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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Zunker Contractors, Inc.
Commission impasse leaves $1,000 trench ruling in place
Zunker was installing sewer pipe in an approximately 11-foot-deep trench when a side collapsed, burying and seriously injuring an employee. The ALJ credited rescue personnel, city employees, and the Secretary's soil expert, finding that the trench was nearly vertical, dug in unstable soil, and…
St. Joe Resources Company
Lead benefits violation affirmed, Commission divided on back pay
St. Joe transferred a zinc-smelter employee with an elevated blood lead level to a lower-exposure job. The company maintained his base hourly rate but did not pay scheduled overtime, shift differentials, or voluntary overtime he would have had an opportunity to work as a weighman. Following a Fifth…
Schuylkill Metals Corporation
Voluntary lead removals required full earnings
Schuylkill operated a secondary lead smelter and transferred employees with rising blood lead levels from production work to lower-exposure janitorial duties. The company maintained their regular hourly rates but did not pay the overtime and production bonuses they would have earned in production…
Collier-Keyworth Company
Noise appeal settled with one item affirmed and no penalty
Collier-Keyworth manufactured office-chair mechanisms using power presses and lathes at a Massachusetts plant. OSHA cited the company under the occupational noise standard for employee protection, engineering or administrative controls, and a hearing conservation program. The litigation produced…
Amax Lead Company of Missouri
Lead removal violation reclassified as serious for $60
Amax transferred six employees away from high lead exposure and continued their regular hourly rates for 40-hour weeks. The employees lost opportunities for overtime and no longer had paid lunch periods, although their total daily paid hours remained unchanged. Following a Fifth Circuit ruling, the…
Associated Electric Cooperative, Incorporated
Unsafe access and clutter citations affirmed
Associated Electric Cooperative operated a surface coal mine connected to the Thomas Hill Energy Center. The judge found that employees had no safe means of access from an embankment to a dredge, where they had to travel down a steep, slick, and sometimes snow-covered slope, and that the mine's…
Connecticut Light & Power Company
Electrical hazard citation vacated after unforeseeable crew error
A Connecticut Light & Power crew was replacing substation equipment when a lead electrician contacted a 23,000-volt lightning arrestor and was fatally injured. OSHA alleged that the utility's training and supervision were inadequate under the general duty clause. The Commission found that the…
Union Oil Company of California
Refinery explosion penalties reduced to $10,000 after appeal
A pressure vessel failed at Union Oil's Chicago refinery, causing an explosion and fire that killed 17 employees and caused lost-worktime injuries to 14 others. OSHA cited pressure-vessel inspection and repair practices, protective equipment for employees performing firefighting duties, fire…
Capform, Inc.
Excavation inspection and crane-load items affirmed for $800
Capform performed concrete formwork in a 25- to 30-foot-deep excavation at a Dallas construction site. After repeated rain, an unshored excavation wall collapsed while a 100-ton crane was operating above it, killing one Capform employee and injuring another. The ALJ vacated the citation under the…
Utah Power & Light Company
Coal-cuttings order upheld
Utah Power & Light Company contested a section 104(d)(1) order alleging that coal cuttings had accumulated behind a line curtain in an active underground mine section. The judge found that roughly 500 to 800 pounds of loose coal had accumulated over more than 100 feet and that the operator's…
Mid-Continent Resources, Inc.
Withdrawal order invalid because abatement failure was not proved
Mid-Continent Resources was cited after water, mud, and heaved floor material obstructed an underground coal mine escapeway. A later inspector issued a section 104(b) withdrawal order, but the Commission found that the Secretary did not prove that the specific conditions described in the original…
IMC Fertilizer, Inc.
