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 Motors Corporation
Welding-ventilation item vacated and $254 assessed
OSHA cited American Motors for 29 non-serious conditions at its Milwaukee automobile plant. After withdrawals, admissions, and a hearing, the administrative law judge affirmed 17 items, vacated 12, and assessed $279. Commission review focused on a welding station where no mechanical ventilation was…
Aire-Lite Industries, Inc.
Flammable-liquid item vacated and $120 assessed
Aire-Lite manufactured aluminum screens, doors, and related products. The contested items involved flammable-liquid storage near a spray area, non-explosion-proof lighting and fans, blocked and overdue fire extinguishers, and table saws without required guards, spreaders, or anti-kickback devices…
Grayson Lumber Company, Inc.
Water-barrel item vacated and $150 penalties retained
Grayson Lumber operated a building-supply, lumber-processing, and concrete business. The administrative law judge affirmed eight non-serious items, vacated three, and assessed $150 total penalties. On review, the Commission vacated an additional fire-protection item because partially filled water…
Frankford Woolen Mills, Inc.
Tenant floor-load item vacated and $335 assessed
Frankford Woolen Mills was cited for 24 non-serious conditions involving housekeeping, stairs, ladders, exits, eye protection, fire extinguishers, machinery, compressed air, welding equipment, electrical grounding, and aisles. The administrative law judge affirmed 19 items, vacated five, and…
Plawner Toy Manufacturing Corporation
Extinguisher item vacated and exit item affirmed
Plawner Toy Manufacturing Corporation operated a small New Jersey plant that made plastic objects. OSHA cited the company for an air nozzle that allegedly exceeded the pressure limit, two unmounted fire extinguishers, and blocked exits, with proposed penalties totaling $140. The judge vacated the…
Custom Painting Company
Respiratory violations affirmed without penalties
Custom Painting Company performed painting work at a sewage treatment plant in Alaska. An employee was asphyxiated while using paint containing perchlorethylene in an atmosphere with a high concentration of that toxic substance. OSHA cited the company for failing to provide suitable respirators…
B & J Mechanical Contractors, Inc.
Guardrail item affirmed and safety-net item vacated
B & J Mechanical Contractors installed plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning equipment at a construction project in Alabama. OSHA cited the company after one employee worked about 30 feet above the ground without fall protection and another worked from a 13-foot-high platform without guardrails…
Apex Building Cleaning Corp.
Powered-platform citation vacated
Apex Building Cleaning used a powered roof car and suspended scaffold to wash windows on a New York City building. OSHA inspected after an employee was found dead and the roof car was found tipped over. The Secretary alleged that the equipment violated a rule requiring electrical contacts to…
Apex Building Cleaning Corp.
Powered-platform citation vacated
Apex Building Cleaning Corp. used a powered roof car and suspended scaffold to wash windows on a New York City building. OSHA inspected after an employee was found dead and the roof car was found tipped over. The Secretary alleged that the equipment violated a rule requiring electrical contacts to…
Clavier Corporation
Ten safety items affirmed and two vacated
Clavier Corporation researched, developed, and manufactured electrical equipment in New York. OSHA issued a 12-item citation covering conditions that included compressed-gas cylinders, machine guarding, first-aid readiness, compressed-air cleaning, flammable-liquid containers, and electrical…
City Wide Tuckpointing Service Company
Scaffold penalty reduced to $280
City Wide Tuckpointing Service Company performed masonry repair from a suspended scaffold about 65 feet above a Milwaukee sidewalk. OSHA cited six scaffold conditions, including unsafe footing, missing guardrails and toeboards, unsafe access, no protective screen, improper anchoring to a station…
Mitchellace, Inc.
Withdrawal of contest affirmed
Mitchellace moved to withdraw its notice of contest and tendered $175 as full payment of the proposed penalty. The company also agreed to comply with the Act and standards, submit a compliance plan, immediately implement a personal protective equipment plan, and post and serve the case documents…
Buhls Laundry & Dry Cleaning, Inc.
Stairway and electrical penalties imposed
Buhls Laundry & Dry Cleaning operated a small laundry business in South Dakota. OSHA issued a 15-item nonserious citation covering housekeeping, stairs and floor openings, fire extinguishers, laundry equipment, electrical conditions, and recordkeeping. The judge vacated the incorrectly cited…
Matt J. Zaich Construction Co.
