Federal agency decisions, searchable in plain English.
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) and mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Frazier Masonry Corporation
Scaffold fall citation vacated for lack of employee proof
An OSHA compliance officer observed three people working near an unguarded opening on a 38-foot scaffold for about fifteen minutes without other fall protection. The judge found that the scaffold standard applied and that the observed condition violated its terms. OSHA did not identify the three…
LandCoast Insulation, Inc.
Settlement approved after scaffold-collapse case
The case arose after a 165-foot scaffold collapsed inside a boiler, killing one LandCoast employee and injuring several others. The judge had affirmed serious violations concerning scaffold-component training and the use of preliminary engineering drawings and unapproved component substitutions…
MVM Contracting, Corp.
Excavation violation restored to willful
MVM employees performed masonry work in an excavation deeper than five feet without cave-in protection. The judge affirmed the violation as serious, but the Commission found it willful. An OSHA compliance officer had explained the excavation requirements to MVM's superintendent, yet work continued…
Kirtley Sheetmetal, Inc.
Ladder and repeat roof-fall violations affirmed
Kirtley Sheetmetal employees used an eight-foot stepladder to reach a roof even though the ladder did not extend above the landing, was not secured, and was not designed for that use. Employees also worked on a low-slope roof 19 to 28 feet above the ground without being tied off while lifelines…
ConocoPhillips Bayway Refinery
Asbestos items reduced to other-than-serious
Conoco employees chipped and cut an asbestos-containing coating from an underground pipeline sleeve without following multiple asbestos-work requirements. The judge affirmed nine citation items as serious. The Commission held that the Secretary had not presented case-specific evidence showing that…
Compass Environmental, Inc.
Power-line training violation reinstated
A Compass employee was fatally electrocuted when an excavator boom approached an overhead power line and electricity traveled through a grease line he was holding. The judge vacated the training citation because he found the employee's exposure unforeseeable. The Commission reversed, finding that a…
Eurotech Construction Corp.
Floor-hole cover citations vacated for lack of knowledge
A Eurotech masonry employee fell about 17 feet through a floor opening on the 45th floor of a high-rise construction project. OSHA alleged deficient inspections, an unsecured and unlabeled cover, and a failure to retrain employees. The judge credited evidence that Eurotech's foreman inspected…
Latite Roofing & Sheet Metal, LLC, successor to Latite Roofing & Sheet Metal Company, Inc.
EAJA fee application denied
OSHA withdrew a serious citation alleging that a roofing safety monitor performed work that could distract from monitoring duties. Latite then sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge found Latite financially eligible and a prevailing party because the…
Burrows Paper Corporation
Late notice of contest dismissed
Burrows Paper received an OSHA citation but did not file a notice of contest within the required fifteen working days. It later argued that confusing or misleading conduct by OSHA officials justified accepting the late filing. The Commission found that the only specified conduct occurred two weeks…
Martorell Construction Company and its Successors
Default case remanded to assess missed hearing
The judge affirmed three serious construction violations and $4,500 in penalties after Martorell failed to appear at the hearing. Martorell later claimed that it had not received written hearing notices and did not remember receiving verbal notice. The Commission treated the filing as a request to…
American Bridge Company
Connector fall violation affirmed as serious
An American Bridge ironworker fell about 70 feet from a steel girder after unhooking his fall-protection lanyard. The judge found constructive knowledge because the foreman was nearby, supervisors had seen workers untied on prior occasions, and the project owner had repeatedly warned American…
Eshbach Brothers, LP
Portland-cement washing citation affirmed
About 20 Eshbach masonry employees handled portland cement at a construction project. Workers used a hose and water barrel to wash cement from their skin, but OSHA requires clean water, non-alkaline soap, and clean towels because wet cement can cause severe burns. Eshbach argued that a bathroom in…
Allstate Services, Ltd. d/b/a A&R Demoltion
Interim lead-protection item withdrawn on review
Allstate demolished lead-painted piping without first measuring employee lead exposure. The judge affirmed an exposure-assessment item and an interim-protection item, with $1,250 penalties for each, while vacating a lead-communication item. The Commission limited review to the interim-protection…
Denny Maize Construction
Eight serious construction items affirmed
Denny Maize Construction did not appear at the hearing, and OSHA's inspection evidence was undisputed. Workers lacked hard hats and eye protection, used circular saws with blade guards wedged open, and used damaged or improperly spliced extension cords. OSHA also documented an undersized scaffold…
Turner Industries Group, LLC
Pipe-machine guarding citation affirmed
Turner employees were being trained on a pipe-facing machine with one accessible cutting point left completely unguarded. A manufacturer's trainer unexpectedly started the machine while two employees were making measurements and adjustments, injuring one employee's hand. The judge found that Turner…
Mosser Construction, Inc.
