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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Sanger Rock and Sand
Citation case remanded
MSHA cited Sanger Rock and Sand for alleged violations involving 30 C.F.R. §§ 56.12028 and 56.14007. The ALJ vacated the citations after finding that MSHA had not shown compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act's publication requirements for the agency's organization and delegated authority…
Roger Deel, employed by Blackfoot Coal Company, Inc.
Roof-control penalty reduced to $50
MSHA charged Roger Deel, a section foreman at Blackfoot Coal Company's No. 1 Mine, with knowingly violating the mine's roof-control requirements. The judge found that Deel followed a management practice of mining from left to right even though the roof-control plan required mining from right to…
Windsor Coal Company
One order affirmed and one modified
MSHA cited Windsor Coal for unsafe roof conditions in a primary escapeway and for inadequate ventilation at a battery-charging station. Judge Gary Melick found the escapeway violation under 30 C.F.R. § 75.1704 significant and substantial and caused by unwarrantable failure, because warning tags and…
Westmoreland Coal Company
Unguarded trolley wire violation upheld
MSHA cited Westmoreland Coal after finding an unguarded 300-volt trolley wire at the Bullitt Mine where miners regularly traveled by mantrip. Judge Avram Weisberger held that miners passing within about one inch of the energized wire established a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.1003(a). He found the…
Energy Mining Corporation and/or Utah Power & Light Company
Wilberg Mine settlement approved
These consolidated contest and civil penalty proceedings arose from the Wilberg Mine fire disaster in Utah. The ALJ approved a settlement resolving 24 alleged violations in three civil penalty dockets, reducing the outstanding total from $106,749 to a voluntary payment of $95,000. The order…
Gateway Coal Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Joseph S. Colamartino alleged that a Gateway Coal foreman assaulted him because he wanted to rib-pin an area he believed needed support. Judge Roy J. Maurer found that Colamartino had not engaged in protected safety activity because he did not show a good-faith, reasonable safety concern or…
San Juan Cement Company, Inc.
Three violations affirmed
San Juan Cement operated an open-pit limestone quarry and cement plant at the Cantera Espinosa Mine in Puerto Rico. The case involved three citations issued after a truck driver died in an incident involving a high-voltage powerline, along with other electrical and equipment conditions. Judge John…
Trumid Construction Co., Inc.
Serious trench-support and hard-hat violations affirmed
A Trumid employee was fatally injured when a trench wall collapsed during pipe-laying work, and the company did not report the accident to OSHA. The ALJ vacated the trench-support item after measuring depth from a bench below the original ground level, but affirmed a hard-hat violation. The…
Calang Corporation
Willful trench violations affirmed with $8,000 penalty
Calang employees and the company president worked in a roughly nine-foot-deep sewer trench with sandy soil, inadequate sloping, no shoring, and a spoil pile at the trench edge. Before excavation began, the OSHA inspector told the president that the trench needed approximately one-to-one sloping or…
BethEnergy Mines, Inc.
Citation and penalty vacated, proceeding dismissed
MSHA cited BethEnergy Mines after a sudden release of methane at the face area of a longwall section, alleging violations involving ventilation and the mine's ventilation plan. The ALJ vacated the ventilation-plan citation but found a violation of the ventilation standard, and BethEnergy petitioned…
Wayne Pulliam, Texas Sand & Gravel, Co., Inc.
Discrimination proceeding dismissed after settlement
The Secretary of Labor brought this discrimination proceeding on behalf of Robert Black against Wayne Pulliam and Texas Sand & Gravel. The parties reached a settlement that provided for back-wage payments in installments. After the respondent paid the final installment, the complainant's counsel…
Thomas J. Tabor, Jr.
