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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Wilmorite, Inc.
Construction citations withdrawn with prejudice
Wilmorite was adding six floors to an existing building in Syracuse, New York. OSHA cited an unguarded tenth-floor perimeter, a short ladder extension, unguarded floor and ladderway openings, and construction debris. The judge vacated the citations after finding, among other things, that the…
Garrison & Associates, Inc.
Press-brake guarding citation restored
Garrison custom-fabricated sheet metal with two press brakes whose points of operation were unguarded. An employee was observed forming a small piece with his hands close to the operating point, although holding tools were available for small pieces. The judge vacated the guarding item after…
Leon Marrano & Sons, Inc.
High-rise fall and head-protection citations affirmed
Leon Marrano was the concrete subcontractor on a nineteen-story apartment project in New York. Employees working with flying forms on the tenth floor moved around the forms by swinging partly over the building edge without safety belts or lifelines. The judge found that the company had not…
Island Steel & Welding, Ltd.
Safety-belt citation affirmed under protective-equipment rule
Island Steel assigned two employees to weld steel members while standing on top of a wall at heights of about sixteen to twenty-five feet. They had no safety belts or other fall-protection device, and the company superintendent knew they were working without belts. The Commission held that the…
General Electric Company, Inc.
Mixed ruling on extensive turbine-plant citations
OSHA issued General Electric numerous serious, nonserious, repeated, and willful citations after inspecting its Schenectady steam turbine and generator facilities. The Commission affirmed or restored violations involving ladder safety, portable tools, welder fall protection, housekeeping, fire…
Smith's Transfer Corporation
Wheel-chocking case remanded after summary dismissal
Smith's Transfer was cited for failing to chock the rear wheels of trucks or trailers while powered industrial trucks boarded them at a Pittsburgh facility. The company moved to dismiss on the ground that Department of Transportation regulations displaced OSHA authority over the working conditions…
Dravo Corp.
Toxic-paint spray citations vacated for lack of timely proof
Dravo manufactured and repaired river barges at a Pennsylvania boat yard. OSHA cited the company over respirators, hazard information, employee instruction, and protective clothing for workers allegedly spray painting Tectyl-400B in confined barge spaces. The judge found that the Secretary did not…
Atlantic & Gulf Stevedores, Inc.; Nacirema Operating Company, Inc.;Holt Marine Terminal, Inc.; and International Terminal Operating Corporation of Ameriport
Mixed hard-hat ruling for port employers
Four Port of Philadelphia employers were cited because longshore employees did not wear required protective hats. The Commission held that the longshoring rule imposed a duty on employers and that incorporation of the referenced private consensus specifications was legally permissible. It also…
Kingery Construction Company
Forklift-platform hazard charge vacated, other items affirmed
Kingery used a platform attached to forklift forks to place an employee about eighteen feet above the ground for concrete-chipping work. OSHA alleged a serious general-duty violation because the forklift was unattended and the employee had no platform controls. The Commission affirmed vacation of…
Les Mares Enterprises, Inc.
Log-splitter citation vacated for lack of commerce coverage
Les Mares employed workers to clear land in Napa County and split removed trees into firewood. The company had considered using the land for grape production, but no vines had been planted and the intended use was never carried out. The only shown sales were local firewood sales within nearby…
California Stevedore & Ballast Co.
Serious overloading hazard affirmed, container item vacated
California Stevedore discharged cargo from the S.S. Samoa Bear in San Francisco. It attempted to lift a five-ton pontoon with two booms rigged in a configuration understood in the industry to have about a two-and-a-half-ton capacity, and the gear failed, dropping the pontoon near several employees…
Hoffman Construction Co.
Radial-saw guard citation affirmed with reduced penalty
Hoffman Construction used a radial arm saw at the Trojan Nuclear Power construction project without a guard covering the full lower portion of the blade. The company argued that the installed replacement guard created binding, kickback, visibility, and flying-fragment hazards. The judge found that…
Everhart Steel Construction Company, Inc.