Loader brake citations affirmed without S&S findings
IMC Fertilizer operated a phosphate mine where an inspector found inadequate brakes on a Caterpillar 980 loader and a Clark 275 loader. After hydraulic fluid was added to the Caterpillar and the Clark's brakes were adjusted, both machines stopped in two or three feet instead of seven or eight feet…
Green River Coal Company
Roof and coal dust citations affirmed, travelway citation vacated
Green River Coal Company faced four citations at its Green River Coal No. 9 Mine after a roof fall affected a belt conveyor area. Two roof-support citations were settled and affirmed, and a coal-dust accumulation citation was affirmed with its $1,000 proposed penalty reduced to $800. The judge…
LeBlanc's Concrete & Mortar Sand Company
Ten citations split, with $225 in penalties
LeBlanc's Concrete & Mortar Sand Company operated Dudley's Pit, a Texas dredging and sand operation. MSHA cited ten conditions involving machine guarding, life-jacket use, flammable-liquid cleanup, fire extinguishers, and open-flame work. Judge George A. Koutras affirmed six citations, vacated…
Consolidation Coal Company
Compensation complaint dismissed on withdrawal
Local Union 9909, District 31, United Mine Workers of America, filed a compensation proceeding against Consolidation Coal Company concerning the Loveridge No. 22 Mine. The union requested permission to withdraw its complaint. Judge William Fauver granted the request and dismissed the case. The…
Van Buren-Madawaska Corporation
Logging employer status remanded for factfinding
OSHA issued 21 citations involving twelve northern Maine logging worksites, including woods operations, labor camps, and a maintenance garage. Van Buren-Madawaska accepted that the cited conditions would violate the Act if it was the workers' employer, but argued that contracted logging operators…
Moniteau County Commission
Reporting citation vacated and case dismissed
Moniteau County Commission was cited for failing to file a quarterly mine employment report for its maintenance shop. After a hearing, MSHA determined that the operation was a borrow pit outside Mine Act coverage in the circumstances presented. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr. granted MSHA's motion to…
Hern Iron Works, Inc.
150-day hearing delay reversed and case remanded
At the start of a scheduled hearing, Hern Iron Works obtained a 150-day postponement while related warrant litigation was pending in the Ninth Circuit. The Commission reversed because the motion was untimely, showed no exigent circumstances, and would indefinitely delay a case that the parties…
Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Floor-edge violation reclassified as serious for $50
Whiting-Turner managed construction of two four-story hospital towers where floor perimeters were unguarded or protected only by sagging single-wire ropes. Its three onsite employees performed engineering inspections and regularly worked near those edges. The ALJ found a violation but classified it…
Seward Motor Freight, Inc.
Forklift-platform violation reduced from willful to serious
Seward repaired semi-trailers using a work platform welded to forklift forks. Employees commonly raised the platform themselves and climbed the forklift mast to reach it instead of having an operator remain at the controls. One employee fell about seven feet while climbing down and sustained…
Lowe Construction Company
Trench ladder citation vacated under specific egress standard
Lowe employees used a ladder to climb the vertical lower portion of a deep trench, then stepped off and walked up the sloped wall. OSHA cited the general construction ladder rule because the ladder ended 6 to 8 feet below ground level instead of extending three feet above the landing. The…
Cardinal Industries, Inc.
