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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Nelco, Incorporated
Excavation citation vacation affirmed
Nelco dug a six-foot-deep, 65-foot-long, 35-foot-wide cavity for a cistern, with vertical unshored walls and an employee working in a roughly two-and-a-half-foot space between an earthen wall and a reinforcing-steel lattice. OSHA initially cited the excavation standard and later alleged the more…
Queen City Sheet Metal and Roofing, Inc.
Punch-press citation vacation affirmed
OSHA cited Queen City because its mechanical punch presses lacked point-of-operation guards under the general machine-guarding standard at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.212(a)(3)(ii). The judge vacated the citation, reasoning that the more specific mechanical-power-press standard governed and relying on…
J. W. Black Lumber Company
Chemical-protection and chipper-item vacations affirmed
Two disputed sawmill items were before the Commission from a larger citation. One alleged that employees handling lumber treated with the preservative Super Noxtane were not required to wear rubber gloves; the judge vacated it because the Secretary had not established that the solution's…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Sawmill guarding violations and $300 penalty affirmed
OSHA cited Boise Cascade's sawmill for inadequate guarding of end saws on board and cant trimmers and of components on a Bolter saw. The equipment had some guards, but the judge found that the cited guards did not adequately protect employees and that 29 C.F.R. §§ 1910.265(e)(4)(ii)(b) and…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Sawmill guarding violations and $300 penalty affirmed
OSHA cited Boise Cascade's sawmill for inadequate guarding of end saws on board and cant trimmers and of components on a Bolter saw. The equipment had some guards, but the judge found that the cited guards did not adequately protect employees and that 29 C.F.R. §§ 1910.265(e)(4)(ii)(b) and…
Atlantic & Gulf Stevedores, Inc.
Five longshore hard-hat violations affirmed
Atlantic & Gulf's longshore employees repeatedly worked without protective hats where falling objects could injure their heads. The company supplied hats at no charge and promoted their use through meetings, signs, pay-envelope messages, and hiring tapes, but many employees continued to refuse…
Northern Metal Company
Hard-hat violations affirmed but repeat claims and penalties removed
Northern Metal's longshore employees repeatedly worked without protective hats despite the company's efforts to encourage their use. The Commission held that Northern Metal remained their employer under the economic realities of the hiring-hall arrangement because it paid the workers, determined…
Independent Pier Company; Holt Marine Terminal, Inc.; I.T.O. of Ameriport, Inc.; Atlantic & Gulf Stevedores, Inc.
Longshore hard-hat violations affirmed but employee order vacated
Six consolidated cases involved stevedoring companies whose longshore employees refused to wear supplied hard hats at the Port of Philadelphia. The judge held the employers responsible under 29 C.F.R. § 1918.105(a), affirmed or modified the citations, and assessed penalties totaling $545 across the…
A & M Sheet Metal, Inc.
Ironworker guarding citation vacation affirmed
A & M operated a multipurpose Ironworker that cut and punched metal through three sets of dies activated by a foot treadle. The machine lacked a point-of-operation guard, but the operator stood about 18 inches away, held material with one hand on each side of the danger area, and the record did not…
Grand Union Company
Retail-butcher mesh-glove citations vacated
Grand Union operated retail grocery stores where butchers trimmed and deboned meat with sharp knives but did not wear steel mesh gloves. OSHA cited two stores under the general personal-protective-equipment rule, and the administrative law judges found that hand protection was required. The…
Southern Railway Company
Locomotive-derailer violation and $200 penalty affirmed
Southern Railway employees worked in maintenance pits where moving locomotives could strike locomotives under repair, and the company relied on its industry-standard blue-flag or blue-light rule rather than installing derailers. The Commission held that industry custom helped establish recognition…
Coughlan Construction Company, Inc.