Settlement approval vacated and remanded
Matt J. Zaich Construction and the Secretary submitted a settlement that would affirm a citation and $125 penalty while stating that the employer did not admit a violation or liability. The judge approved the agreement. The Commission set that approval aside because the agreement's ambiguous…
Standard Glass & Supply Co.
Serious scaffold citation affirmed with low penalty
Standard Glass & Supply installed exterior glass and metal panels at a two-story building in Tennessee. OSHA found one employee briefly working about 20 feet above the ground on a scaffold without guardrails or toeboards and with nonconforming planking and bracing, while two employees lacked…
Natkin & Co., Mechanical Contractors
Serious material-hoist citation affirmed
Natkin used a material hoist to move sheet-metal ductwork and other materials at a multistory construction project in Virginia. The hoist lacked required overhead covering, full side enclosures, and access gates. An employee died in a fall that prompted the inspection, although the record showed…
W. J. Lazynski, Inc.
Crane swing-radius penalty reduced to $360
W. J. Lazynski performed sewer construction from a narrow highway median in Wisconsin. An employee was fatally crushed between a rotating crane counterweight and stacked steel liner plates in an accessible swing-radius area that had not been barricaded. The company had been permitted to close only…
CECO Corp.
Concrete-shoring citation vacated
CECO Corp. was a concrete subcontractor on a hospital construction project in Alabama. OSHA cited the company for allegedly unstable single-post shores used to support concrete work, proposing a $30 penalty. The record showed horizontal and transverse bracing at the top of the shores and diagonal…
J.L. Mabry Grading, Inc.
Backing-alarm amendment allowed on remand
OSHA cited J.L. Mabry Grading for operating dump trucks with obstructed rear vision without backing alarms or a signalman and proposed a $600 serious penalty. The citation identified a regulatory subsection that was not in effect when the alleged violation occurred. The judge denied the Secretary's…
Ira Holliday Logging Co., Inc.
Serious log-binder citation vacated
Ira Holliday Logging delivered timber to a sawmill where the mill controlled the unloading process. An employee was fatally struck by a log after releasing all three load binders before the unloading machine secured the load. The Commission held that the sawmill unloading rule applied to the…
Tilo Company, Inc.
Vague roofing-bracket item vacated
Tilo Company performed reroofing work on a private home in New York. OSHA issued five nonserious items for failing to provide roofing brackets, a catch platform or personal fall protection, first-aid arrangements, toilet facilities, and a secured access ladder. The Commission vacated the…
Kawecki-Berylco Industries
Beryllium-abatement settlement remanded
OSHA cited Kawecki-Berylco Industries for failing to implement feasible controls to reduce employee exposure to beryllium and required a detailed long-term abatement plan, but proposed no penalty. The employees' union contested the abatement period, and the employer separately contested the…
Karl Kehm Construction Co.
Filing-error dismissal reversed
Karl Kehm Construction received two citations and submitted two notices of contest that arrived at OSHA on the same day and were nearly identical. The Area Director timely forwarded one notice but mistakenly treated the other as a duplicate, causing missed filing deadlines. The judge granted the…
Stevens Equipment Co.
Old power-press guarding item vacated
Stevens Equipment fabricated and sold metal products at an Oregon plant. OSHA cited an unguarded mechanical power press and an unguarded chain-and-sprocket drive as serious, along with eight other conditions that the company admitted. The Commission agreed that the press lacked a point-of-operation…
Crescent Wharf & Warehouse Co.
