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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Andrew Electric Company
Unsecured breaker-box key led to $6,900 in penalties
An Andrew Electric electrician was electrocuted while installing fluorescent light fixtures near an energized junction box at a Georgia dealership remodeling project. The judge found that the company's safety program lacked adequate electrical-safety rules and that the electrician did not receive…
WCI Steel, Inc.
Crane runway-support inspection violation drew a $2,000 penalty
A 40-ton overhead crane collapsed at WCI Steel's Ohio plant while moving steel slabs, but no one was injured. OSHA cited WCI for failing to inspect the crane's runway support structure, maintaining an improperly set hoist limit switch, and overloading the crane. The judge held that a complete…
CPM Constructors
Flagger-sign citation failed under the incorporated traffic-control rules
CPM Constructors performed paving work in a busy pedestrian and retail area in Freeport, Maine. After moving its crew and flagger to another portion of the work zone, CPM left a Flagger Ahead sign about four-tenths of a mile from the remaining flagger for approximately 45 minutes. OSHA cited the…
FM Home Improvement, Inc.
Roofers were employees despite contractor documents
OSHA found seven roofers working without fall protection on a steep residential roof approximately 31 feet above the ground. FM Home Improvement did not dispute the unsafe condition, but argued that the workers belonged to an independent subcontractor and were not its employees. Applying the…
The Samuels Group, Inc.
Missing scaffold top rail resulted in a $1,000 penalty
The Samuels Group used a scaffold for masonry work approximately 60 feet above the ground. Its cross-bracing was about 32 inches high, which could not substitute for the required top rail, and stacked masonry blocks were neither high nor stable enough to serve as equivalent guarding. The judge…
United Parcel Service, Inc.
Affected-employee objections sent settlement issues back to the judge
UPS sought Commission review after an administrative law judge affirmed a serious citation with eight instances and assessed a $4,400 penalty. While review was pending, UPS and the Secretary negotiated a corporate-wide settlement, and affected employee Samuel Bucalo filed objections and several…
A. L. Grading Contractors, Inc.
Unsafe excavation and untrained flagger drew $25,500 in penalties
OSHA found an untrained employee directing traffic and two workers in a 9.2-foot excavation without cave-in protection or a safe means of egress at an Atlanta-area shopping-center project. The judge rejected the employee-misconduct defense to the training item because the company did not establish…
Davis H. Elliot Construction Company, Inc.
Reenergization failures led to $11,300 in penalties
Davis H. Elliot rebuilt an Ohio electric distribution system while existing lines remained in service. After three workers failed to report a changed assignment, the foreman relied on an incomplete all-clear and ordered a line energized while one worker was still on a pole, causing his…
Kandey Company, Inc.
Cave-in violation reduced from willful to serious
Kandey employees worked in an excavation to connect a new building to a water main in Clarence, New York. The judge found that a portable ladder used for access did not extend three feet above the landing and that the excavation exceeded five feet, was not entirely stable rock, and lacked cave-in…
Kone, Inc.
Fall protection was required on stationary elevator car tops
A Kone apprentice technician was found dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft after being assigned to clean and paint the tops of two elevator cars. The judge found that working on a stationary car top exposed the technician to a 30-foot fall through openings at the back and side, and that a…
Standard Concrete Products, Inc.
Rotten dunnage was not reasonably discoverable before girder failure
Standard Concrete loaded an 86-ton precast bridge girder onto a barge when a timber supporting its pedestal failed, causing the girder to crack and strike an employee who died from his injuries. The judge held that the longshoring standard applied because the girder had already been landed on the…
Guamcell Communications
Supervisor's parapet shortcut was unpreventable misconduct
An acting Guamcell supervisor stood without fall protection on the parapet of a ten-story building while adjusting a cellular antenna. Guamcell admitted the standard applied, the supervisor violated it, and a fall could cause death or serious injury. The judge found that the company nevertheless…
Stark Excavation, Inc.