Roof-edge and grounding citations affirmed
An Everhart Steel employee worked at the edge of a flat roof thirty-two feet above the ground, leaning over the side to pass siding and other material to workers on a scaffold. The roof had no perimeter guard or other protective device. The Commission held that the open-sided-floor standard applied…
L. E. Myers Co.
Live-line tool citation vacated for inadequate notice and proof
An L. E. Myers lineman was fatally electrocuted while working on an energized distribution line with a hot stick whose hook spring was broken. The citation alleged that the defective tool was used within the required clearance, while the Secretary later introduced evidence about failures to inspect…
Midwest Steel Fabricators, Inc.
Temporary abatement extension affirmed after its expiration
Midwest Steel Fabricators sought more time to correct two violations in an uncontested citation. The Secretary withdrew his objection to an extension through January 2, 1975, and the judge granted the request. The Commission affirmed the judge's decision without finding prejudicial error…
Irvington Moore, Division of U.S. Natural Resources, Inc.
Press-brake guarding violation reinstated
Irvington Moore manufactured sawmill machinery and used a press brake, an ironworker, and two saws at its Oregon plant. The Commission held that the general point-of-operation guarding standard applied to the press brake even though the specific mechanical power-press standard excluded press brakes…
Gem-Top MFG., Inc.
Press-brake and saw-guarding citations affirmed with reduced penalties
Gem-Top manufactured metal canopy tops for pickup trucks at its Clackamas, Oregon, plant. OSHA cited the company for operating a radial saw and swing cutoff saw without required guards and for operating two press brakes without point-of-operation guards. The Commission adopted the judge's ruling…
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Repeated scaffold citation vacated
A Bethlehem Steel electrical rigger fell to his death while performing maintenance work high above the floor on an overhead crane. OSHA alleged a repeated violation of the general scaffold rule and sought to add the general personal-protective-equipment rule because the employee was not wearing a…
Charles Cohen, Inc.
Trenching cases remanded for merits findings
OSHA cited Charles Cohen, Inc. for allegedly failing to shore, slope, or otherwise support trenches in unstable or soft soil at two Dallas worksites. The judge dismissed both serious citations because they were issued more than three working days after the inspections. The Commission reversed…
Charles Cohen, Inc.
Trenching cases remanded for merits findings
OSHA cited Charles Cohen, Inc. for allegedly failing to shore, slope, or otherwise support trenches in unstable or soft soil at two Dallas worksites. The judge dismissed both serious citations because they were issued more than three working days after the inspections. The Commission reversed…
Mid-Plains Construction Company
Roof-fall case reinstated after pleading amendment
OSHA alleged that Mid-Plains Construction employees worked on a roof more than 25 feet above the ground without adequate fall protection. The citation initially relied on the general duty clause, but the Secretary's complaint amended the legal theory to the construction safety-net standard while…
Betten Processing Corp.
General-duty crane citation vacated
Betten Processing used a crane to move scrap iron and steel at its Wisconsin facility. After the operator left the crane unattended with its engine running and its magnet resting on a scrap pile, the boom and magnet rotated into a truck cab and killed the driver. OSHA cited the company under the…
Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad Co.
Five nonserious items affirmed and three vacated
Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad argued that it was exempt from the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The judge rejected that position except as to recordkeeping charges, following Commission precedent involving another railroad. The judge affirmed nonserious citation items 1 through 5…
North American Rockwell Corporation
Asbestos citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
North American Rockwell manufactured asbestos-containing brake linings at its Ohio plant. OSHA sampling found that a grinder operator was exposed above the asbestos limits, but the company had previously commissioned three tests near the same machine that found no contamination problem. OSHA…
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, A Div. of United Aircraft Corp.