Serious hatch-pontoon violation affirmed
Crescent Wharf & Warehouse employees loaded flour into a ship's hold through a deck hatch in Seattle. Two metal hatch pontoons weighing about two tons each were left unsecured above roughly ten employees working 30 feet below, and the company's walking boss knew of the condition for at least two…
M. A. Swatek & Co.
Maximum penalty assessed for serious trench hazard
M. A. Swatek & Co. excavated a trench in unstable soil for utility work in Oklahoma. The trench was about 17 feet deep, 3 feet wide at the bottom, and 19 feet wide at the top, with no shoring or ladder and sides steeper than the recognized safe angle. A side wall caved in and fatally injured an…
James L. Brussa, Masonry
Dismissal for failure to post citation reversed
OSHA cited James L. Brussa for removing required guardrails from open-sided fourth- and fifth-floor work areas and proposed a $150 penalty. Brussa contested but admitted that he had not posted the citation at or near the worksite. The administrative law judge treated that posting failure as grounds…
Drake-Willamette Joint Ventures
Bridge safety-net citation vacated
Drake-Willamette constructed an approach to the Fremont Bridge in Portland, Oregon. OSHA cited the company for failing to provide safety nets where employees worked more than 25 feet above lower surfaces and proposed a $15 penalty. The Commission read the cited rule to require nets only when listed…
Vitamin Premixers of Omaha, Inc.
Six safety violations affirmed with $400 penalty
Vitamin Premixers of Omaha produced and distributed premixed animal feed. The company admitted six nonserious violations involving fire extinguishers, unguarded fan blades, emergency drenching or eyewash facilities, a weak stair handrail, compressed-air cleaning, and electrical motors in a…
Hennis Freight Lines, Inc.
Forklift overhead-guard citation vacated
Hennis Freight Lines operated a freight terminal in Omaha and used a powered industrial truck without an overhead guard. OSHA cited the company under a rule requiring a guard as protection against falling objects and proposed a $165 penalty, which the judge increased to $187.50. The Commission held…
Ernest F. Donley's Son, Inc.
Serious T-form hazard affirmed with $640 penalty
Ernest F. Donley's Son was the concrete structural subcontractor on a multistory office-building project in Ohio. It used large T-forms weighing several thousand pounds and secured them with cable assemblies to prevent tipping. The Commission found that the original anchoring method provided…
Blue Ribbon Industries, Inc.
Contest dismissed and $100 penalty affirmed
Blue Ribbon Industries received four non-serious citations involving excessive compressed-air pressure, a locked exit, an unguarded compressor, and flexible cord used as fixed wiring. OSHA proposed no penalties for the first two items and $100 total for the other two. The case was initially…
Somerset Tire Service, Inc.
Serious electrical hazards affirmed
Somerset Tire Service operated an automotive service station in New Jersey. An employee received a fatal electric shock while connecting the plug of a tire-truing machine to an extension cord carrying 220 volts. The judge found loose wire strands inside the machine plug and an electrical continuity…
REA Express Co.
Maximum penalty affirmed for high-voltage hazard
REA Express operated a freight terminal with a locked circuit-breaker room containing 15,000-volt equipment. During an electrical outage, supervisory employees directed unqualified maintenance workers into the room to restore operations. The floor was damp, severed high-voltage cables were…
The Wackenhut Corporation
Citation withdrawal conditionally affirmed
OSHA issued Wackenhut a citation for an other than serious violation with no proposed penalty. After the company contested, the Secretary moved to withdraw because he lacked evidence needed to prove the allegation. The judge granted the motion. The Commission found that the motion had not been…
Lebanon Lumber Co.