Two trench-exit violations and $90 penalty affirmed
Coughlan Construction Company was a Boston trenching contractor whose employees worked in two trenches deeper than four feet without ladders or steps. At one site, employees climbed shoring cross braces to exit, and at the other they pulled themselves up and over the trench side. OSHA cited the…
Worcester Pressed Steel Company
Duplicate aisle item vacated, higher penalties sustained
Worcester Pressed Steel Company operated a large metal-stamping plant cited for 40 nonserious safety violations. The cited conditions included poor housekeeping and floors, obstructed and unmarked aisles, missing exit signs and eye protection, forklift hazards, inadequate machine guarding, and…
Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation, Texas Eastern Cryogenics Corporation, and Sinapp Co-Staten Island, Inc.
Owners dismissed, contractor case remanded
Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation and Texas Eastern Cryogenics Corporation operated a liquefied-natural-gas facility on Staten Island, and Sinapp performed repair work there. A February 1973 tank fire killed three employees of the facility companies and 37 Sinapp employees. OSHA cited the…
Allis-Chalmers Corporation
Scaffold item affirmed for work atop a ball mill
Allis-Chalmers manufactured heavy industrial equipment at a large Wisconsin plant that OSHA cited for 118 nonserious violations. The company contested selected scaffold and eye-protection subitems, and the judge vacated all of those contested charges. The Commission held that a scaffold citation…
Belt Railway Co. of Chicago, et al.
Railroad industry exemption rejected
This consolidated decision covers 19 dockets involving 11 railroad employers cited for workplace-safety violations. The violations were generally undisputed, but the railroads argued that Department of Transportation safety regulation created an industry-wide exemption from the OSH Act. The…
Jerald F. Hughes, Inc.
Unprotected 16-foot trench violations affirmed
Jerald F. Hughes, Inc. was installing a large sewer line in a trench that was 16 feet deep. Employees entered the trench while its loose, cracked sides were not shored, sloped, braced, or protected by the trench box available at the site. The judge treated the evidence as establishing a violation…
Underhill Construction Corp. & DIC Concrete Corp., d/b/a DIC-Underhill, A Joint Venture
Serious 24th-floor fall hazard affirmed, penalty set at $650
DIC-Underhill was performing concrete-forming work on the 24th floor of a New York high-rise project. Eleven employees worked within two to three feet of an unguarded floor edge about 200 feet above ground, with no perimeter rails, safety nets, or personal protective equipment. The Commission…
Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Scaffold citations vacated because the cited rules did not apply
Maryland Shipbuilding employees used a temporary powered scaffold to repaint a sign about 50 feet above the ground. The scaffold was supported by counterweighted wooden roof beams that were not fastened to the roof, and a beam fell while the platform was being raised, killing one employee and…
Kesler & Sons Construction Company
Failure-to-abate ruling affirmed after court remand
OSHA cited Kesler & Sons Construction Company for several safety violations and ordered immediate correction. The company did not contest that citation, and OSHA reinspected before the 15-working-day contest period expired, finding four conditions uncorrected. A judge affirmed the failure-to-abate…
Nabisco, Inc.
ALJ final order vacated and discretionary review granted
Administrative errors prevented a full report of the case and the parties' positions from reaching the Commissioners within the statutory 30-day review period. After examining the Secretary's petition, Nabisco's opposition, and the judge's decision, the Commission found important questions about…
Idaho Travertine Corporation
Mine-safety jurisdiction dismissal reversed and case remanded
Idaho Travertine quarried large stone blocks at remote sites and transported them to an Idaho Falls plant for cutting, honing, polishing, and finishing. OSHA issued one serious citation and 12 nonserious citations with $1,290 in proposed penalties, but the judge vacated them because he placed the…
Engineers Construction, Incorporated
Trench citation vacated as unpreventable misconduct
Engineers Construction was excavating a pipeline trench that was 14 feet deep, contained water, and had unstable, inadequately supported sides. Its job superintendent entered the trench for a short task needed before a trench box could be installed. He did so without authorization and in direct…
Rothschild Washington Stevedoring Co.
