a package settlement involving five docketed matters at the Martinka No. 1 Mine and several undocketed items. The settlement required testing of switch-gear and dead-block air gaps and an interim gap between one-half and…
Zeigler Coal Company
Settlement approved and penalty reduced to $100
Zeigler Coal Company faced a civil penalty proceeding involving its Murdock Mine. After a hearing on another matter, the Secretary of Labor moved to approve a settlement and dismiss the case, reducing the proposed penalty from $500 to $100. Judge Avram Weisberger found the settlement appropriate…
Zeigler Coal Company
Deadman-pedal citation affirmed, other matters settled or stayed
At Zeigler Coal Company's Spartan Mine, a continuous miner's deadman pedal was stuck in the tram position. Judge Avram Weisberger found that the condition could allow unexpected movement and exposed the operator or an assistant working beside the miner to injury, so he affirmed Citation No. 3847632…
In re: Contests of Respirable Dust Sample Alteration Citations
Protective-order motion partly granted and partly denied
This master docket involved contests by coal mine operators of thousands of respirable-dust citations issued by the Secretary of Labor. The contestants sought to depose Assistant Secretary William J. Tattersall and former Coal Mine Safety and Health Administrator Jerry L. Spicer, and requested…
All Phase Electric & Maintenance, Inc.
Construction citations settled for $865
All Phase Electric & Maintenance performed electrical work at a building construction site where OSHA cited hazard communication, gasoline-container, electrical guarding, and stair-railing conditions. The company president admitted the hazard communication deficiencies and stated that he had been…
Bay State Refining Company
Lead and copper citations affirmed
Bay State manufactured brass and bronze ingots from scrap metal at its Chicopee, Massachusetts foundry. OSHA found employees overexposed to copper dust and lead and cited deficiencies in engineering controls, respirator selection and fit testing, contaminated-clothing practices, medical…
Minutemen Coal Co., Inc.
Dust-filter settlement approved and contest dismissed
Minutemen Coal Co., Inc. contested a citation alleging deliberate tampering with dust-filter media at its No. 4 Mine. The company denied deliberately tampering with or altering the filters, and the parties disputed the degree and existence of negligence. Judge James A. Broderick approved a…
Old Ben Coal Company
Settlement approved and penalties reduced
Old Ben Coal Company faced consolidated civil penalty proceedings involving its No. 24, No. 25, and No. 26 Mines. Judge Avram Weisberger severed the cases from a larger docket so they could be decided separately, then considered the parties' settlement motion after a hearing on another matter. The…
New Mexico Potash Corporation
Discrimination complaint withdrawn and case dismissed
Henry Galvan asked to withdraw his discrimination complaint against New Mexico Potash Corporation. Judge Gary Melick granted permission to withdraw the complaint under 29 C.F.R. § 2700.11 and dismissed the case. The order also cancelled hearings that had been scheduled to begin on January 21, 1992.
Grefco, Inc.
Settlement approval vacated and remanded
Grefco, Inc. contested a proposed $192 civil penalty in Docket CENT 91-176-M. An ALJ approved a settlement after the Secretary's counsel mistakenly sent the judge a letter withdrawing Grefco's contest in a different docket, CENT 91-190-M. The Commission treated Grefco's later letter as a request…
Hicks v. Cobra Mining, Inc.
Truck-loss damages vacated and remanded
Amos Hicks prevailed on a Mine Act discrimination claim against Cobra Mining, Inc., Jerry K. Lester, and Carter Messer after his discriminatory discharge. The remaining dispute concerned the amount of consequential damages for a pickup truck that was repossessed after the discharge. The Commission…
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.