Documented safety program proved supervisory misconduct defense
A Stark Excavation superintendent and two laborers stripped bridge forms without fall protection while exposed to a 14-foot, 10-inch drop to rocks below. The company did not dispute the unsafe condition but argued that the supervisor's lapse during a 10-to-15-minute task was unforeseeable…
Beverly Healthcare-Hillview
Bloodborne-pathogen follow-up items affirmed after court remand
The Third Circuit vacated an earlier Commission decision that had thrown out two bloodborne-pathogens citation items against Beverly Healthcare-Hillview. The court determined that the employer had fair notice of the Secretary's interpretation of the cited post-exposure evaluation and follow-up…
Ernie's Tree Service
Commission approved settlement after directing review
Ernie's Tree Service petitioned for Commission review of the administrative law judge's disposition, and the Commission directed the case for review and requested briefing. The parties then signed a stipulation and settlement agreement that the Secretary submitted to the Commission. After reviewing…
A. G. Mazzocchi, Inc.
Altered blood-lead report supported willful violations and $105,000 in penalties
A. G. Mazzocchi employees torch-cut lead-painted steel while demolishing a large crane at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The Commission held that the lead-in-construction standard's high-risk-task presumption and monitoring evidence established that the main torch-cutter was covered by…
WR Exterior Design Construction, Inc.
Late-answer dismissal set aside for further inquiry
An administrative law judge dismissed WR Exterior Design Construction's notice of contest after the company failed to answer the Secretary's complaint, affirming citations and $19,600 in proposed penalties. The Commission found that the pro se company apparently never received the show-cause order…
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Employee letter required review of possible party status
OSHA cited the Metropolitan Museum of Art for six violations with $7,500 in proposed penalties, and the Secretary and museum later submitted a settlement reducing the total penalty to $3,700. An affected employee had earlier sent a letter asking that his materials be considered and raising…
StarTran, Inc.
Court's partial remand returned recordkeeping case for further proceedings
The Fifth Circuit reviewed the Commission's earlier decision affirming a StarTran citation under OSHA's recordkeeping-access rule. The court affirmed the Commission in part and remanded the case in part in an unpublished opinion. After receiving the court's mandate, the Commission remanded the…
Masonry Arts, Inc.
Scaffold planking, access, and repeat guardrail items totaled $12,500
Masonry Arts employees performed block repair work from a scaffold platform approximately 12.5 feet above the ground at a new Florida high school gymnasium. The judge found a five-inch gap between planks, no safe ladder access, and no guardrail or other fall protection on the platform. He rejected…
Sanderson Farms, Inc.
Unstable freezer pallet storage resulted in a $6,300 penalty
Sanderson Farms stored 2,200-to-2,500-pound pallets of frozen chicken on an aging freezer rack system with frequently damaged legs and little margin for placement error. A maintenance employee died from smoke inhalation and burns after beginning to cut a damaged rack leg while loaded pallets…
FABI Construction Company, Inc., and PRO Management Group
Court required a factual basis for penalty increase
The D.C. Circuit reviewed the administrative law judge's decision after it became a final Commission order without discretionary review. The court granted review of the penalty for a concrete-formwork violation and found that the judge increased the Secretary's proposed $2,500 penalty to $7,000…
Elan Lawn and Landscape Service, Inc.
One-day-late contest required an evidentiary record
Elan Lawn filed its notice of contest one day after the deadline calculated from a disputed certified-mail receipt, and the judge denied relief without a hearing. The Commission noted that the Secretary's dismissal request did not comply with the rule requiring a separate motion and consultation…
Wynnewood Refining Company
Delayed flare-line replacement was willful and drew a $63,000 penalty
Wynnewood Refining Company operated an Oklahoma petroleum refinery that used hydrofluoric acid in its alkylation unit. OSHA alleged that the company violated the process safety management standard by failing to correct deficiencies in the unit's flare line before further use or in a safe and timely…
PSP Monotech Industries
Inconsistent suspended-load training defeated the misconduct defense
PSP Monotech Industries operated a sheet-metal fabrication plant where employees used an overhead floor crane to move large panels. A 3,700-pound panel fell from a clamp, killing one employee and seriously injuring another. The Secretary cited PSP under the general duty clause for failing to keep…
Pospiech Contracting, Inc.
