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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American Bridge, Division of U.S. Steel Corporation
Tie-off citation vacated under greater-hazard defense
American Bridge employees connected steel beams while moving along roof trusses more than 60 feet above the ground. They wore safety belts but did not tie off while traversing or climbing the trusses, and OSHA cited the company under the personal protective equipment standard with a proposed $650…
St. Paul Feed & Supply, Inc.
Penalty-only contest leaves citations final
St. Paul Feed & Supply received one serious and 17 nonserious citation items at its Oregon agricultural-products facility. Its notice of contest identified only the proposed penalties. The Commission held that this limited notice left the citations and their abatement periods as final orders, so…
Hodgdon Shingle & Shake Company
Serious saw-guarding violation draws $1 penalty
Hodgdon operated a small Oregon shake and shingle mill with five large saws that did not meet OSHA's machine-guarding standard. The company admitted that the violation was serious, but the record showed that all guards known to the industry were already in use and no supplier offered conforming…
Hartwell Excavating Company
Trench citations modified and penalties reduced
Hartwell Excavating was installing a sewer line in an Idaho trench that exceeded five feet in depth and had unsloped sides in sand-and-gravel soil. OSHA also cited excavated material stored at the trench edge, missing exit ladders, a worker positioned beneath part of a backhoe bucket, an incomplete…
Otis Elevator Company
Settlement approved with $545 aggregate penalty
Otis Elevator and the Secretary entered into a settlement agreement, and the company moved to withdraw its notice of contest. The judge initially dismissed the proceeding after finding that the parties had satisfied the Commission's settlement rule. The Commission set aside that dismissal and…
Eastern States Electrical Contractors, Inc.
Withdrawn contest leaves $100 penalty affirmed
Eastern States Electrical Contractors asked to withdraw its notice of contest before the scheduled hearing. The company represented that it had abated the violation, would remain in compliance, and was tendering the proposed $100 penalty. The judge granted the withdrawal, cancelled the hearing, and…
Republic Steel Corporation
Citation withdrawal conditioned on employee notice
Republic Steel contested part of a citation, and the Secretary later moved to withdraw that contested item and its proposed penalty. The judge granted the motion even though the record did not show that affected employees had received notice. The Commission held that a Secretary's withdrawal, like…
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation, Wheeling Corrugating Company
Withdrawal conditioned on employee notice
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel contested a citation, and the Secretary later moved to withdraw the nonserious citation and its proposed penalty. The judge granted the motion without a record showing that affected employees had received notice. The Commission held that withdrawal before a hearing would…
Pacific Intermountain Express Company
Withdrawal requires posted employee notice
Pacific Intermountain Express contested one citation allegation, and the Secretary later moved to withdraw item 5 and its proposed penalty. The judge granted the motion even though the record did not show notice to affected employees. The Commission held that granting the withdrawal before a…
Otis Elevator Company
Shared-site fire and cylinder violations partly affirmed
Otis Elevator employees worked at a construction site where fire protection was deficient and compressed-gas cylinders lacked valve caps or were not secured upright. Otis argued that it did not own the cylinders or control the fire equipment. The judge held that an employer remains responsible when…
Bayside Pipe Coaters, Inc.
Subcontractor remains responsible for its trench crew
Bayside Pipe Coaters sent a foreman and two employees to waterproof pipe in a trench excavated by a general contractor. The company admitted that the trench, spoil-pile, and compressed-gas-cylinder conditions violated OSHA standards but argued that its contract made the general contractor solely…
George A. Hormel and Company
Hog-shaving platform guardrail citation affirmed
Hormel employees shaved hair from suspended hog carcasses while standing on a platform 58 inches above the floor. The carcass side of the platform lacked a guardrail, and OSHA issued a nonserious citation without proposing a penalty. The Commission found that gaps of 12 to 18 inches between…
C. N. Flagg & Company, Inc.
Willful trench penalty reduced to $1,000
C. N. Flagg employees installed gas pipe in a six-to-seven-foot trench with vertical walls in soft, unstable soil beside a road carrying traffic. The company had supplied adequate steel trench boxes and required their use, but the welding foreman knowingly chose not to use them after a gas-main…
Kermit L. Stepter d/b/a Stepter Brothers Lathing
Scaffold violations affirmed with $350 penalties
Stepter Brothers used a wooden scaffold at an Arizona apartment project where an employee worked 24 feet above the ground without required guardrails. The scaffold also had deficient footings, damaged members, unsecured planks, missing ledgers and bracing, and gaps between platform planks. The…
B & K Paving Company
Serious ungrounded-pump violation affirmed
B & K Paving used an electric water pump in a creek to control smoke from an asphalt batch plant. An employee entered the creek to inspect the pump intake, encountered electrical current in the water, collapsed, and later died. The pump was not grounded even though grounding leads had been…
Eastwind, Inc.