Contest dismissed because miner could not challenge company citation
Thomas J. Tabor, Jr., a section foreman, filed a contest concerning a withdrawal order and citation issued to Consolidation Coal Company. The citation alleged a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.202(a), and Tabor argued that he could challenge its validity. Judge James A. Broderick held that a miner may…
Bob Sherman, employed by Blackhawk
Settled citation affirmed with $25 penalty
MSHA alleged that Bob Sherman, employed by Blackhawk at the Evening Star Mine, violated a mandatory safety standard. The parties asked Judge John J. Morris to approve a settlement of Citation 3462951. The original proposed penalty was $250, and the settlement reduced it to $25 while affirming the…
Ramsey v. Industrial Constructors Corporation
Discrimination findings reversed
Harry Ramsey alleged that Industrial Constructors Corporation discriminated against him after a dispute about dust, water sprays, and the safe operation of a rock crusher at a gold mine. The ALJ found that Ramsey had engaged in protected safety activity, had been constructively discharged, and had…
General Electric Co.
Settlement remanded for employee-union input
GE and the Secretary submitted a settlement stating that the employee union had participated in negotiations, but the union told the ALJ that it had been excluded. The ALJ approved the agreement only five days after it was mailed to the union, without allowing the required ten-day response period…
General Motors Corp., Delco Electronics Division
Union given renewed period to object to abatement time
An ALJ approved a settlement five days after it was mailed to the employee union and before a fully executed agreement had reached him. The Commission found that the approval violated the rule requiring at least ten days for an employee representative with party status to consider a settlement. The…
Stone Container Corporation
Repeated crane manbasket violation affirmed
Stone Container used cranes to lift employees in personnel baskets under a prior settlement that required a full-cycle test lift carrying twice the intended load before employees were raised. Crane operators testified that the required weighted tests were not performed on several occasions and that…
Paschen Contractors, Inc.
Gantry-crane citation vacated because lifting device was not a crane
Paschen built a device to lift concrete bridge segments weighing more than 200 tons during construction of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The device collapsed on its first use and injured four employees, after which OSHA cited Paschen for willfully failing to load test what it characterized as a…
C. W. Mining Company
Mixed citation results with $1,178 in penalties
C. W. Mining operated the Bear Canyon No. 1 underground coal mine, where MSHA alleged violations involving shuttle-car arcing, a disabled methane monitor, permissibility defects, and combustible accumulations on a bobcat. Judge James A. Broderick vacated the shuttle-car citations because the…
Energy Fuels Coal, Inc.
Settlement approved with $129 in penalties
Energy Fuels Coal and the Secretary submitted a settlement covering two contested citations and a civil penalty proceeding at the Southfield Mine. The settlement required payment of the original $79 penalty for one citation and reduced another penalty from $98 to $50 after removing its…
Pennsylvania Electric Company
Mine Act jurisdiction upheld after even Commission split
MSHA cited Pennsylvania Electric Company for failing to guard two conveyor drives at an electric generating station. The Commission had previously remanded the case so the judge could determine whether the Secretary had properly exercised Mine Act jurisdiction over the cited area. On remand, the…
Bellaire Corporation
Safety-can citations vacated
MSHA cited Bellaire Corporation at the Indian Head Mine over red safety cans containing gasoline and another alleged violation involving mine equipment. One citation was withdrawn after MSHA determined it had been issued in error. Judge August F. Cetti found that Bellaire's written color-coding…
Utah Power and Light Company, Mining Division
Imminent-danger withdrawal order affirmed
MSHA issued an imminent-danger withdrawal order removing Utah Power and Light's two EIMCO 915 diesel scoops from service at the Cottonwood Mine. The order was based on severe blind spots and restricted visibility that could prevent operators from seeing vehicles or miners in the scoops' travel…
Consolidation Coal Company
Discrimination settlement approved with back pay and penalty
Willard Gennoy complained to Consolidation Coal management about allegedly unsafe conditions and equipment at the Arkwright No. 1 Mine. Under the settlement, Judge James A. Broderick found that Gennoy had engaged in protected activity and that Consol illegally discriminated against him by…
UMWA, Local Union 1769 v. Utah Power and Light Company, Mining Division
Compensation dismissal affirmed
The United Mine Workers sought compensation under section 111 of the Mine Act for miners idled by an imminent-danger withdrawal order at Utah Power and Light's mine. The parties settled by paying 147 listed miners, but the union later identified additional miners and argued that the settlement…
Western Fuels-Utah, Inc.