Excavation violation reclassified as serious
Mosser employees worked in a 6-foot, 6-inch excavation whose benching did not meet the required dimensions. The judge affirmed the protective-system violation as other-than-serious and assessed $500, reasoning that Mosser had substantially attempted to bench the excavation. The Commission found…
Burford’s Tree, Inc.
Inoperable-seatbelt violation reinstated
A Burford's Tree tractor operator was killed after the tractor rolled over and he was thrown from its cab into the path of the attached mower. The tractor's seatbelt had been inoperable for about six months. Although the foreman submitted weekly reports claiming daily inspections, he admitted that…
Tire Star, Inc.
Roof, chemical, and ladder violations affirmed
Tire Star sent three automotive workers to patch the roof of a vacant building that it was renovating for use as a tire and repair facility. OSHA found that the workers used hazardous roofing chemicals without a written hazard communication program, safety data sheets, or chemical training. They…
Public Utilities Maintenance, Inc.
Energized-tower approach-distance citation affirmed
A Public Utilities Maintenance crew painted a 69-kilovolt transmission tower while the lines remained energized. An experienced crew leader received an electric shock on a tower where a live jumper loop was less than the required three-foot approach distance from part of the structure. The judge…
Acme Energy Service, Inc
Electrical items split after fatal rig-site shock
An employee at Acme's oil-drilling site died after contacting the energized metal frame of the tool pusher's trailer. The judge affirmed serious violations for unlabeled circuit breakers and uncovered openings in an electrical panel because the conditions were plainly visible and should have been…
Gilco Contracting Co., Inc.
Repeat excavation violation affirmed
A Gilco crew entered an excavation to expose a waterline and install a saddle valve. Three walls were properly sloped, but the western wall was vertical, the excavation was more than five feet deep, and no trench box or other protective system was present. The judge rejected Gilco's argument that…
Liberty View Construction, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA issued Liberty View Construction a citation after two inspections of a New Jersey worksite. The company received the citation on May 29, 2009, making June 19 the deadline for a notice of contest, but it filed on June 24. The judge treated the company's later letter as a request to excuse the…
Butch Thompson Enterprises, Inc.
Power-line item vacated, willful trench violation affirmed
A Butch Thompson Enterprises crew operated an excavator beneath overhead power lines and sent two workers into a 13-foot-deep excavation without cave-in protection. The judge found that the equipment-specific power-line-clearance standard applied, but OSHA's officer had only estimated the clearance…
Constructural Dynamics Inc.
Pneumatic leak-test citation vacated
Constructural Dynamics, which traded as Silvi Concrete, repaired its concrete mixer trucks at an in-house shop. A welder was killed when a repaired 200-gallon water tank exploded during a pneumatic leak test. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause, alleging that employees were exposed…
Nuprecon LP dba Nuprecon Acquisition LP
Fall-protection citation remanded
Nuprecon employees used a Bobcat to push demolition debris through a 21-foot-wide open edge about 36.5 feet above a lower level. OSHA cited the company for inadequate fall protection and failure to retrain employees. The judge vacated both items, ruling on his own that the work was demolition…
Skanska Koch, Inc.