Serious trench penalties reduced to $600 total
Eastwind employees worked in a seven-foot trench with vertical walls in wet, unstable soil while excavated and backfill material was piled at the edges. Part of a trench wall collapsed and partially buried two employees, who survived. Eastwind admitted serious violations for failing to support the…
Grebb Electric Company
Housekeeping item affirmed and access hazards vacated
Grebb Electric was an electrical subcontractor at a large Denver apartment construction project. OSHA found scrap lumber and debris in areas where Grebb employees were working, along with temporary stairs lacking rails, protruding nails in stair treads, and open elevated platforms. The judge…
J. F. Probst & Co., Inc.
Roof guardrail citation reinstated with $25 penalty
J. F. Probst employees performed roofing work about 20 feet above the ground without a standard railing or equivalent fall protection. The judge vacated that item because he found the open-sided floor and platform rule inapplicable to roofs. The Commission reversed, holding that the standard…
RPM Erectors, Inc.
High-rise platform violation reclassified as serious
RPM Erectors used a movable platform outside a high-rise building to land curtain-wall materials. While RPM employees used it, the side guardrails lacked intermediate rails and toeboards, exposing employees to falls from heights between 18 and 33 stories. The platform was later damaged after RPM…
Sinaiko Brothers Company
Shear-guarding settlement approved with $50 penalty
OSHA cited Sinaiko Brothers for failing to provide a point-of-operation guard on a Milwaukee alligator shear. The company contested that item, then entered a settlement extending the abatement date to April 1, 1974 and agreeing to withdraw its contest and pay the proposed $50 penalty. The judge…
L. I. Dumont, Inc.
Flat-roof guardrail violation affirmed
L. I. Dumont installed roofing materials on a one-story Alabama store building with an essentially flat roof about 20 feet above the ground. Three or four employees worked on the roof, including near its edges, and the company never installed guardrails or another barricade. The Commission affirmed…
Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
One noise-exposure item affirmed without penalty
OSHA cited four instances in which Sun Ship employees worked without hearing protection in high-noise shipyard operations. In the boiler shop, repeated spot readings exceeded 115 dBA and other evidence showed that an employee had operated near continuous chipping tools for more than the permitted…
T. Smith & Son, Inc.
Barge work-vest violation affirmed
Two T. Smith employees worked on a deck barge loading and unloading steel at a New Orleans wharf without Coast Guard-approved buoyant work vests. The company admitted noncompliance but argued that the employees were crew members or seamen subject exclusively to Coast Guard jurisdiction. The…
Hardy Construction Company
Trench-side item affirmed and bank item vacated
Hardy Construction employees worked in a compact-soil trench that was more than six feet deep, about 34 inches wide, and insufficiently sloped above the five-foot level. The judge found a nonserious violation of the compact-soil trench standard but no substantial probability of death or serious…
Granite-Seabro Corporation
General construction citations vacated after power-line incident
Granite-Seabro employees remained aloft on an 85-foot power-line structure while supporting poles were moved into a vertical position. One employee died and another was injured. Because specific power-transmission standards had not yet been adopted, OSHA cited general construction provisions…
Rudolph Marossy
Power-line painting violation affirmed with $100 penalty
Rudolph Marossy operated a very small painting business and allowed an employee to spray-paint a silo within roughly three feet of uninsulated power lines carrying 7,000 volts. The lines were not deenergized or grounded, and no effective insulation or other protection was provided. The employee…
Weyerhaeuser Company
Storage item affirmed and noise citation vacated
OSHA cited noise exposure near a corrugator at Weyerhaeuser's Maine fiberboard plant, unstable stacks of corrugated cartons, and allegedly unguarded machine parts. The Commission affirmed vacation of the noise item because a 15-to-20-minute sample ranging from 97 to 102 dBA was not shown to…
Sierra Pacific Industries, Hayfork Division
Eight sawmill items affirmed with $435 penalties
OSHA cited 11 conditions at Sierra Pacific's California sawmill, including platform railings, guarding around a lift and sawmill machinery, blocked exit access, sanitation, stairs, and crane equipment. The company admitted four items, and the judge affirmed four additional contested items involving…
Matthews & Fritts, Inc.
$1,000 failure-to-abate penalty vacated
Matthews & Fritts received a trench citation requiring abatement on the same day the citation was received. OSHA reinspected the next morning while company officials were discussing corrective procedures and proposed an additional $1,000 failure-to-abate penalty. The Commission held that an…
Kemmerlin Meats, Inc.
Seventeen plant violations affirmed with $235 penalties
Kemmerlin Meats admitted 17 violations at its South Carolina meatpacking plant involving compressed-gas cylinders, machine guarding, electrical wiring and grounding, housekeeping, ladders, knives, sanitation, and equipment labeling. Penalties were proposed for six items, including raw wires…
Echo Hotel, Inc.