Task-training violation reinstated on remand
Western Fuels-Utah, Inc. was cited under the Mine Act and mining regulations after a section foreman operated a roof-bolting machine without the task training required for miners. The Commission initially held that a state-certified supervisor was exempt from the training requirement, but the D.C…
Emery Mining Corporation
Settlement approved and case dismissed
Local Union 1769, District 22, and Emery Mining Corporation reached an amicable settlement in a compensation proceeding. Judge John J. Morris approved the settlement, dissolved the stay of the hearing, canceled the scheduled hearing, and dismissed the case.
Emery Mining Corporation
Settlement approved and case dismissed
Local Union 2176, District 22, and Emery Mining Corporation reached an amicable settlement in a compensation proceeding. Judge John J. Morris approved the settlement, dissolved the stay of the hearing, canceled the scheduled hearing, and dismissed the case.
Ernst Materials Service
Discrimination proceeding dismissed
The Secretary of Labor sought to dismiss a discrimination proceeding involving Ernst Materials Service after additional investigation showed that the respondent corporation was no longer in business and its owner had died. The Secretary reported that no successor corporation could reasonably be…
Secretary of Labor o/b/o Price v. Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Drug-program discrimination ruling partly reversed and remanded
The Secretary of Labor alleged that Jim Walter Resources discharged Michael L. Price and Joe John Vacha in violation of the Mine Act after they refused to provide urine samples under the company's substance-abuse program. The Commission reversed the ALJ's finding that the program was facially…
Chaney Creek Coal Corporation
Additional fees granted on remand
These consolidated discrimination proceedings returned to the ALJ after a Commission remand. Odell Maggard sought $56,957.55 in additional attorney fees and expenses for appellate work and $4,246.84 in recalculated interest. Judge Gary Melick granted the unopposed petitions, but stated that the…
Lang Brothers, Inc.
Contractor citations affirmed with $234 penalty
Lang Brothers, a heavy construction company that cleaned and plugged gas wells for a coal mine, was cited for equipment and safety violations during two well-plugging projects. The ALJ held that Lang was an independent contractor performing services integral to coal extraction and was therefore…
Beth Energy Mines, Inc.
Continuance denied and discovery ordered
Beth Energy Mines contested an S&S citation alleging a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.511 involving the qualifications needed to uncouple deenergized high-voltage cable. The Secretary requested a continuance while a companion civil-penalty proceeding was filed, but Beth Energy objected to delaying the…
Price v. Monterey Coal Company
Work-refusal discrimination claim dismissed and fee award vacated
Paula Price challenged a four-day suspension and loss of mine access after she did not comply with Monterey Coal's requirement that miners wear integrated metatarsal boots. The Commission held that her conduct was a work refusal, but that the refusal was not reasonable or protected because the…
Falcon Steel Company, Inc.
Economic-infeasibility interlocutory review withdrawn
Falcon Steel sought interlocutory review after the ALJ denied discovery supporting an industry-wide economic-infeasibility defense to perimeter safety-net citations. The Commission initially granted review and partially stayed the hearing on the 29 C.F.R. § 1926.105(a) items. Four days later, both…
R & R Builders, Inc.