Locked-exit violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Pratt & Whitney assembled and tested rocket and jet engines in a large room that held as many as 150 employees and contained flammable liquids and several possible ignition sources. Six of the room's seven exits were locked for security, and employees were sometimes locked inside for ten to thirty…
Star Textile & Research, Inc.
Variances moot two contested citation items
Star Textile contested citation items requiring foreign-metal removal equipment on textile opener lines and overhead guards on powered industrial trucks. While the case was pending, the Secretary granted variances after determining that the company's alternative conditions were as safe as…
Sechrist-Hall Company
Three roof-safety cases remanded for merits decisions
OSHA issued serious fall-protection citations after Sechrist-Hall employees worked on three unguarded roof areas 16 or 22 feet above the ground. One site also produced a nonserious citation because a ladder did not extend 36 inches above the landing and had no grab rails. The judge vacated all…
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
Serious utility-pole citation reinstated
Pacific Gas & Electric sent a crew to transfer electrical conductors and transformers from a known rotted pole to a new pole. The subforeman repeatedly instructed two linemen to secure the old pole, but did not verify that they had done so and allowed them to work on it for about an hour. When the…
Yellow Freight System, Inc.
Toe-protection citation affirmed at freight dock
Yellow Freight operated a Tulsa terminal where employees loaded and unloaded freight weighing up to 6,000 pounds. Freight frequently fell from stacks, and forklifts had run over employees' toes on numerous occasions, but most employees did not wear toe protection. The judge vacated the citation…
Clasten Vaughn, dba Vaughn Roofing Co.
Roof-edge protection citation reinstated
Vaughn Roofing employees worked as close as 18 inches from the edge of an approximately 80-foot-high roof without safety belts, lanyards, or other fall protection. The Commission reinstated the serious personal-protective-equipment citation because the employer accepted that fall protection was…
Illinois Central Gulf Railroad Co.
Forty-six citation items vacated as untimely
OSHA cited 46 alleged safety, health, recordkeeping, and posting violations at Illinois Central Gulf Railroad's locomotive repair facility in Paducah, Kentucky. The inspection was coordinated with the Federal Railroad Administration, and the proposed citation moved through regional and national…
Hydrate Battery Corp.
Lead overexposure affirmed as nonserious
Hydrate Battery manufactured lead-acid batteries at a small Virginia plant. OSHA sampled five employees for one eight-hour shift and found that each was exposed above the airborne-lead limit, with one result more than five times the limit. The Commission agreed that the standard was violated but…
Standard Transformer Co.
Paint-area abatement extension affirmed after deadline
Standard Transformer requested six additional months to correct citation items concerning paint spray areas after completing three of five areas and spending substantial sums on corrective systems. The Secretary did not oppose the request, and the judge extended the abatement date to January 1…
Getty Oil Co.
Untested pressure-vessel citation affirmed
Getty Oil had a fluid-booster pressure vessel fabricated for installation at a Texas oil and gas facility. The experienced field mechanic responsible for the work learned that the vessel had not been pressure-tested but installed it without telling the company. The vessel ruptured immediately after…
Champion International Corp.
Machine-guarding item vacated after employee notice
Champion International contested only item 8 of a 13-item nonserious citation. The Secretary moved to dismiss that item because the facts did not establish a violation of the point-of-operation guarding standard, and the judge vacated it. The Commission reviewed whether affected employees had…
Kit Manufacturing Co.
Eye-protection failure-to-abate penalty vacated
Kit Manufacturing's uncontested original citation required eye protection for employees working around saws and routers that emitted wood chips and sawdust. OSHA later alleged that the company had not corrected the violation and proposed an additional $2,900 penalty. At the reinspection, the…
M-CO Equipment Co., Inc.
Crane fire-extinguisher item reinstated
M-CO Equipment was installing a sewer line at an Arizona construction site. A required fire extinguisher for a crane was kept in a pickup truck normally about 150 feet away, and the truck moved around the worksite. The Commission held that this did not make the extinguisher accessible and available…
Oestreichers Prints, Inc.