Serious egress citation withdrawn with prejudice
OSHA cited Echo Hotel for providing only one interior wooden stairway from second-floor employee sleeping quarters that usually housed six workers. The judge read the notice of contest as challenging only the proposed $500 penalty and treated the serious citation as final. The Commission held that…
International Terminal Operating Company
Four stevedoring items affirmed with $135 penalties
International Terminal Operating Company was cited for conditions during stevedoring work aboard several vessels and on a Brooklyn dock. The judge affirmed an oily deck condition without a penalty, a blocked hatch ladder for $40, an unstable temporary surface under a powered vehicle for $40, and…
White Oak Corporation
Crane power-line violations affirmed with $1,355 penalties
White Oak operated a crane near 13,200-volt power lines at a Connecticut highway project. The crane boom and ball contacted the lines, and an oiler at the outrigger controls was electrocuted. The judge found a serious violation for failing to maintain ten feet of clearance and a nonserious…
Daniel Construction Company
Power-plant scaffold violation affirmed
Daniel Construction supplied maintenance employees to a Duke Power steam plant. A Daniel employee and a Duke employee were assigned to repair a boiler throttle valve about 140 feet above the plant floor, where no scaffold was provided and neither worker used a safety belt. Hot water or steam…
Gerstner Electric, Inc.
Serious trench citation amended and affirmed
Gerstner Electric dug a 14-foot-deep, 30-inch-wide trench beside heavily traveled roads in unstable soil that had already caved in several times. Two employees entered the unshored trench to begin installing protection, and a wall collapsed, killing one employee and injuring the other. OSHA cited…
Ed Miller and Sons, Inc.
Demolition-crane penalties reduced to $265
Ed Miller and Sons used a 3,000-pound wrecking ball suspended from a crane loadline by a used truck tire while demolishing Omaha's Union Station. The Commission found a serious violation because the tire was not a positive attachment and the ball could become accidentally disconnected, assessing…
Julius Nasso Concrete Corp.
Flat-roof perimeter allegation remanded
Julius Nasso Concrete Corporation performed concrete work on a 17-story building where OSHA cited unguarded floor perimeters and open shaftways. The judge affirmed serious violations involving open-sided floors from the 13th through 16th floors and unguarded openings on the 13th floor, assessing…
Mangone Shipbuilding Company
Ladder and oxygen-cylinder violations affirmed
Mangone Shipbuilding employees used portable ladders that were not lashed, blocked, held, or otherwise secured against displacement. Some ladders had been moved temporarily, and one worker continued grinding from a ladder after the coworker assigned to steady it left the area. OSHA also found two…
Muriel Manufacturing Company
Penalties for garment-shop violations affirmed
Muriel Manufacturing Company operated a contract garment-sewing shop where OSHA cited housekeeping, stairway, exit, fire-extinguisher, machine-guarding, electrical, posting, and recordkeeping conditions. The employer admitted 12 nonserious violations, while two abrasive-wheel items were vacated by…
Red Diamond Battery Manufacturing Co., Inc.
Abatement petition remanded for further proceedings
Red Diamond Battery Manufacturing repeatedly sought extensions of the deadline for correcting cited conditions, and the Secretary initially agreed to several extensions. When the employer requested another extension, the Secretary asked for a hearing. The administrative law judge dismissed the…
Fort Worth Enterprises, Inc.
Skylight charge vacated and reporting violation affirmed
Fort Worth Enterprises was constructing an office building through subcontractors, with a project manager as its only employee at the site. The project manager died after falling through a skylight opening, and OSHA cited the company for failing to guard or cover the opening and for failing to…
Lovell Clay Products Company
Unstable brick-storage item reinstated
Lovell Clay Products mined clay and manufactured bricks and tile at its Billings plant. One citation item described unstable brick storage but mistakenly identified the housekeeping subsection, while the complaint identified the secure-storage subsection without changing the underlying facts. The…
Paper Products Company, Inc.
Failure-to-abate charge reversed
Paper Products Company distributed paper products from a multistory building where OSHA had cited inadequate aisle clearance and marking. The employer did not contest the original citation, which required correction by April 17, 1973. After a reinspection two days later, OSHA issued a…
U.S.I. Clearing
Spray-booth settlement affirmed despite service error
U.S.I. Clearing contested a citation item requiring spray-finishing operations to be enclosed in a spray booth or room. The employer and the Secretary settled the item by extending its abatement date to August 15, 1974, with no penalty assessed. Commission rules required the employer to serve the…
Corporacion Raymond, S.A.