Unprotected trench citation affirmed with a $5,000 penalty
Pospiech Contracting installed underground utilities at a Florida construction project. OSHA found employees had entered a vertical-sided Type C soil excavation measured at 6 to 6½ feet deep without a protective system. The company argued that the excavation was less than 5 feet deep, that it…
Prime Roofing Corporation
Deficient roof warning lines led to a repeat citation and $7,500 penalty
Prime Roofing Corporation provided warning lines while workers removed roof ballast in preparation for replacing a low-slope roof about 20 feet above the ground. The warning lines ran down the center of the roof rather than at least 6 feet from the exposed edges, and workers were observed near the…
KS Energy Services, Inc.
Inadequate road-work warnings supported a serious citation
KS Energy Services installed a natural gas pipeline in a traffic-control zone along a Wisconsin county road with a 55 mph speed limit. The Commission found that the company failed to provide advance warning conveying highway conditions and how motorists should move through the work zone, as…
Mustang Engineering Holdings, Inc.
Missing trench exit affirmed while cave-in item was vacated
Mustang Engineering employees entered a trench to survey a newly installed pipe. OSHA cited the company because the trench lacked a safe means of egress and was not sloped enough for its Class B soil. The judge found that the missing ladder or other exit was obvious to Mustang's foreman, so the…
Burch Construction, Inc.
Climbing a scaffold guardrail led to a serious access citation
Burch Construction employees worked from a scaffold at a military facility in San Diego. An employee climbed between the scaffold and roof by stepping on a scaffold guardrail instead of using compliant access, exposing him to a potential 25-foot fall. The judge found the conduct foreseeable and…
J.C. Watson Company
Onion packing operations were subject to general-industry standards
J.C. Watson Company grew onions and operated an Idaho facility that cleaned, sorted, graded, packaged, and prepared them for shipment. After an employee's arm was caught under a moving conveyor, OSHA cited the company under numerous general-industry standards. Watson argued that its packing work…
SSA Cooper, LLC
Lashing rods across a vessel catwalk created a serious trip hazard
SSA Cooper performed stevedoring operations aboard a cargo container vessel near Savannah, Georgia. Longshoremen left heavy lashing rods across a 22-inch-wide catwalk while an SSA Cooper foreman repeatedly walked the area to check container placements. The judge found the catwalk was an active work…
B&N&K Restoration Co., Inc.
Unsecured and unmarked skylight cover led to $3,000 in penalties
B&N&K Restoration served as a prime contractor on a school addition and placed two overlapping steel sheets over a skylight opening. The sheets were not adequately secured or marked, and a welder for another contractor mistook them for material intended to cover a nearby elevator shaft. When he…
Cagle's, Inc.
Waste trailer was a confined space despite its intended use
Cagle's used a trailer to hold carbon dioxide-treated waste breading at its Alabama poultry plant. Two employees died of asphyxiation after entering the trailer, and OSHA cited the company for failing to inform employees of the permit-required confined space. After an Eleventh Circuit remand, the…
D’Allessandro Corporation
Unprotected 5½-foot trench led to a serious citation
D’Allessandro Corporation employees entered a trench in South Boston to cut an existing pipe and install a fitting. OSHA measured the vertical-sided trench at 5½ feet deep where the employees were working, and the Type C soil was adjacent to a heavily traveled road. The company disputed the…
Fern Valley Excavating, Inc.
All items vacated because the company was not the employer
Fern Valley Excavating was engaged in excavation contracting and landscaping. OSHA investigated an accident at an Ohio jobsite, and the threshold issue was whether Fern Valley employed the workers at the site on the accident date. The judge found that it did not. All four citation items were…
Martin Construction, Inc.