Citation affirmed after withdrawal of contest
Oestreichers Prints decided to withdraw its notice of contest after correcting the violations and paying the penalty in full. Neither party appeared at the scheduled hearing because the company failed to submit the expected withdrawal motion and the Secretary relied on its assurance that it would…
Jersey Steel Drum MFG. Corp.
Drum-expander guarding citation vacated
Jersey Steel Drum used an automatic drum-hoop expander whose hydraulic rams formed ribs in steel drums. During weekly maintenance, a foreman entered between the rams without locking out the power, accidentally triggered the machine, and was killed. The Commission majority held that the cited…
J. R. Simplot Co.
Swing-saw guarding violation affirmed
J. R. Simplot used a 20-inch metal-cutting swing saw equipped with an adjustable blade guard. The guard could comply when allowed to float on the material, but the judge found that employees normally secured it in a raised position that left the point of operation exposed. The raised guard left…
Arkansas-Best Freight System, Inc.
Toe-protection citation reinstated
Arkansas-Best operated a busy North Carolina freight terminal where dock workers handled freight ranging from light goods to castings, pipes, and 55-gallon drums while forklifts moved throughout the area. Repair-shop employees also handled heavy tools, parts, and large truck tires. The company did…
Underhill Construction Corp. & DIC Concrete Corp, d/b/a DIC Underhill, A Joint Venture
Ninth-floor safety-belt citation affirmed
Employees of the DIC-Underhill joint venture stacked and rigged plywood at the unguarded edge of a building's ninth floor. As a load shifted during hoisting, one employee moved to avoid it, stepped off the edge, and fell to his death. The judge found that perimeter railings could not remain in…
Crescent Wharf & Warehouse Co.
Hazardous-cargo warning violation affirmed
Crescent Wharf employees loaded bags of barium hydroxide monohydrate and insecticide onto a vessel at an Alameda, California, terminal. Some bags leaked, and employees who inhaled or contacted barium hydroxide dust experienced breathing difficulty, coughing, irritation, nausea, and eye symptoms…
Pyropak Manufacturing, Inc.
One abatement extension approved and three dismissed as late
Pyropak Manufacturing sought additional time to correct four nonserious citation items involving machinery and electrical conditions. The judge found the petition timely only for item 5 and extended that item's deadline to January 6, 1975. He dismissed the extension requests for items 6, 7, and 8…
Eichleay Corp.
Safety-belt violation affirmed and scaffold allegation vacated
Eichleay employees removed temporary boards from inside a vertical power-plant duct about 50 feet above its bottom. A boilermaker foreman and a union steward recognized that the task was hazardous but performed it without available safety belts or lifelines, and the foreman fell to his death. The…
Copperweld Steel Co.
Bottomless slag-pot citation affirmed
Copperweld Steel used a bottomless slag pot with a temporary dolomite bottom to handle molten slag at temperatures near 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Employees, union representatives, the safety director, and other company supervisors repeatedly warned management that the pot was unsafe, but the…
Pack River Lumber Co.
Saw-guarding violation classified as serious
Pack River Lumber operated two swing cutoff saws and one radial-arm saw without guards on the lower portions of their blades. It also had numerous unguarded gears, chains, belts, and pulleys that created pinch-point hazards throughout the workplace. The judge affirmed both violations as nonserious…
Consolidated Aluminum Corporation
Coal-tar exposure item vacated
OSHA alleged that a Consolidated Aluminum employee was exposed to coal-tar pitch volatiles above the eight-hour limit. The company contested that item and its proposed $40 penalty. The Secretary later moved to withdraw because the company had made good-faith corrective efforts and the investigative…
Frank Galey, Jr., d/b/a Galey Construction Co.