Hard-hat citation affirmed, penalty reduced to $50
Rothschild Washington Stevedoring loaded and discharged cargo at a Seattle pier and aboard a ship. An OSHA inspector saw five longshoremen working without hard hats while exposed to ship gear, overhead cargo, and material that could fall from loads. The company supplied hard hats, required…
Paul L. Heath, d/b/a Paul L. Heath Contracting Co.
Trench and PPE citations affirmed with $525 in penalties
Paul L. Heath Contracting excavated a sewer trench that was about 55 feet long, six to eight feet deep, and nearly vertical, without shoring or adequate sloping. An OSHA inspector testified that he saw the company's employee climbing out of the trench at a point about seven feet deep. The employee…
Steel Erectors, Inc.
Fall-protection citation vacated for insufficient proof
Steel Erectors employees straddled roof trusses and welded joists while wearing safety belts that were not tied off, and no safety nets were installed. OSHA alleged that the work was more than 25 feet above the ground, which would trigger the cited safety-net standard. The inspector did not measure…
Crescent Erection Company
Derrick citation vacated after rooftop fall
Crescent Erection used a small derrick to install aluminum exterior panels on a high-rise building. To work from the roof, employees welded the derrick to a wheeled base that rolled on a permanent window-washing track and added counterweights. While a roughly 150-pound panel was being lowered, the…
Keystone Seneca Wire Cloth Co.
Noise-abatement extension affirmed despite employee-notice defect
OSHA cited Keystone Seneca Wire Cloth for excessive workplace noise and set a January 14, 1975 deadline for eliminating the exposure. The company did not contest the citation, then later requested a six-month extension of the abatement deadline. Commission rules required notice to affected…
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Shipyard housekeeping violation reclassified as repeated
Bethlehem Steel repaired ships at its San Pedro yard. An earlier final citation involved a bilge pump and air hoses obstructing a passageway on one vessel, and a later inspection found welding leads, burning leads, and hoses obstructing passageways on another vessel. The company admitted the second…
Urban Builders, Inc.
Citations affirmed despite incorrect company name
Urban Builders was the general contractor for an apartment project cited for two serious violations and multiple nonserious violations. OSHA mistakenly addressed the citations to Urban Developers, Inc., a different corporate name. Urban Builders' president had attended the inspection conferences…
Chicago Bridge & Iron Company
Serious fire-extinguisher citation affirmed, penalty reduced to $450
OSHA cited Chicago Bridge & Iron for failing to keep suitable fire-extinguishing equipment immediately available and ready for use in a work area. The judge affirmed the citation as a serious violation. The Commission initially vacated the citation because it considered the citation untimely…
Francis E. Figley
Excavation and traffic-sign citations vacated by an equally divided Commission
Francis E. Figley was boring beneath a roadway from a deep excavation for a sewer line. OSHA cited the company for failing to shore or properly slope the hard or compact upper soil and for failing to post traffic signs near the excavation, which was about 10 feet from a heavily traveled highway…
Amulco Asphalt Company
Three serious excavation violations and $1,000 penalty affirmed
OSHA charged Amulco Asphalt with willfully violating three excavation safety standards. The judge found that the company violated all three standards but reduced the classification from willful to serious and assessed a $1,000 penalty. The two sitting Commissioners agreed that the violations were…
United States Steel Corp., d/b/a American Bridge
Serious safety-net citation affirmed by divided Commission
American Bridge was erecting steel on the 109th floor of the Sears Tower, about 38 feet above the next temporary floor. Two connectors walked along an 18-inch-wide beam to remove a lifting sling, and one employee lost his balance and fell to his death. No safety nets were installed, and the company…
Allied Structural Steel Company
Crane swing-radius citation vacated by an equally divided Commission
Allied Structural Steel used a truck-mounted crane while shaking out steel beams at a power-station project. The crane's outriggers were fully extended and an oiler had been assigned to act as a flagman, but no physical barrier enclosed the rear swing radius. OSHA cited the company for failing to…
Toler Excavating Company
Serious trench violation and $700 penalty affirmed
Toler Excavating installed sewer pipe in an unstable trench that was roughly nine to 12 feet deep and was not adequately shored, sloped, braced, or otherwise protected. Excavated material was stored close to one edge and a backhoe operated along the other, adding stress to the trench walls. A…
Omni-Metal Castings, Inc.
