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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Arco Chemical Co., Lyondell Petrochemical Co.
Fire-equipment cases remanded for further proceedings
These consolidated cases arose after a fire extinguisher exploded during a fire-control training exercise at Lyondell Petrochemical Company's Houston facility, killing an Arco Chemical Company employee. The ALJ granted summary judgment to both companies without stating the reasons for the rulings…
Phoenix Roofing, Inc.
Attorney-fee request remanded for substantial-justification finding
This order concerns Phoenix Roofing's application for attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Fifth Circuit reversed and remanded an ALJ award because the judge found Phoenix Roofing was the prevailing party but did not decide whether the Secretary's position was substantially…
Smith Steel Casting Company
Air-contaminant violations and silica controls affirmed
Smith Steel Casting Company employees were exposed to excessive respirable silica dust from sand-handling work and excessive copper fume from arc-air gouging. The Commission rejected Smith Steel's challenge to the validity of the air-contaminant standard at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1000 because the cited…
Ficks Reed Company
Settlement conditionally affirmed to permit union input
Ficks Reed Company and the Secretary submitted a settlement after the authorized employee representative, a union, had elected party status. The union objected that it had not been consulted before the agreement was executed and asked the Commission not to approve it. Applying intervening…
E. Clifford Durrell & Son
Settlement reduces penalty and deletes citation items
The Commission approved a settlement between the Secretary of Labor and E. Clifford Durrell & Son. The settlement deleted one item and its penalty from Citation 1, reduced another Citation 1 penalty from $480 to $300, deleted one instance and four items from Citation 2, and required a $300 payment…
Mautz & Oren, Inc.
Remaining electrical citation withdrawn and case dismissed
The underlying case concerned a repeat citation alleging that Mautz & Oren failed to use ground-fault circuit interrupters or an assured equipment grounding conductor program at a construction site. The ALJ had affirmed the citation under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.404(b)(1)(i) and assessed a $980 penalty…
Power Fuels, Inc.
Serious hydrogen-sulfide and respirator violation affirmed
A Power Fuels truck driver was fatally overcome by hydrogen sulfide while working alone at an oil-field salt-water tank in North Dakota without a respirator. The Commission found that the evidence established exposure above the maximum peak concentration allowed by 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1000(b)(2). It…
Pace Construction Corp.
Serious scaffold and balcony fall hazards affirmed
A Pace Construction employee fell 30 feet from an unguarded outrigger scaffold and suffered serious injuries at a Florida construction project. The Commission affirmed that Pace failed to require safety belts and used another scaffold with unsecured planking and incomplete guardrails. It accepted…
RMI Company
Hazard-communication citation withdrawn and case dismissed
The underlying case arose after a subcontractor employee connected a respirator to a plant compressed-air line that was being purged with nitrogen and died from asphyxiation. The ALJ had affirmed a serious hazard-communication violation under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200(h)(1)(ii) and assessed a $350…
Keefe Earth Boring Company, Inc.
Relief from seven uncontested citation orders denied
Keefe Earth Boring Company failed to file timely notices of contest to seven citation orders issued in 1987 and 1988 involving trenching, training, and hard-hat requirements. After the Secretary began a federal penalty-collection action, the company sought relief under Federal Rule of Civil…
Tudor's Body Shop
Spray-booth sprinkler citation vacated for lack of applicability proof
Tudor's Body Shop painted vehicles in a spray booth that did not have automatic sprinklers around its filters. The Secretary cited 29 C.F.R. § 1910.107(b)(5)(iv), but did not establish that the booth was a conventional dry-type spray booth with overspray dry filters or filter rolls covered by that…
Virgil Alan Hickman & Sherry K. Lowe, d/b/a Al Kim Painting
$57,000 default set aside and case remanded for an answer
The Secretary issued two citations alleging 26 serious and four willful violations against Virgil Alan Hickman and Sherry K. Lowe, doing business as Al Kim Painting, with proposed penalties totaling $57,000. The ALJ entered a default after they failed to answer the complaint or respond to a…
E. L. Jones and Son, Inc.
Serious elevator-shaft guarding violation affirmed
A subcontractor employee suffered fatal injuries after falling 35 feet through an unguarded elevator-shaft opening at a Texas office-building project where E. L. Jones and Son was the general contractor. Jones conceded that the opening violated 29 C.F.R. § 1926.500(b)(1) but disputed knowledge and…
Ormet Corporation
Crane warning-signal violation affirmed after fatal billet fall
Ormet Corporation used an overhead crane to move large aluminum billets to an inspection table at its Ohio smelter. A load fell after a billet struck the table, and one billet struck and killed an employee who had moved several feet away. The Commission affirmed a serious violation of 29 C.F.R. §…
Milliken & Company
Cotton-dust exposure and respirator items vacated for lack of knowledge
OSHA sampling at Milliken's Georgia textile plant showed second-shift cotton-dust exposure above the permissible limit in 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1043(c)(1). The Commission accepted the ALJ's finding that OSHA's vertical-elutriator sampling was substantially accurate. It nevertheless vacated the exposure…
Monfort of Colorado, Inc.