Ladder item reinstated and trench violation classified as nonserious
Galey Construction installed drain pipe in a long trench that reached approximately 18 feet deep at its western end. The Commission affirmed a trenching violation as nonserious because the hard, compact soil was nearly sloped to the required angle and the record did not establish a substantial…
Western Metal Decorating Company
Stairway item reinstated and respiratory-protection item vacated
Western Metal Decorating Company decorated flat sheets of tin and steel using coating, printing, and baking lines. OSHA issued a 25-item citation covering conditions that included housekeeping, powered industrial trucks, flammable liquids, machinery, electrical equipment, employee eating areas, and…
Wayne Taysom & Eli Taysom, d/b/a Taysom Construction Company
Crane power-line violation affirmed with a $300 penalty
Taysom Construction was building a concrete bank vault and used a crane to move cement from a delivery truck to the vault. The crane boom contacted an energized 12,000-volt power line, and the delivery-truck driver was killed when current traveled through the crane cable and bucket. The judge found…
Davenport Brothers, Inc.
Trench and head-protection violations affirmed, penalty reduced to $200
Davenport Brothers sent two employees into a trench to repair a broken water line. The judge found that the trench was more than five feet deep and was not shored, braced, or sloped, and that neither employee wore protective headgear. The Commission affirmed the serious trenching violation and the…
Carolina Power and Light Company
Settlement approved with surplus order language stricken
OSHA cited Carolina Power and Light Company for allowing fly ash to accumulate on a floor in a load allegedly greater than the structure was designed or approved to support. The parties settled after the company moved to withdraw its notice of contest, represented that the condition had been…
Julius Nasso Concrete Corporation and Beach Concrete Company, Inc., a Joint Venture, d/b/a Nasso Beach Concrete
Citation vacated for lack of reasonable promptness
Nasso Beach Concrete was the concrete subcontractor on a high-rise apartment project. An employee installing perimeter guardrail protection on the sixteenth floor fell and died, and OSHA investigated the next day. The area director decided on December 26, 1972, to issue a citation concerning fall…
Greguson's Nursery, Inc.
Limited contest made power-line citation final, penalty set at $100
Greguson's Nursery performed landscaping work, and one of its employees was electrocuted when the boom he was operating contacted an energized power line while he moved boulders. The employer's notice of contest expressly challenged only OSHA's proposed $600 penalty. The Commission held that the…
Laster and Fingeret, Inc.
Penalties imposed for eight admitted construction violations
Laster and Fingeret was the general contractor at a building project and admitted three serious and five nonserious construction violations. The cited conditions included missing stair and perimeter railings, unguarded floor openings, fire-extinguisher and first-aid deficiencies, unsecured gas…
C. N. Flagg & Company, Inc., d/b/a Northeastern Contracting Company
Serious trench violation affirmed, willful citation vacated
Flagg was installing sewer pipe in a trench more than 15 feet deep. The trench boxes and sheeting did not protect the bottom portion, where employees worked, and the Commission upheld the finding that the soil was unstable. It affirmed a serious trenching violation and its $700 penalty from the…
Carpenter Rigging and Contracting Corporation
Serious fall-protection violation reinstated with a $650 penalty
Carpenter Rigging was a subcontractor constructing an automated container warehouse at John F. Kennedy Airport. Two employees repositioned planking while standing on eight-inch girders about 21 feet above a concrete floor without safety belts or lanyards, and one employee fell and died. The…
Hoffman Construction Co.
Fall-protection violation affirmed, scaffold item vacated
Hoffman Construction employees installing concrete forms at a nuclear power project worked about 40 to 50 feet above the ground while wearing safety belts but not tying off their lanyards. The Commission found that most of the workers were stationary, could feasibly tie off, and faced a serious…
Bay Marina, Inc.
Forklift failure-to-abate penalty set at $315
Bay Marina sold, stored, and repaired boats using a forklift that had an added counterweight without the manufacturer's approval. The company admitted the powered-industrial-truck violations and failed to remove the counterweight by the abatement date, leaving only the additional penalty in…
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.