Serious citation settlement affirmed
Corporacion Raymond received one serious citation with an $800 proposed penalty and several nonserious citations carrying $240 in penalties. It contested only the serious citation, then entered a settlement withdrawing that contest and consenting to a final order affirming the citation and penalty…
Otis Elevator Company
Settlement affirmed after union received notice
Otis Elevator Company received a three-item nonserious citation with $155 in proposed penalties. Under a settlement, the Secretary withdrew item 2 and its $35 penalty because he believed the evidence was insufficient. Otis withdrew its contest to item 3, while item 1 had not been contested, leaving…
Dorfman Construction Company, Inc.
Amended settlement affirmed after union service
Dorfman Construction Company settled serious and nonserious citation items carrying $980 in proposed penalties. The agreement reclassified the § 1926.652(c) charge as nonserious and reduced its penalty from $700 to $175. It also withdrew one crane-related item and its $85 penalty, while the…
Kay-Townes, Inc.
Manufacturing violations and penalties affirmed
Kay-Townes manufactured television antennas and masts at a plant where OSHA cited numerous machine-guarding, electrical, exit-marking, and housekeeping conditions. The Secretary withdrew seven point-of-operation items at the hearing. The judge affirmed the remaining 18 nonserious violations…
Savannah Iron and Fence Corporation
Serious circuit-tagging violation affirmed
Savannah Iron and Fence was altering a monorail system while an electrical contractor temporarily connected the monorail circuit to a bridge-crane circuit. The steel contractor's foreman requested that power be shut off but did not ask whether the disconnect had been made inoperative and tagged…
Pinter-Zwicker Electrical Company, Inc.
Contest withdrawal granted after posting
Pinter-Zwicker Electrical Company received three nonserious citation items with $80 in proposed penalties and contested item 1. It later moved to withdraw the contest, stating that the conditions had been corrected, the penalty had been paid, the motion had been posted, and the company would…
John F. Beasley Construction Company
Bridge-construction violations affirmed
John F. Beasley Construction erected structural steel for an interstate bridge over the Mississippi River. OSHA cited long single-cleat ladders, uncertified lifting equipment, ironworkers working more than 50 feet above land and water without fall protection, and a girder released from its hoisting…
Cleveland Wrecking Company
Demolition defenses remanded for a hearing
Cleveland Wrecking admitted that it had not demolished a building through the horizontal-leveling method described in the cited rule. It argued that the rule did not apply to its method and that the method it used was safer. The company also admitted that a trailer dump body lacked the required…
Ron M. Fiegen, Inc.
Safety-net citation vacated and crane items affirmed
Ron M. Fiegen performed structural-steel work at a university construction site where an OSHA inspector observed employees on a temporary roof and suspended scaffold. The Commission upheld the inspection because the inspector had presented credentials to the general contractor, viewed the…
Franklin Lumber Co., Inc.
Sawdust failure-to-abate item vacated
Franklin Lumber did not contest an original citation, and OSHA later alleged that five conditions remained uncorrected after their abatement deadlines. The Commission held that, in a failure-to-abate case, an employer may defend on the ground that the originally cited condition was not actually a…
Kesler and Sons Construction Company
Premature failure-to-abate penalties reversed
Kesler and Sons performed sewer construction and received a citation requiring immediate correction of several conditions. OSHA reinspected the site before the employer's 15-working-day period for deciding whether to contest had expired and then issued additional failure-to-abate penalties. The…
Buck Kreihs Co., Inc.
Ship-repair violations and penalties affirmed
Buck Kreihs repaired ships and employed more than 100 workers aboard the Velma Lykes when OSHA inspected the vessel. The company admitted ten nonserious conditions involving sandblasting controls, respiratory protection, compressed-gas cylinders, welding cable, scaffolds, chain falls…
Healy-Kruse (A Joint Venture)
Contest withdrawal granted after posting
Healy-Kruse received four nonserious citation items with $150 in proposed penalties and filed a notice of contest. It later moved to withdraw the contest, stating that the conditions had been corrected, the penalty had been paid, and it would continue to comply with the Act. The motion initially…
Sequoyah Spinning Mills, Inc.
Plant penalties affirmed and noise penalties vacated
Sequoyah Spinning Mills manufactured carpet yarn at a plant with 246 employees. In docket 1012, the company admitted 16 nonserious conditions involving housekeeping, combustible materials, fire protection, chemical protection, machine guarding, compressed air, welding cylinders, and electrical…
Elmer Vath, Painting Contractor
Lifeline and fatality-reporting violations affirmed
Elmer Vath hired two painters to paint a building cornice from a two-point suspended scaffold and supplied the scaffold materials. One painter fell about 60 feet and died after a supporting beam slipped; he had removed his safety belt shortly before the incident. The judge found that the painter…
Barnaby Concrete Corporation
High-rise perimeter violation affirmed
Barnaby Concrete poured structural concrete for a high-rise building where portions of the 21st floor and all sides of the 22nd floor lacked required perimeter protection. Employees unloaded reinforcing materials through an unguarded 20-foot opening, and other employees worked on the open floors…
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.