One modular-plant fall item affirmed for $450
Cardinal manufactured modular housing units on an indoor assembly line. After a fatal fall from a unit roof, OSHA cited fall hazards on the roofs, an adjacent felt-rack platform, and a scissors lift. The Sixth Circuit first held that the plant was governed by general industry rather than…
Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company
Fall protection required during elevated apprentice training
Cleveland Electric trained apprentice mechanics to cross narrow substation bridges at heights of 25, 36, and 56 feet. The company removed guide ropes in stages and eventually required trainees to cross without fall protection so the exercise would simulate field conditions and build confidence. The…
Continental Electric Company
Hearing conservation citation reinstated with no penalty
Continental used a pneumatic air file that produced sound levels as high as 103 decibels. A full-shift dosimeter showed the operator's exposure slightly exceeded a 92-decibel eight-hour average, but the company had no hearing conservation program. The ALJ vacated the citation because the Secretary…
Robert B. Young v. Lehigh Portland Cement Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed after insubordination finding
Robert B. Young, a yard foreman at Lehigh Portland Cement Company's plant and quarry, was discharged after refusing instructions to issue a verbal warning to a brakeman involved in a locomotive collision and derailment. Young alleged that the discharge violated the Mine Act's protection against…
B and D Coal Company, Incorporated
Settlement approved with $4,000 penalty
B and D Coal Company, Incorporated, operator of No. 7 Mine, faced a proposed civil penalty of $8,000. The parties jointly moved to approve a settlement, and Judge Avram Weisberger found the settlement appropriate under the Mine Act's penalty criteria. The judge approved the settlement, reducing the…
Martin Marietta Aggregates
Gas-cylinder citations affirmed with $100 in penalties
Martin Marietta Aggregates operated the Belgrade and New Bern quarries in North Carolina. MSHA cited the company after oxygen and acetylene cylinders were found without valve covers, and the company argued that the cylinders were in use rather than stored. Judge James A. Broderick found that both…
Herbert M. King v. Shamrock Coal Company
Discrimination settlement approved
Herbert M. King brought a discrimination proceeding against Shamrock Coal Company involving No. 10 Mine. The parties jointly asked the judge to approve a settlement and dismiss the case. Judge William Fauver found the settlement consistent with the purposes of the Mine Act, approved it, and…
Shamrock Coal Company
Mine-plan violation affirmed with additional penalty claim dismissed
Shamrock Coal Company developed its Greenwood No. 12 Mine without approved plans after MSHA had advised the operator that separate plans were required for its physically separate mines. Judge William Fauver found the plan violation significant and substantial and caused by gross negligence, and…
Consolidation Coal Company
Retaliation and reporting policy violate the Mine Act
Consolidation Coal Company reprimanded and threatened miner William J. Keller after he engaged in activity protected by the Mine Act. Judge William Fauver found that the company violated 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(1) and that its policy requiring employees to report alleged safety or health problems to…
Utah Power & Light Company
Transformer citation affirmed, unwarrantable-failure designation removed
Utah Power & Light Company operated the Cottonwood coal mine. MSHA cited the company after finding that a transformer was not ventilated directly into the return air course as required by 30 C.F.R. § 75.1105. Judge John J. Morris affirmed the citation and its significant-and-substantial…
Monterey Coal Company
Protected work refusal upheld, records correction ordered
Monterey Coal Company required miner Paula L. Price to wear integrated metatarsal boots even though the boots did not fit and caused foot problems. Judge Gary Melick found that Price's refusal to work in the ill-fitting boots was protected because she had a good-faith, reasonable belief that…
Dun-Par Engineered Form Company
Serious fall protection violation affirmed after court remand
Dun-Par was a concrete-form subcontractor whose employees worked at unguarded floor edges 38 to 46 feet above the ground. Guardrails and safety belts were infeasible for the work, but the Eighth Circuit required Dun-Par to prove that other protective measures were unavailable. On remand, the…
Sterling Energy, Inc.
Mine safety orders affirmed and two modified
Sterling Energy, Inc. operated the Sterling No. 5 Mine. MSHA cited roof control, preshift examination, conveyor guarding, ventilation, and airflow conditions, including an imminent-danger order and several unwarrantable-failure orders. Judge Roy J. Maurer affirmed the cited violations and orders…
Gilian Instrument Corporation
Settlement approved with a $350 penalty
Gilian Instrument agreed to settle after an earlier default order had affirmed the citations and assessed $700. The company agreed to guard the cited equipment appropriately or remove it from service. The Secretary reduced the proposed penalty from $700 to $350, and Gilian withdrew its notice of…
Pomerleau Brothers, Inc.
