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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Boise Cascade Corporation
Serious radial-saw violation and $600 penalty affirmed
Boise Cascade's pulp and paper facility used a 16-inch radial arm saw whose lower blade was unguarded. Employees used the saw daily, their hands and bodies came within four to twelve inches of the blade, and the blade rotated at 3,600 revolutions per minute. The employer challenged the guarding…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Serious radial-saw guarding citation affirmed
Boise Cascade was cited for failing to guard the lower exposed portion of a radial-saw blade. The administrative law judge affirmed the citation as serious and assessed $250. The employer challenged the validity of the woodworking-machine standard. Relying on its Noblecraft decision, the Commission…
Johnson Brothers Planing Mill, Inc.
Millwork machine-guarding citations affirmed
Johnson Brothers manufactured wood products using radial and table saws, sanding equipment, belt-driven machinery, and electrical equipment with several cited guarding or grounding deficiencies. The serious citation involved unguarded lower portions of two radial-saw blades and an unguarded…
The Wirth Corporation
Serious radial-saw citation affirmed with reduced penalty
The Wirth Corporation operated a small millwork plant that primarily made studs for mobile homes. Two radial arm saws lacked guards over the lower exposed blade, although the employer had ordered guards months earlier and knew they had not arrived. The Commission upheld the validity of the guarding…
Shar Lo Homes
Nonserious radial-saw guarding violation affirmed
Shar Lo Homes was cited for failing to comply with the radial-saw lower-blade guarding standard. The administrative law judge classified the violation as nonserious and assessed $40. On review, the only identified issue was whether the cited standard had been validly promulgated. Applying its…
W. N. Couch Construction Co.
Trench citation vacated for lack of soil proof
W. N. Couch Construction excavated a 10-to-12-foot-deep pipeline trench with vertical lower walls, horizontal benches, and vertical upper walls. OSHA cited the trench under the rule for soft or unstable soil, but the compliance officer described the material as soft and crumbly while the…
Emery Smiser Construction Co.
Serious scaffold citation vacated, nonserious item affirmed
Emery Smiser Construction used scaffolds while repairing a church steeple in Oklahoma City. The judge affirmed a nonserious item for an unguarded material-hoist scaffold platform but reduced the proposed $55 penalty to $25 because exposure was brief, injury was unlikely, and the employer showed…
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Co.; Winston-Salem Southbound Railway Co.
Railroad safety citations affirmed
Seaboard Coast Line admitted three nonserious safety violations, and Winston-Salem Southbound was cited because employees used a stationary caboose office without a fire extinguisher reliably available within 50 feet. Both railroads argued that Federal Railroad Administration authority exempted the…
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company
Posting citation reversed and remanded after stipulation set aside
Seaboard Coast Line was cited for failing to post the notice informing employees of their rights and duties under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The railroad and the Secretary stipulated to noncompliance and agreed that the only disputed issue was whether railroad safety regulation…
Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Co.
Railroad exemption rejected and citations affirmed
Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad admitted the cited working conditions and agreed that the proposed penalties were reasonable. Its remaining defense was that Department of Transportation authority over railroad safety exempted it from OSHA. The Commission rejected that industry-wide exemption…
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Co.
Housekeeping and posting items remanded for a hearing
Seaboard Coast Line received five nonserious items for poor housekeeping, failure to post the OSHA notice, and recordkeeping deficiencies. The judge vacated the three recordkeeping items because railroad recordkeeping was exempt, but affirmed the housekeeping and posting items without holding a…
Central Steel & Tank Co.
Press-brake guarding affirmed, shear item vacated
Central Steel custom-fabricated steel using two hydraulic press brakes, three mechanical power presses, and a mechanical shear cited for inadequate point-of-operation guarding. Operators held and aligned metal by hand close to the press-brake dies, which descended slowly but with enough force to…
W. N. Couch, Inc.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Atlantic Coast Development Corp.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Jack Moorman Electrical Contractor, Inc.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc.
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in these consolidated Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company cases. It explained that the issue Commissioner Moran raised on the Commission's own initiative had not been raised, tried, or argued by the parties. The Commission also characterized the…
Atlas Construction Company
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Crescent Wharf & Warehouse Co.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in these consolidated cases. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question…
Ocean Electric Corp.
Serious electrical citation and $700 penalty affirmed
Ocean Electric was installing switchgear beside energized equipment when a foreman left a cabinet door open, exposing energized bus bars. An apprentice following the foreman's direction contacted a bus bar and was electrocuted. The company admitted that the electrical-safety standard was breached…
Weinap Construction Corp.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Noblecraft Industries, Inc.
Radial-saw guarding violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Noblecraft manufactured kitchen cabinets and used a radial-arm saw whose lower blade lacked the automatic guard required by 29 C.F.R. § 1910.213(h)(1). The judge had vacated the citation after concluding that the Secretary improperly adopted the rule from an ANSI standard without an advisory…
R. Zoppo Co., Inc.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Richard C. Mugler Co., Inc.
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in the Richard C. Mugler Co. case. It explained that the issue Commissioner Moran had raised on the Commission's own initiative had not been raised, tried, or argued by the parties. The Commission also characterized the issue as one of publication…
Warner Brothers, Inc.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Metropolitan Stevedore Company
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in these consolidated Metropolitan Stevedore Company cases. It explained that the issue Commissioner Moran raised on the Commission's own initiative had not been raised, tried, or argued by the parties. The Commission also characterized the issue as…
Thiele, Inc.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Globe, Incorporated
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in these consolidated cases. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question…
Columbia Paint Co.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Otis Elevator Company
Safety-belt violation and $100 penalty affirmed
Two Otis elevator mechanics worked in an open elevator shaft while standing on a single unsecured plank about 20 feet above the next complete platform, without wearing safety belts. Otis had issued protective equipment, maintained a safety handbook, and held safety meetings, but its working foreman…
GAF Corporation; United Engineers & Constructors, Inc.
Asbestos medical-examination requirements affirmed
The consolidated cases asked whether employers had to provide periodic medical examinations only when asbestos exposure exceeded the permissible exposure limits, or whenever employees worked in occupations exposed to airborne asbestos fibers. The Commission held that 29 C.F.R. § 1910.93a(j)…
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company
Railroad exemption and bankruptcy defenses rejected
OSHA cited the railroad after inspections at its Kansas City and Joliet workplaces, and the company argued that Department of Transportation authority displaced OSHA jurisdiction and that a bankruptcy injunction barred the proceedings. The Commission held that the statutory exemption for another…
American Airlines, Inc.
Radiation-safety citation preempted and vacated
American Airlines admitted that employees at its LaGuardia cargo facility were not receiving the radiation surveys, personal monitoring, caution signs, and exposure records required by OSHA's radiation standards. The airline argued that Federal Aviation Agency rules governing radioactive materials…
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…
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.