Foundry air-contaminant, ventilation, and liquid-storage citations vacated
OSHA cited Omni-Metal Castings for excessive coal-tar-pitch volatiles, inadequate exhaust at a grinding wheel, and excessive storage of flammable or combustible liquids. The judge rejected the air-sampling laboratory reports as insufficiently reliable without testimony from the analysts and found…
A.I. Smith Electrical Contractors, Inc.
Contest dismissed after failure to answer
OSHA cited A.I. Smith Electrical Contractors for open-sided-floor and hoistway-entrance violations and proposed a $250 penalty. The company timely contested but did not answer the Secretary's complaint. It also did not respond to the judge's order to explain the missing answer, so the judge…
Olin Construction Company, Inc.
Serious unshored-trench citation affirmed by divided Commission
Olin Construction was locating an underground electrical cable while installing a water main. An OSHA inspector saw two employees in a narrow, vertical-sided trench dug in unstable fill soil and estimated from a folding rule that the trench was about six feet deep. The company disputed the depth…
Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Crane and personnel-box general-duty citations vacated
OSHA issued two serious general-duty citations to Sun Shipbuilding, each with a proposed $700 penalty. The first alleged that accessible crane swing-radius areas were not barricaded or otherwise protected, but the judge found that signalmen protected the areas and that the evidence did not…
Anchor Hocking Corporation
Glass-plant noise-control citation vacated by divided Commission
Anchor Hocking's glass-forming employees worked around noise levels of 98 to 103 dBA and used personal hearing protection. OSHA alleged that the company also had to implement feasible engineering or administrative controls. Evidence showed that enclosed operator booths could reduce exposure during…
Shaw Construction Company
Two serious trench citations and $350 in penalties affirmed
Shaw Construction excavated a trench about five feet wide, 20 feet long, and nine feet deep for utility cables. Excavated material was piled within two feet of the edge, increasing the load on the trench wall and creating a risk that debris could fall onto employees. The trench sides were…
Acchione & Canuso, Inc.
Citations dismissed after investigation found no employee exposure
OSHA issued one serious and one nonserious citation to Acchione & Canuso. After further investigation, the Secretary determined that the company's employees had not been exposed to the alleged hazard. The Secretary moved to dismiss both citations. The judge granted the motion. On review, the…
Trojan Steel Company
Oxygen-storage and punch-press items vacated by divided Commission
Trojan Steel contested two nonserious citation items, each carrying a proposed $50 penalty. One item alleged that a bulk oxygen tank was too close to a fire-resistant building wall under a 25-foot separation rule. The judge held that rule ineffective because its private consensus source had been…
Continental Steel Corporation
Noise penalties modified, four violations affirmed
Continental Steel received four citations involving excessive noise, nonmandatory hearing protection, failure to lock out power during lubrication, and inadequate ventilation around an acid tank. The company stipulated that noise exceeded permitted levels and that some employees did not use hearing…
Merit Construction Company
Serious skylight-opening violation and $500 penalty affirmed
Merit Construction was replacing skylight panels when three employees traversed rows of unprotected skylights. Although the workers had been warned not to step on the panels, one worker stepped through an old skylight, fell between 16 and 28 feet, struck a rack, and then hit the concrete floor…
Murray Company, Inc.
Exit citation affirmed and penalties modified
Murray Company operated a hardware store in a basement and four-story building with one open wooden stairway connecting the floors. The judge found that the stairway did not provide sufficient emergency egress, affirmed the exit citation, reduced its penalty from $65 to $60, and extended the…
Midwest By Products, Inc.