Settlement approved for haulage and equipment violations
Pomerleau Brothers, Inc. operated Chelmsford Mill. The case involved three civil penalties, including violations concerning a truck's brakes and other equipment conditions. Judge Paul Merlin approved the parties' settlement recommendations for the original penalty amounts and found that a $500…
Coal Junction Coal Company
Penalty dismissal vacated and case remanded
The Chief Administrative Law Judge dismissed Coal Junction Coal Company's civil penalty contest after the Secretary reported that the proposed penalties had been paid. The company later filed an answer stating that it wanted to pursue the contest. The Commission treated that answer as a petition…
Super Block Coal Corporation
Fire extinguisher citation affirmed with $20 penalty
Super Block Coal Corporation operated the Hunley Creek mine. MSHA cited the operator because an Ingersoll-Rand T-4 highwall drill did not have a portable fire extinguisher. Judge George A. Koutras found the violation proven after the operator failed to appear or respond to the show cause order, and…
Amax Coal Company
Discrimination damages set at $1,000
Amax Coal Company had already lost a discrimination complaint brought by Donald F. Denu. The parties later agreed that the costs and damages totaled $1,000. Judge Gary Melick ordered Amax to pay Denu $1,000 within 30 days of the order.
B & M Trucking
Dismissal vacated and discrimination case remanded
An FMSHRC Administrative Law Judge dismissed Kenneth Howard's discrimination complaint after finding that he had not responded to an order to show cause. The Commission treated Howard's attorney's motion to reinstate as a timely petition for discretionary review, granted review, and vacated the…
Eastern Associated Coal Corporation
Longwall miners awarded compensation, other claims denied
Local Union 1570 sought compensation for miners who were idled for 3.5 shifts after MSHA issued two Section 104(d)(2) orders at Eastern Associated Coal Corporation's Federal No. 2 Mine. Judge George A. Koutras found a sufficient connection between one order and the idling of miners assigned to the…
Rushton Mining Company
Noise citation based on MSHA survey affirmed
Rushton Mining Company contested a citation issued after an MSHA noise survey found that a roof bolter operator was exposed to noise above the limit in 30 C.F.R. § 70.501. Judge James A. Broderick held that the Secretary could issue the citation based on an MSHA-conducted noise survey, even though…
Quarto Mining Company
Walkaround representative pay violation found
Quarto Mining Company refused to pay Roger L. Stillion his regular wage for time spent accompanying a federal mine inspector as a miners' walkaround representative on October 6, 7, and 8, 1987. Judge William Fauver found that the company violated 30 U.S.C. § 813(f). The parties were directed to try…
Johnny Tackett
Discrimination complaint dismissed for failure to prosecute
Johnny Tackett's discrimination complaint was dismissed after he repeatedly failed to attend noticed depositions, produce requested documents, comply with prehearing orders, and respond to an order to show cause. Judge Roy J. Maurer granted the respondent's motion to dismiss for failure to…
Bob & Tom Coal, Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed after settlement
George H. Adkins and Bob & Tom Coal, Inc. jointly asked to dismiss the discrimination case after reaching a mutually agreeable settlement. Judge Roy J. Maurer allowed the complaint to be withdrawn and dismissed the case with prejudice. The scheduled hearing was cancelled.
Consolidation Coal Company
Discrimination finding reversed and penalty vacated
Consolidation Coal Company denied miner Roger Lee Wayne, Sr. the opportunity to participate in a ventilation plan review meeting without losing pay. An Administrative Law Judge found discrimination, ordered reimbursement for lost pay, and assessed a $300 civil penalty. The Commission reversed that…
Urralburu Mining Company
Two reporting citations affirmed with $40 penalty
Urralburu Mining Company began operating the Breezy Mine without first notifying MSHA of the planned start of operations and had not filed a legal identity report. Judge Michael A. Lasher found violations of 30 C.F.R. §§ 57.1000 and 41.20. Both violations were found non-serious, and the operator…
Frito-Lay, Inc.