Willful refusal to provide injury logs affirmed
A former employee requested copies of Monfort's OSHA 200 injury and illness logs for the meat-packing plant where she had worked. Monfort knowingly denied the request, first calling it a union request and later arguing that disclosure would violate federal labor law and its Fourth Amendment privacy…
General Motors Corporation, Electro-Motive Division
Record-access violations affirmed, willfulness reversed
General Motors denied three employee requests for medical and exposure records because the employees had pending Illinois workers' compensation claims. The Commission held that the access requirements in 29 C.F.R. § 1910.20 did not supersede or alter state workers' compensation law and did not…
Tri-City Electrical Contractors, Inc.
Ladder settlement approved with $100 penalty
Tri-City Electrical Contractors was cited for unsecured portable ladders, improperly constructed job-made ladders, and unguarded open-sided floors at an apartment construction project. The Commission approved a settlement in which the Secretary withdrew the unsecured-ladder item and its $300…
Patent Scaffolding Co.
Scaffold fall-protection citation withdrawn and case dismissed
The underlying case concerned an employee dismantling scaffolding from a partially guarded platform about 110 feet above the ground without a safety belt or safety net. The Secretary alleged alternative violations under the safety-net and scaffold-guardrail standards. The ALJ affirmed the…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Commission limits judicial control of employee settlement input
Boise Cascade and the Secretary were negotiating settlement of extensive citations from a Maine pulp and paper mill when the employee union objected that it had not been included in the negotiations. The ALJ ordered that the union receive notice and be present as a silent observer at future…
A.P. O'Horo Company, Inc.
Willful trenching and training violations affirmed
A.P. O'Horo employees were installing sewer pipe in a 10-foot-deep trench beside a heavily traveled Ohio highway when a wall collapsed and buried a pipe layer, who died several days later. The Commission found that the trench was not adequately sloped, shored, braced, or protected by the available…
Delford Industries, Inc.
One docket severed and made final while review continues
The Commission had jurisdiction over both consolidated Delford Industries dockets after review was directed. It determined that no compelling public interest warranted further review of the issues in docket 89-1753. The Commission severed that docket and made the ALJ's decision for it a final…
Penrod's Palace
Default dismissal and $3,200 penalty affirmed
Penrod's Palace timely contested a willful citation but did not answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to the ALJ's show-cause order. The ALJ dismissed the notice of contest, affirmed the citation, and assessed a $3,200 penalty. Penrod's argued that its counsel believed the Secretary's counsel…
Coleco Industries, Inc.
Willful elevator safety violation largely affirmed
A Coleco employee was crushed and killed when a freight elevator unexpectedly moved while he was loading it with a forklift. The Commission found a recognized hazard under the general duty clause because elevator door and gate interlocks had been intentionally bypassed, a gate was missing, and the…
Gulf and Western, Energy Products Group, Bonney Forge Division
Excessive noise exposure proved and remaining issues remanded
OSHA cited Bonney Forge after measuring excessive noise exposure for 13 employees in its machine shop, forge shop, and production grinding area. The ALJ vacated the citation because he considered OSHA's measurements unreliable and found that overexposure had not been proved. The Commission…
Metal Goods Service Centers, Div. Of Alcan Aluminum Corp.
Settlement remanded for required employee notice
The ALJ approved a settlement before affected employees had received the required 10-day notice and opportunity to comment. The Commission held that the approval was premature and remanded the case to preserve employee rights under Commission precedent. The official release also includes the later…
Thermal Reduction Corporation
Review vacated after failure to comply with Commission orders
Thermal Reduction Corporation repeatedly failed to file required corporate-ownership information and current contact information for its representative. It also failed to respond to the Commission's show-cause order. The Commission therefore vacated the direction for review and made the ALJ's…
Action Group, Inc.
Default set aside for inquiry into claimed settlement
Action Group contested failure-to-abate penalties totaling $4,200 but did not file an answer to the Secretary's complaint. Its new plant manager timely responded to the ALJ's show-cause order by stating that he believed OSHA and the company had resolved the matter for $500, but the ALJ did not…
St. Joe Resources Company
Medical-removal back pay remanded for calculation
St. Joe transferred employees with elevated blood lead levels to jobs with less lead exposure. OSHA cited the company under the lead standard's medical removal protection provision, which required the transferred employees to retain their earnings, rights, and benefits. The Fifth Circuit held that…
Amax Lead Company of Missouri
Medical-removal back pay remanded for calculation
Amax transferred employees with elevated blood lead levels to jobs with less lead exposure. OSHA cited the company under the lead standard's medical removal protection provision, which required the transferred employees to retain their earnings, rights, and benefits. The Fifth Circuit held that the…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Settlement-participation issues accepted for interlocutory review
Boise Cascade and the United Paperworkers' union sought interlocutory review of ALJ orders governing employee participation in settlement discussions. The Commission granted review of six questions, including whether employee representatives had to attend all settlement discussions, what input they…