EAJA filing period began after the judicial-review window closed
Martin Construction prevailed when an administrative law judge vacated six excavation citation items. The company filed an Equal Access to Justice Act fee application 63 days after the merits decision became a final Commission order, and the judge dismissed it as untimely because neither party had…
Prime Roofing Corporation
Late amendment denied and repeat fall citation remained vacated
OSHA cited Prime Roofing under the general unprotected-edge fall standard after observing an employee working on a parapet wall about 22 feet above the ground. The judge initially found the employee was performing roofing work governed instead by the low-slope-roof standard and vacated the…
Standard Building Company, Inc., and Standard Systems, Inc.
Three items affirmed against one company and all items vacated against the other
Standard Building managed a restaurant renovation, and Standard Systems was identified as a related stucco contractor. The judge found that a subcontractor owner acted in part as Standard Building's site superintendent but lacked scaffold and powered-industrial-truck safety training. Standard…
MetWest, Inc.
Reusing blood-tube holders violated the contaminated-needle rule
MetWest used reusable blood-tube holders whose push-button mechanism let phlebotomists detach contaminated needles after drawing blood. OSHA cited the company under the bloodborne-pathogens rule that generally prohibits removing contaminated needles. The Commission held that the rule permits…
Contour Erection & Siding Systems, Inc.
Old building and visible debris put contractor on notice of asbestos
Contour employees cut, shoveled, and swept ceiling material while shoring a partially collapsed roof in a building constructed in 1960. OSHA cited 14 serious violations because the company provided none of the protections required for Class I asbestos work. The Commission found constructive…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Asbestos violations remanded for a serious-violation penalty
Trinity hired a contractor to repair a furnace in a pre-1980 facility without first determining whether asbestos was present or warning the contractor about asbestos-containing material. The ALJ affirmed two asbestos hazard-communication violations but classified them as non-serious and assessed no…
General Motors Corp., CPCG Oklahoma City Plant
Widespread lockout failures produced serious and willful violations
OSHA issued 57 lockout/tagout citation items after a millwright was killed when a motor rail conveyor activated during servicing work at General Motors' Oklahoma City plant. The Commission found that GM did not adequately implement or enforce its energy-control program, conduct the required annual…
Africo Manufacturing, Inc.
Missing scissor-lift guardrails exposed workers to a 20-foot fall
Two Africo employees installed sprinkler piping from a scissor lift about 20 feet above a concrete floor with guardrails missing from one side and one end. The ALJ credited the OSHA officers' testimony and rejected the company president's claim that the employees had switched lifts without his…
Huron Real Estate Associates, LLC
Exit-route obstruction affirmed, lockout item vacated
A condensate-induced water hammer ruptured a steam-system valve at Huron's facility, killing one worker and seriously injuring another. The ALJ vacated OSHA's lockout/tagout item because the cited release-from-lockout provision required replacement of parts removed during servicing and cleanup of…
Thomas Industrial Coatings, Inc.
Water cooler was inadequate for washing lead from workers' hands
Thomas sent a two-person crew to remove lead paint from a bridge while initial air-monitoring results were still pending. The Commission held that the lead standard's interim protections applied during that period, but its overlapping general protections did not yet apply. A water cooler and…
Prime Roofing Corporation
Amendment request returned to the judge for a ruling
The ALJ vacated a repeat fall-protection citation against Prime Roofing. Before the decision was docketed, the Secretary moved to amend the complaint to allege a different fall-protection provision in the alternative. The judge received the motion only one day before docketing and did not rule on…
Griffin Contracting, Inc.