One tripping-hazard item remains after citation withdrawal
OSHA cited Frito-Lay over flexible electrical cords used with portable conveyors. The Secretary withdrew Citation 1, which had alleged a willful electrical violation, and the Commission set aside the judge's rulings on that citation. The judge's disposition of Citation 2 became the final order. One…
Consolidation Coal Company
Miners' representative access violation found with $200 penalty
Consolidation Coal Company restricted David P. Clarke, a miners' representative at the Ireland Mine, from accompanying MSHA inspectors at the River Portal because the company preferred a representative already working there. Judge Avram Weisberger found violations of the Mine Act's walkaround and…
Union Oil Company of California
Vanadium exposure violation affirmed without S&S finding
Union Oil Company of California operated the Parachute Creek underground oil shale mine. MSHA found that a welder's vanadium fume exposure exceeded the applicable limit during welding. The Commission agreed that the operator violated 30 C.F.R. §§ 57.5001 and 57.5005, but upheld the judge's decision…
Mettiki Coal Corporation
Citation vacated because no examination was performed
MSHA alleged that Mettiki Coal failed to record the result of a required daily hoisting-equipment inspection at the Mettiki Mine. Judge Gary Melick held that the cited recordkeeping standard requires a record only after an examination has been performed. Because no examination occurred on April 15…
Arno Sand Company
Defective-brake citations affirmed with $60 penalty
Arno Sand Company operated the Highsmith Pit. MSHA cited the company after finding that a Clark 75 front-end loader was being used without adequate brakes and that the brake defect had not been recorded. Judge Gary Melick affirmed both violations, finding the brake violation significant and…
Tuscola Stone Company
Brake citations partly modified with $400 penalty
Tuscola Stone Company operated a limestone open-pit mine. MSHA cited two Euc haul-truck brake conditions, including service brakes that could not stop or hold the truck on steep haul roads and a hand brake that failed to stop the truck. Judge Gary Melick found the service-brake and hand-brake…
Big Elk Creek Coal Company, Inc.
Discrimination case dismissed after withdrawal
Arnold Sharp asked to withdraw his discrimination complaint against Big Elk Creek Coal Company. Judge George A. Koutras granted the request and dismissed the case. The order contains no ruling on the underlying discrimination allegations.
Allendale Gravel Company
Settlement approved with a $30 penalty
MSHA alleged that Allendale Gravel Company did not maintain records showing that a competent person examined work areas each day. The parties agreed to settle the alleged violation, and the Secretary proposed reducing the penalty from $42 to $30. Judge George A. Koutras approved the settlement…
Consolidation Coal Company
Two orders modified and one affirmed
The Secretary alleged three significant and substantial violations at Consolidation Coal Company's Osage No. 3 Mine, including two allegations of unwarrantable failure. Judge James A. Broderick modified the belt-guard and continuous-miner orders by removing the significant-and-substantial and…
Peabody Coal Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed after withdrawal
Terry G. Miller asked to withdraw his discrimination complaint against Peabody Coal Company so the matter could be settled. Judge Avram Weisberger granted the request and dismissed the complaint. The order contains no ruling on the underlying discrimination allegations.
Seven Day Concrete, Inc.
Settlement approved for $2,680
MSHA alleged 16 violations of mandatory safety standards at Seven Day Concrete's Ellinger Plant and proposed total penalties of $2,680. The company agreed to pay the full proposed amount and withdraw its contest. Judge George A. Koutras approved the settlement and allowed payment of $670…
Emery Mining Corporation
Commission proceedings stayed
The Secretary and Utah Power and Light jointly asked the Commission to stay briefing and further proceedings while related proceedings involving Emery Mining were pending before an ALJ. They said the related proceedings might resolve the need for Commission review in the present matter. The…
Three Star Drilling & Production Corporation
Oil-recovery project held subject to Mine Act jurisdiction
Three Star Drilling was developing an underground shaft and oil collector rooms as part of an oil-recovery project at DAD Well No. 1 in Illinois. The company argued that the project was not a Mine Act mine because oil would not be pumped while workers were underground, and that its operations did…
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.