P. R. Drydock & Marine Terminals, Inc.
Settlement cuts citation penalties to $2,400
OSHA issued P. R. Drydock three citations with proposed penalties totaling $4,800, and an ALJ later dismissed the company's notice of contest as untimely. While the case was under Commission review, the parties settled. The Secretary reduced the serious-citation penalties from $3,680 to $1,840 and…
Bratton Corporation
Untied steel erectors exposed to exterior fall hazard
Bratton employees welding bar joists on perimeter beams were exposed to exterior falls of about 28 to 33 feet. They wore safety belts but were not tied off, and Bratton left that decision to each employee. The Commission held that the steel erection temporary-flooring standard addressed interior…
Beech Fork Processing, Inc.
Settlement approved at $8,000
Beech Fork Processing faced penalties across three dockets involving 39 violations. The parties proposed reducing the total assessment from $10,123 to $8,000 because the operator was experiencing financial difficulties and might have been forced to stop operating if it had to pay the full amount…
Compass Steel Erection, Inc.
Welding-cable citation settled as other-than-serious
OSHA cited Compass Steel after finding damaged arc-welding cable repaired with duct tape, an incomplete hazard communication program, and oxygen and acetylene cylinders placed together. An ALJ affirmed the welding-cable item as serious with a $360 penalty and found the four remaining items de…
Moniaros Contracting Corporation
Settlement order set aside over employer objections
An ALJ approved a stipulated settlement that would have reduced eight proposed penalties from $5,560 to $3,000. Moniaros then sent the judge a letter objecting to certain terms of the order. The Commission treated the letter as a petition for discretionary review and found that the existing record…
Central Brass Manufacturing Co.
EAJA award adjusted to $13,520
Central Brass sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act after prevailing on several noise, lead, and silica citation items. An ALJ awarded $13,250, and the Secretary challenged the method used to allocate fees and expenses. The Commission held that it reviews its…
The Specialist of the South, Inc.
$3,000 penalty affirmed for 39 serious items
The Specialists operated a small furniture repair, refinishing, and upholstery business using flammable and toxic materials. OSHA cited 39 serious violations, primarily involving fire and explosion hazards, and proposed $9,900 in penalties. An ALJ affirmed every serious item but assessed a combined…
Choice Electric Corporation
Pro se default remanded for factual inquiry
An ALJ entered default after Choice Electric failed to answer the Secretary's complaint, affirming two citations and assessing a $520 penalty. The company appeared without counsel and said it believed that returning a designation-of-representative form, requesting simplified proceedings, or filing…
National Steel and Shipbuilding Company
Settlement approval set aside for union-input inquiry
Three inspections of NASSCO's San Diego shipyard produced hundreds of alleged violations and proposed penalties totaling $165,100. The Secretary and NASSCO settled, but two employee unions challenged the judges' approval orders. The Commission found the agreement deficient because service on the…
Potomac Electric Power Company
Trench-support citation settled for $1,000
OSHA cited PEPCO after employees entered an approximately 11.5-foot-deep trench before an adequate support system was installed. An ALJ affirmed the trench-support violation with a $200 penalty and severed a separate ladder-access allegation. During Commission review, the parties settled the…
Shank-Ohbayashi, Inc.
Underground-construction citations settled for $4,600
An ALJ had affirmed two willful underground-construction violations and assessed $11,000, while vacating a general duty clause item and another underground-construction item. The parties settled during Commission review. The Secretary changed the characterization of the two affirmed violations and…
Shamrock Coal Company, Inc.
Settlement approved and violations affirmed without S&S findings
Shamrock Coal operated underground coal mines and a preparation plant. In KENT 90-75, Judge Avram Weisberger approved a settlement that reduced two citation penalties from $121 to $40. In KENT 90-60, the judge found violations involving self-contained self-rescuers, emergency materials…
Vern's Manufacturing, Inc.