Bridge fall-protection violation affirmed
Skanska Koch employees performed steel-erection work on an elevated platform during renovation of New York City's Triborough Bridge. An ironworker fell through an uncovered saddle beam hole about 37 feet above the ground and died from his injuries. Neither he nor his partner was tied off, and…
Reynolds Packaging KAMA, Inc.
Lockout violations reduced to serious
Reynolds employees entered between sections of plastic-sheet production machines to clean rollers and restart material after production disruptions. The company treated this work as minor servicing and relied on movable aluminum blocks instead of machine-specific lockout procedures. The judge held…
4 State Trucks
Order-picker fall and retraining violations affirmed
4 State Trucks used powered order pickers to retrieve parts from warehouse shelves as high as 23 feet. An employee who was not tied off fell about 15 feet from an elevated order picker and later died from his injuries. The judge held that the order picker's work pad was a platform covered by the…
Acies Group, LLC
Five repeat scaffold violations affirmed
An OSHA officer observed a worker on the unguarded upper level of an Acies scaffold at a New Jersey exterior-finishing project. The scaffold was not fully planked, lacked proper access and cross bracing, had no fall protection, and had not been adequately inspected by a competent person. Acies…
J.F. White Contracting Company
Repeat crane-swing violation affirmed
J.F. White operated a crane in a narrow roadway work zone without a physical barricade around the rotating counterweight's swing radius. Employees worked nearby, and the company used two spotters, audible alarms, and flashing lights to keep people away. The judge agreed that a conventional…
Action Concrete Construction, Inc.
Late-contest default set aside and remanded
Action Concrete filed its notice of contest 13 days late and attributed the delay to its president's serious illness and difficulty locating counsel after the attorney moved. An administrative law judge dismissed the notice when the company did not respond to the Secretary's motion and affirmed…
Flintstone Millworks & Hardwood Co., Inc.
Repeat training violations affirmed
OSHA cited Flintstone Millworks after inspecting its Georgia millwork facility. At a simplified-proceedings hearing, the parties agreed to amend two alleged failure-to-abate violations to repeat violations. The first involved the company's lockout/tagout program, and the second involved forklift…
International Diving Services
Five diving safety citations affirmed by default
OSHA cited International Diving Services after a commercial diving inspection inside a 500,000-gallon water tank. The citations alleged failures involving confined-space entry certification, permit verification, hazardous-energy controls, assessment of underwater hazards, and briefing the dive team…
A.H. Beck Foundation Company, Inc.
Drill-rig swing and pier-hole citations vacated
A.H. Beck used a track-mounted drilling rig to excavate a 55-foot foundation pier hole. OSHA alleged that employees were exposed to the rig's rotating swing radius and to a fall at the edge of the hole. The judge found that the company used all of OSHA's listed alternative precautions for mobile…
Prime Roofing Corporation
Late notice-of-contest issue remanded for an evidentiary hearing
OSHA issued Prime Roofing a serious fall-protection citation, but Prime did not submit a document identified as a notice of contest during the 15-working-day period. The Commission held that Prime's April 21 letter merely supplied requested subcontractor information and did not clearly dispute the…
Home Depot #6512
Fatality-reporting citation vacated for lack of proof that the death was work-related
A Home Depot parking lot associate was found incoherent under a truck at work and died two days later from blunt head trauma, with other medical conditions contributing. OSHA cited Home Depot for not reporting the death within eight hours as required for a death from a work-related incident. The…
MDLG, Inc. dba Phenix Lumber Co.
Dismissal vacated after the parties reported settlement
OSHA issued MDLG, doing business as Phenix Lumber, several citations in March 2009. The administrative law judge denied the Secretary permission to file a complaint 83 days late in two consolidated dockets and vacated the affected citations. While the Secretary's petition for review was pending…
MDLG, Inc. dba Phenix Lumber Co.