Motion to sever GFCI item denied for lack of good cause
The Secretary asked the Commission to sever and finalize an affirmed ground-fault-circuit-interrupter item so it could support future repeated citations and encourage compliance at other worksites. The Commission held that Federal Rule 54(b) is intended to permit immediate appeals and is not the…
Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company
Boiler asbestos case settled for $1,500
CEI employees removing boiler skin casing disturbed asbestos-containing insulation without a negative-pressure enclosure, exposure monitoring, required respirators and clothing controls, or warning signs. An ALJ affirmed six serious asbestos items with penalties totaling $2,100 and one…
Covington Roofing & Sheet Metal Company
Defaulted citation vacated by agreement
An ALJ had dismissed Covington Roofing's notice of contest after the company failed to answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to a show-cause order. That default order affirmed one serious citation item and assessed the proposed penalty. During Commission review, the Secretary and employer…
Shank-Ohbayashi
One tunnel docket severed, leaving $600 in penalties
Shank-Ohbayashi faced citations from two inspections of its Los Angeles Metro-Rail tunneling project. The cases were tried together, but Commission review was sought only for Docket 88-2674. The Commission severed Docket 88-1711 after finding no party or public interest that warranted further…
Sauer-Sundstrand Corporation
Settlement order corrected for withdrawn citation item
Sauer-Sundstrand and the Secretary settled the contested OSHA citations, and an ALJ approved their agreement. The ALJ's order affirmed Citation 1 as amended, assessed $1,880, and stated without qualification that Citation 2 was affirmed. The settlement, however, withdrew Item 8 of Citation 2 and…
Sauer-Sundstrand Corporation
Settlement order corrected to reflect amended citation
Sauer-Sundstrand and the Secretary settled the contested OSHA citations, and an ALJ approved their agreement. The ALJ's order assessed a $520 penalty for Citation 1 but stated without qualification that Citation 2 was affirmed. The employer sought relief because the settlement withdrew three items…
Crocker & West Sheet Metal Co., Inc.
Citation withdrawn after default ruling
Crocker & West Sheet Metal failed to answer an ALJ's order in its OSHA contest. The ALJ dismissed the notice of contest by default, affirmed a citation under the personal protective equipment standard, and assessed a $490 penalty. After the case was directed for Commission review, the Secretary…
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Particleboard hazard communication items vacated
OSHA cited Louisiana-Pacific's Montana particleboard plant for three alleged violations of the Hazard Communication Standard and proposed $1,000. The items concerned formaldehyde warnings on particleboard shipping labels, warnings on stationary formaldehyde tanks, and safety data sheets for…
Lexcon Building Systems
Inspection item withdrawn, floor-opening vacatur final
Lexcon served as construction manager for a mall project and was responsible for coordinating subcontractors and conducting safety inspections. OSHA cited the company over the frequency of its inspections, an unprotected LP-gas cylinder, and two unguarded floor openings. The LP-gas item was…
Fred C. Kroeger & Sons
Scaffold access item affirmed for $100
Fred C. Kroeger & Sons was a bricklaying subcontractor at a church construction site. OSHA cited the company because employees climbed scaffold braces without an access ladder and because a scaffold allegedly lacked required guardrails and toeboards. The ALJ affirmed the access item, reduced its…
Century Steel Erectors, Inc.
Court remand required proof that safety belts were practical
Century Steel employees were dismantling a bridge-work scaffold when an employee fell about 40 feet while tack welds were being cut. An ALJ found a serious fall-protection violation because employees were not tied off and assessed $1,000 for that item. The D.C. Circuit reversed, holding that the…
Williams Enterprises, Inc.
Perimeter cable violation reinstated for $630
Williams Enterprises performed structural steel erection on a Washington, D.C., building project. Employees came within one foot of two unguarded edges on a mostly decked second-tier floor, with fall distances of 20 to 30 feet. The ALJ vacated the perimeter-cable citation after concluding that…
Walsenburg Sand & Gravel Company
Citations affirmed with S&S findings modified
Walsenburg Sand & Gravel operated intermittent sand and gravel pits in Colorado. The judge found violations involving machine guards, electrical equipment, grounding, records, labeling, and an elevated roadway. The judge removed the significant-and-substantial characterization from nine citations…
R S & W Coal Company, Inc.