First-aid and LP-gas items reinstated, ladder item vacated
OSHA cited hazards at Midwest By Products' rendering plant, including unguarded screw conveyors, defective ladders, inadequate first-aid preparation, an unsafe grinder, electrical defects, and an unprotected propane tank. The company admitted most of the nonserious violations and later acknowledged…
A. L. Amaral Company
Trench citations affirmed and serious penalty reduced
A. L. Amaral employees built a catchbasin in an excavation more than six feet deep with unstable fill soil, nearly vertical sides, no shoring, and no ladder. The judge treated the catchbasin excavation as part of a trench even though it was wider than it was deep. He affirmed a serious…
Terry Brothers
Radial-saw failure-to-abate penalty reduced to $250
Terry Brothers installed fences and wooden guards on two radial saws after OSHA cited inadequate lower-blade guarding. The added devices did not automatically adjust to the stock or cover the blade after a cut, so they did not satisfy the standard. The judge nevertheless found that the company had…
Stoughton Body, Inc.
Serious fire hazards affirmed and warehouse item vacated
Stoughton Body faced one four-part serious citation and thirteen nonserious items involving compressed-gas and gasoline storage, welding fumes and screens, work platforms, spray painting, electrical equipment, housekeeping, exits, and firefighting equipment. The Commission held that the company…
Metro-Mechanical, Inc.
Scaffold and housekeeping citations affirmed
An OSHA compliance officer saw a worker on a mobile scaffold that lacked guardrails and positive-locking casters. Metro-Mechanical did not deny the scaffold conditions, but disputed whether the worker was its employee. The Commission held that the officer could rely on the job foreman's…
Water Tunnel Contractors
Misfired-hole violation and $800 penalty affirmed
Water Tunnel Contractors washed explosives from at least two misfired holes instead of placing new primers and refiring them. When drilling resumed, an explosion killed one employee and injured three others. The judge held that the standard generally required refiring and that the company bore the…
Olin Corporation
Forklift guard citation affirmed and crane-clearance item vacated
Olin operated unguarded forklifts around pallets, fiber cores, and scrap coil ends stacked above driver height. The Commission held that the overhead-guard standard protects against falling objects representative of the work and does not depend on whether objects are stacked above the forklift…
C.E.C. Electrical Company
Fall-protection and electrical citations affirmed
C.E.C. Electrical employees worked around untagged deenergized circuits, exposed live parts, unprotected cables, and unsecured switchboxes. Another employee lay on a 24-inch-wide walkway suspended about 70 feet above the floor and leaned out to weld without guardrails, a safety belt, or a lifeline…
Pittston Stevedoring Corporation; and International Terminal Operating Co., Inc.
Hard-hat citations affirmed without penalties
Inspectors found large numbers of longshore workers without required protective headwear aboard several ships operated by Pittston and International Terminal Operating. The companies had supplied hard hats, posted notices, held safety meetings, and urged voluntary compliance, but had not removed…
Railroad Salvage of Connecticut, Inc.
Failure-to-abate items affirmed and penalties reduced
Railroad Salvage did not contest an original citation covering blocked egress, poorly identified and mounted fire extinguishers, and hazardous material stacking, so those violations became final. A reinspection found that some cited locations remained uncorrected. The judge affirmed four…
Sheesley and Winters Construction Company
Excavation citation and $500 penalty vacated
Sheesley and Winters installed sewer pipe in a ground opening about 13 feet deep, 14 feet wide at the top, and 7 feet wide at the bottom. One wall was nearly vertical and the other was partly sloped, but inspectors observed no cracking, sloughing, or soil movement. The judge found that the company…
Bertke Electric Company, Inc.
Temporary-wiring citation and $35 penalty affirmed
Bertke Electric supported energized temporary branch-circuit wiring with pieces of insulated wire attached to I-beams and allowed other wiring to contact metal ductwork. The company argued that the National Electrical Code's permanent-wiring support rules did not apply to temporary wiring. The…
Kaywood Construction Company
Six final violations affirmed with $200 penalty
OSHA cited Kaywood Construction for posting and recordkeeping failures, a sagging perimeter rope, short ladder rails, and employees working without fall protection. The company's notice of contest challenged only the proposed penalties. The judge nevertheless reviewed the merits, vacated five…
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.