Dismissal vacated after the parties reported settlement
OSHA issued MDLG, doing business as Phenix Lumber, several citations in March 2009. The administrative law judge denied the Secretary permission to file a complaint 83 days late in two consolidated dockets and vacated the affected citations. While the Secretary's petition for review was pending…
Degen Excavating, Inc.
Trenching violations affirmed with reduced penalties
An OSHA compliance officer saw a Degen Excavating employee working in an 8.6-foot-deep trench without a ladder, daily competent-person inspection, or cave-in protection. Two supervisors knew and agreed that the employee would enter the trench without the available trench box because they expected…
International Transportation Service, Inc.
Marine-terminal fall citation affirmed with a reduced penalty
International Transportation Service operated a marine terminal where containers were being unloaded from a vessel. During an OSHA inspection, a hatch boss came to the unguarded edge of a hatch cover to speak with a senior manager and stood within three feet of a drop exceeding nine feet without…
JPC Group, Inc.
Excavation violations affirmed after an adjoining building collapsed
JPC Group was hired to perform foundation underpinning beside two buildings at a Philadelphia construction site. Test digs revealed a deteriorated foundation wall, but JPC later excavated along it without shoring or another support system, and the rear of the building collapsed. Workers had…
Texas Erectors, Inc.
Steel-erection fall citation affirmed after connector exception rejected
OSHA observed two Texas Erectors employees working more than 16 feet above the ground with harnesses that were not tied off. The company argued that the employees were connectors who did not need fall protection until 30 feet, but the judge found they were not placing or connecting structural…
Extendicare Health Care Services, Inc., d/b/a Arbors at Delaware
General-duty ladder item vacated for lack of employer knowledge
Arbors at Delaware was a skilled nursing facility where its maintenance director fell about nine feet while descending from an attic using a six-foot stepladder. He broke his wrist, suffered a head injury, and remained in a coma at the time of the hearing. The judge found that standing on the…
GEM, Inc.
Electrical PPE and insulated-equipment items affirmed after an arc blast
GEM repaired an electrical power system at a county courthouse after lightning damage, and an arc blast occurred while its crew performed a polarity test on energized equipment. The judge found that replacing the damaged bus section was maintenance rather than construction, so the general industry…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
General contractor liable for a subcontractor's unprotected scaffold work
Summit was the general contractor for a college dormitory project where a subcontractor's employees worked on scaffolds more than ten feet above a lower level without fall protection. OSHA cited Summit under its multi-employer citation policy even though Summit did not create the condition and its…
Jose Luna Roofing
Serious fall-protection citation affirmed after roofers worked 41 feet above ground
OSHA observed Jose Luna Roofing employees performing roofing work without fall protection on a low-slope roof approximately 41 feet above the ground. The owner was present during the inspection and confirmed that the workers were his employees and that he knew they were on the roof. The company did…
McQueary Industries, Inc.
Default judgment set aside for further settlement proceedings
An administrative law judge dismissed McQueary Industries' timely notice of contest after the company failed to answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to a show-cause order. That default affirmed several serious and other-than-serious citations with proposed penalties totaling $8,400. In its…
Choice Fabricators, Inc.