Untrained miner citation and penalty affirmed
R S & W Coal Company operated a small underground coal mine with eight miners. An inspector found a new miner working underground after receiving little or none of the required 40 hours of training under 30 C.F.R. § 48.5(a). The judge affirmed the training citation, the significant-and-substantial…
Lebanon Rock Incorporated
Lockout and start-up warning violations affirmed
Lebanon Rock operated a portable limestone crushing plant. A laborer was injured when a return conveyor restarted while he was repairing its skirting, after the conveyor had been turned off but not locked out. The judge affirmed citations for failing to use the lockout system and failing to provide…
Greenwich Collieries
Withdrawal orders modified and merits remanded
Greenwich Collieries operated the Greenwich No. 1 underground coal mine, where a methane ignition and explosion had killed three miners and injured eleven others. MSHA later issued five withdrawal orders under section 104(d)(1) based on alleged violations found during its investigation. The…
Stillion v. Quarto Mining Company
Walkaround representative entitled to compensation
Roger L. Stillion was a Quarto miner and miners' representative who accompanied MSHA inspectors during an inspection of an independent contractor's equipment at Quarto's underground coal mine. Quarto refused to pay him for the inspection time, even though the inspection followed safety complaints…
Cantu Materials, Inc.
Default discrimination order and back pay affirmed
Cantu Materials was found in default after failing to answer a discrimination complaint or respond to an order to show cause. The judge had previously found that the company discharged Bobby Coulter for activity protected by section 105(c)(1) of the Mine Act and ordered record expungement, a $600…
Vic's Sand & Gravel Company
Injury reporting citation affirmed
Vic's Sand & Gravel operated a small sand and gravel business. An employee suffered arm and wrist injuries at the mine and received medical treatment, but the company did not file the required injury report within 10 working days. The judge affirmed the citation under 30 C.F.R. § 50.20, found the…
Faith Coal Company
Continuance request denied
The Secretary sought a $54 civil penalty against Faith Coal Company for allegedly failing to submit valid respirable dust samples. The Secretary's counsel asked to move a June 7, 1990 hearing because of depositions in another matter. Judge George A. Koutras found that the issues were not complex…
France Stone Company
Settlement decision vacated and remanded
An ALJ approved a settlement under which France Stone would pay $12,000 for two citations. France Stone then moved to amend the settlement and dismiss the proceeding, stating that the Secretary agreed, but the motion was not signed by the opposing party. The Commission treated the motion as a…
Sanger Rock & Sand
Citations vacated on jurisdiction and publication grounds
MSHA charged Sanger Rock & Sand with violating two mine-safety regulations at the Sanger Pit and Mill in California. Sanger argued that the federal government lacked jurisdiction because it did not own the property and because California had not ceded it, and also argued that MSHA had not properly…
Bennett Trucking Company
Seat-belt citations dismissed
MSHA cited Bennett Trucking Company and B & S Trucking Company after finding that coal-hauling trucks lacked required seat belts. The Secretary argued that the trucks were subject to 30 C.F.R. § 77.1710(i), while the companies argued that their cab shields supplied roll protection and that the…
Bill Pack Land Corporation and PCR Joint Venture
Fire-control settlements approved
These consolidated civil penalty proceedings involved a coal-mine refuse pile in West Virginia that had been burning for more than 50 years. After a hearing and settlement conference, Bill Pack Land Corporation and PCR Joint Venture agreed to reduced penalties, fire-control and extinguishing plans…
Howard Sand Company
Guard violation affirmed, penalty reduced
Howard Sand Company operated a sand and gravel mine using a dredge, diesel engine, and pump. MSHA cited the company because the drive shaft coupling on the dredge engine was not guarded. Judge George A. Koutras affirmed the violation and found it significant and substantial because workers could…
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.