One unprotected excavation wall was enough to violate the cave-in rule
Griffin employees worked in a six-foot-deep utility excavation where one wall was near vertical and lacked shoring, benching, or an adequate slope. OSHA's laboratory confirmed that the fissured soil was Type B, and an employee was observed within 18 inches of the unprotected wall. The ALJ rejected…
St. Lawrence Food Corp., dba Primo Foods
Most dairy-plant health and safety citations affirmed
OSHA conducted health and safety inspections at Primo Foods, a kosher dairy, and cited hazards involving ammonia refrigeration, respirators, confined spaces, chemical training, noise, machine guarding, electrical work, lockout/tagout, powered industrial trucks, and recordkeeping. The ALJ found that…
Harry C. Crooker & Sons, Inc.
Excavator had to maintain clearance from an energized service line
A foreman operated an excavator with its boom six to seven feet from an energized 240-volt service drop while performing street reconstruction work. The applicable construction standard required at least ten feet of clearance. The ALJ held that the general-industry electrical rule did not displace…
J.E. Amorello, Inc.
Blocked ramp and missing cave-in protection led to two trench violations
Two employees worked in a trench that OSHA measured at 5 feet 4 inches deep. The ALJ found that a backhoe blocked access to the available ramp, leaving no safe means of egress, and that the trench lacked required cave-in protection. He credited OSHA's testimony over the employer's conflicting…
Cagle's Inc.
Confined-space issue remanded after court review
Two Cagle's employees died from an oxygen-deficient atmosphere caused by carbon dioxide inside a poultry plant's waste-breading trailer. The Commission had previously vacated a citation alleging that the company failed to inform employees about a permit-required confined space. The Eleventh Circuit…
Otis Elevator Company
Fatal car-sling incident did not establish employer knowledge
An Otis employee died after riding on an elevator car sling that fell about 60 feet down a shaft while he removed rail-alignment clips. The Commission found that a falling load presented a recognized hazard, but the record did not establish employer knowledge of the employee's conduct. Otis had a…
C.D. Smith Construction
Unsupported plywood was not an intended work surface
A C.D. Smith employee suffered serious injuries after falling into a stairwell where unsupported plywood remained from partially dismantled concrete formwork. The plywood was behind a guardrail and danger tape, and the employee's assigned task could be performed directly from the vertical formwork…
Aluminum & Vinyl Products, Inc.
Undecided citation item returned to the judge
Aluminum & Vinyl Products contested one item from OSHA's citations and entered an informal settlement covering all other items. The ALJ approved the settlement but did not dispose of the still-contested item. The Commission directed review on its own motion. It remanded the case for the judge to…
Saw Pipes USA, Inc.
Willful recordkeeping penalties remanded after court review
The ALJ affirmed 59 willful violations for failing to properly record occupational injuries and illnesses at Saw Pipes' steel-pipe facility. He grouped the separately cited violations and assessed one $70,000 penalty. The Fifth Circuit held that this grouping produced a penalty below the statutory…
Jindal United Steel Corp.
Recordkeeping penalties remanded after court review
The ALJ affirmed 110 violations for failing to properly record occupational injuries and illnesses at Jindal's steel facility. He treated 82 violations as willful and 28 as other-than-serious, but grouped the willful items into a single $70,000 penalty and assessed $7,000 for the remaining items…
New Blue Shield Construction Inc.
Six-month filing delay was not excusable neglect
OSHA inspected a New Blue Shield Construction work site in the Bronx and issued a citation on August 8, 2006. The company did not file a notice of contest by the 15-working-day deadline, then waited nearly six months after OSHA explained the late-contest procedure before writing to the Commission…
Praxair Distribution, Inc.
Liftgate citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
Praxair Distribution supplied cylinder gases to customers and used delivery trucks equipped with hydraulic liftgates. A driver was killed when a liftgate suddenly fell while he was making a delivery at a Veterans' Administration medical center in Cleveland. OSHA cited Praxair under the general duty…
J. B. Coxwell Contracting, Inc.
Two excavation violations affirmed and two vacated
J. B. Coxwell Contracting was building an underground concrete junction box for a highway storm drain system in Florida. OSHA cited the company for four excavation violations after employees worked in an excavation about 6 feet 8 inches deep. The judge affirmed a serious violation because the…
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.