Lockout and power-press violations produced $14,000 in penalties
Choice Fabricators manufactured metal parts with mechanical power presses at its Alabama plant. OSHA cited the company for excluding die changes from its lockout/tagout program, improperly using safety blocks, failing to inspect its energy-control procedures, failing to train die-setters, and…
Gale Insulation
Residential fall-protection citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
A Gale Insulation employee installed chimney flashing on a residential roof about 25 feet above the ground without fall protection. A harness and lanyards were in the crew's truck, and the employee had been trained in Spanish and English, had demonstrated how to use the equipment, and had…
Lake County Sewer Company
Excavation workers found to be Lake County Sewer employees
An excavation collapsed during sewer work in Willowick, Ohio, injuring one worker. On remand from the Commission, the judge reconsidered whether Lake County Sewer or Brennan Excavating employed the three excavation workers at the site. The judge credited the workers' testimony and payroll records…
Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. dba Six Flags Great America
Health violations affirmed with $50,000 in penalties
OSHA inspected maintenance, painting, sign, welding, first aid, and park-service operations at Six Flags Great America and issued a 29-item serious citation. The allegations involved peroxide storage, chemical-resistant gloves, respirators, lead, hexavalent chromium, bloodborne pathogens…
Menominee Tribal Enterprises
Thirteen stipulated citation items affirmed after coverage ruling
Menominee Tribal Enterprises and the Secretary stipulated to the violations, their classifications, and the proposed penalties, leaving only whether the Occupational Safety and Health Act applied to the cited activities. The judge had previously ruled that the Act applied. The Menominee Indian…
Custom Copper & Slate, Ltd.
Lead-citation settlement remained binding despite late contest
OSHA issued Custom Copper & Slate a fourteen-item serious citation under the lead-in-construction standard with proposed penalties totaling $4,500. On the final day of the contest period, the company signed an informal settlement affirming every item and reducing the total penalty to $750. More…
G.A. West & Co., Inc.
Pulp-machine lockout citation vacated for lack of close-contact proof
G.A. West was a resident contractor at an Alabama pulp mill where an employee was seriously injured near a pulp machine and later died. OSHA's citation addressed different employees who had installed electrical conduit beneath the operating machine several days earlier without locking it out. The…
Orlowski Company, Inc.
Stairway and willful fall-protection penalties totaled $56,600
Orlowski Company admitted one serious stairway violation and two willful fall-protection violations at a Chicago construction site, contesting only the penalty amounts. Employees used stairways without handrails, a foreman performed masonry work on an unguarded scaffold more than 12 feet high, and…
E. Smalis Painting Co., Inc.
Commission reduced lead-case penalties to $1.09 million
E. Smalis Painting removed lead-based paint from the Tarentum Bridge using abrasive blasting inside a tarp containment. OSHA measured six workers at lead exposure levels ranging from more than 18 to 669 times the permissible exposure limit, then cited four serious and 202 willful violations with…
A. G. Carter Construction Company
Repeated trench warnings supported two willful violations
A. G. Carter Construction installed underground utilities in trenches near Prattville, Alabama. After a fire marshal warned owner Alton Carter about the lack of cave-in protection, a ladder, proper spoil-pile placement, and water controls, similar conditions remained when OSHA inspected one week…
Big Sky Well Service
Grinder use near crude-oil vapors led to $10,150 in penalties
Big Sky Well Service sent two employees to remove and replace a leaking crude-oil storage tank at an Ohio well site. A supervisor used an electric grinder to cut a notch in the tank while another employee worked on top, and the tank exploded, throwing that employee into nearby woods and causing a…
Dierzen-Kewanee Heavy Industries, LTD
Unabated hazards resulted in $133,100 in penalties
Dierzen-Kewanee manufactured dump-truck bodies at a former boiler factory in Illinois. After settling earlier OSHA citations, the company paid only the first penalty installment, did not provide requested abatement information, and left many cited conditions uncorrected for a follow-up inspection…
Swallow Construction Corp.
Eighth cave-in violation drew a $33,000 penalty
OSHA inspected Swallow Construction's Illinois sewer and water project after an employee was electrocuted when a backhoe contacted live overhead power lines. The parties settled all citation items except an allegation that employees worked without cave-in protection in a trench more than five feet…
What these documents are
- Commission decisions: Rulings by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission itself, the highest level of agency review. These are citable as Commission precedent, though a decision may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance.
- ALJ decisions: Rulings by OSHRC Administrative Law Judges after a hearing. When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.
- 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 OSHRC public release, and the full text on the page is that release. The plain-English summaries are written by Ezel.