Late-contest dismissal remanded for factual record
OSHA issued Vern's Manufacturing a $2,100 failure-to-abate notification for unguarded points of operation on two iron worker machines. The family-run company appeared without counsel and maintained that its informal conference, phone calls, and a letter to the OSHA area director served as a timely…
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Furnace lockout case settled for $6,500
Bethlehem Steel used a flag-and-tag procedure to protect employees repairing equipment at its basic oxygen furnaces from unexpected movement or energization. OSHA alleged that the procedure did not provide positive control of power sources and cited the company under the general duty clause. An ALJ…
Peabody Coal Company
Walkaround pay violation affirmed
Peabody Coal operated the Sundial No. 10-B Mine. During a joint federal and state investigation of a roof fall, the company paid one miners' representative who accompanied the state inspector but refused to pay Ernest Eugene White, who accompanied the federal inspector. Judge William Fauver held…
Keystone Coal Mining Corporation
Float coal dust citation settled for $800
MSHA cited Keystone Coal Mining for allowing float coal dust to accumulate on rock-dusted surfaces in the immediate return at the Jane Mine. The citation was originally assessed at $1,200 and was modified from a 104(d)(1) citation to a 104(a) citation because the operator's conduct did not rise to…
Keystone Coal Mining Corporation
Three accumulation orders settled for $2,250
Keystone Coal Mining faced three orders alleging that coal, coal dust, and gobbed materials had accumulated in underground working areas in violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.400. The proposed settlement reduced the originally assessed penalties from a combined $3,700 to $2,250. Judge Paul Merlin accepted…
Collier Stone
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Robert A. Cook alleged that Collier Stone fired him after he reported equipment safety defects to an MSHA inspector at the company's Pennsylvania open pit crushed-stone and aggregate mine. Judge William Fauver found that Cook had engaged in protected activity, but the evidence did not prove that…
International Salt Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Kathleen Tarmann alleged that International Salt suspended her because she raised health and safety concerns about a supervisor and unsanitary restroom conditions at the Cleveland Mine. Judge Gary Melick found that the suspension resulted from her refusal to clean the restroom and her departure…
Southern Ohio Coal Company
Discrimination case dismissed for default
Cynthia Ray brought a discrimination proceeding against Southern Ohio Coal Company. After the company moved to dismiss, the judge ordered Ray to respond and later granted an extension when she said she was considering obtaining counsel. Ray did not file a response to the motion or the show-cause…
Western Fuels-Utah, Incorporated
Coal dust order affirmed with $950 penalty
MSHA cited Western Fuels-Utah after finding a broad accumulation of coal dust in an underground mine entry. Judge Avram Weisberger held that the operator had not shown an intervening clean inspection that would prevent a section 104(d)(2) order, and that the coal dust violated 30 C.F.R. § 75.400…
Dravo Basic Materials Company, Inc.
Settlement approved with reinstatement and backpay
Alonzo Walker was found to have been discharged in violation of the Mine Act from his dragline operator job at the Selma Mine. In this order, Judge William Fauver approved a settlement between Walker, Dravo Basic Materials, and R & S Materials. The settlement required $5,890.63 in backpay, $75 in…
Leeco, Inc.
Discriminatory discharge found after unsafe servicing refusal
Ricky Hays, an electrician at Leeco's No. 62 Mine, was discharged after refusing to grease an offset fitting on a continuous haulage system while the equipment was operating. Hays testified that the rotating fitting could pull him into the machine or against the rib, and that management required…
Randy Coal Company
Default order vacated and case remanded
Randy Coal failed to answer a civil penalty proposal and did not respond to a judge's show-cause order, so the judge entered a default order assessing a $98 penalty. The company later sent a letter saying it believed it had been released from the violation. The Commission treated the letter as a…
American Asbestos Control Co.
Asbestos-removal citations withdrawn
American Asbestos Control removed insulation from an aluminizing pot without a negative-pressure enclosure or a connected decontamination area. A nearby bulk sample contained 70 percent asbestos, although the contractor's air samples were well below the permissible exposure limit. The ALJ held that…
Armour Food Company
Two guarding items affirmed and six items vacated
OSHA cited multiple conditions at Armour's meat-processing plant, and the Commission reviewed selected personal-protective-equipment, machine-guarding, power-transmission, centrifuge, and compressed-gas items. It vacated the mesh-glove item because OSHA did not prove that sharpening slicer blades…
Old Energy Incorporated
$2,600 civil penalty imposed after default
MSHA sought civil penalties against Old Energy Incorporated in a proceeding involving the Old Energy No. 1 mine. No authorized company representative appeared for the scheduled hearing, and the judge found the operator in default. A company custodian produced financial records but said she was not…
Zeigler Coal Company
Abandoned-panel citation vacated
MSHA cited Zeigler Coal Company for allegedly failing to ventilate an abandoned panel at the Murdock Mine under 30 C.F.R. § 75.329-1(a). Judge George A. Koutras found that the standard applied only to abandoned areas already in existence by December 30, 1970, while this panel was developed in 1987…
Golden Oak Mining Company, L.P.
Review dismissed after waiver granted
Golden Oak Mining sought review of an ALJ decision concerning a surface bathing facility at its underground coal mine. The ALJ had found a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.1712-1 and concluded that MSHA did not abuse its discretion in denying a waiver. Golden Oak reported that MSHA later granted the…
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.