Serious crane power-line violation affirmed
Lebanon Lumber sent two employees to assemble a mobile-crane boom at a worksite crossed by a 20,000-volt power line. The company knew of the line, selected two assembly locations away from it, and warned the employees to keep clear, but the employees were inexperienced in crane work and were sent…
John J. Gordon Company
Citation dismissed after improper record reopening
John J. Gordon Company employees painted from a scaffold about 30 feet above the ground in Buffalo, New York. The scaffold fell, killing one employee and seriously injuring another, and the judge later found a serious general-duty-clause violation with a $750 penalty. At the original hearing…
S.J. Otinger Jr. Construction
Dismissed contest reinstated
The judge had granted the Secretary's motion to dismiss S.J. Otinger Jr. Construction's notice of contest. The Commission reinstated the case. Its order allowed the Secretary to raise the issue of prejudice at the hearing. The brief release does not identify the citation, cited safety standard…
Midvale-Heppenstall Company
Descaling item vacated and immediate abatement ordered
Midvale-Heppenstall manufactured steel forgings in Philadelphia and used compressed air above 30 p.s.i. in several plant operations. The judge affirmed violations for air hoses used for cleaning in the power plant and machine shop but vacated the press-plant allegation. The press operation used an…
Norman R. Bratcher Company
Aluminum-ladder citation vacated
Norman R. Bratcher Company painted buildings at Fort Wolters, Texas. Two employees received severe electrical shocks, one fatal, when an aluminum extension ladder contacted an overhead 7,200-volt line while they raised it after working on its extension mechanism. OSHA cited the painting contractor…
Silver Skillet Food Products Company
Four safety items affirmed and one vacated
Silver Skillet processed and canned food at an Illinois plant. OSHA cited a boiler-room fire door tied open, warped metal floor plates, two ladders without safety feet, a padlocked fire exit, and unsecured dock plates. The judge affirmed the fire-door, floor-plate, exit, and dock-plate items. He…
Stephen Adamowich d/b/a Terryville Sanitation Service
Procedural vacatur reversed
OSHA cited Terryville Sanitation for an unsupported nine-foot trench and failure to provide a ladder, with proposed penalties totaling $805. The first judge vacated the citations because the Commission received the employer's notice of contest after the seven-day transmission period. The Commission…
E.F. Houghton & Co.
Withdrawal order reversed for lack of abatement certification
E.F. Houghton moved to withdraw its notice of contest while stating that two contested citation items had not been abated pending a variance request. The company also said it understood that OSHA would not reinspect during that period, but the Secretary denied giving any such assurance. The judge…
Vy Lactos Laboratories, Inc.
Hydrogen-sulfide citation vacated for unproven recognition
Vy Lactos manufactured livestock and poultry feed concentrates using proteinaceous fish solubles. After fish slurry overflowed into a basement, employees entered without self-contained breathing equipment and encountered a lethal atmosphere attributed to hydrogen sulfide gas. Three employees died…
J. Dale Wilson, Builder
Citation vacated after delayed contest transmittal
J. Dale Wilson sent OSHA a letter protesting a citation and proposed $35 penalty, and OSHA received it on October 11, 1972. OSHA did not transmit the notice of contest to the Commission until October 30, beyond the seven-day procedural deadline. The Commission initially reversed an automatic…
Wright-Schuchart-Harbor Contractors
Pit and life-jacket items affirmed
Wright-Schuchart-Harbor was one of many contractors building the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in Oregon. OSHA observed two of its employees working on a snow- and ice-covered float near river water without life jackets and an unguarded pit about 30 feet deep beside a traveled walkway. The judge…
Dundas Pallet Company, Division of Industrial Wood and Pallet Company
Eye-protection violation affirmed
Dundas Pallet cut lumber and manufactured pallets at an Ohio plant. Employees operating or working near power saws and automatic nailers were not provided with or required to wear protective eyewear. The company stipulated to the violation, and its vice president testified that management had known…
Dreher Pickle Company
Electrical and platform penalties increased to $1,500
Dreher Pickle Company operated wet processing areas with inadequately grounded electrical equipment. Employees had repeatedly received shocks from conveyor belts, management knew of those reports, and one employee died from probable electrical shock while standing in brine water and loading pickles…
Engstrum and Nourse
Serious trench cave-in hazard affirmed
Engstrum and Nourse installed an underground storm drain in San Francisco using a trench ranging from 13 to 16 feet deep. An eight-foot section remained unshored when two employees entered to install protection from the bottom up. Soil and loose material collapsed into the trench, killing one…
Republic Creosoting Co., Division of Reilly Tar & Chemical Corp.
Crosstie unloading and stacking citations vacated
Republic Creosoting operated a railroad-tie marshalling yard in Indiana. A newly hired employee unexpectedly cut the steel band around a package of ties before the forklift was positioned to secure the load, and falling ties fatally injured him. The Commission found that the company's customary…
Baltz Brothers Packing Company
Four violations affirmed with $905 in penalties
Baltz Brothers processed livestock into packaged meat products at a Tennessee plant. The company admitted violations involving ungrounded electrical equipment, cluttered maintenance and storage areas, connected extension cords lying in water, and open electrical control boxes. The judge affirmed…
A. Stuart Bolling Company, Inc.
Late answer accepted and case remanded
The judge denied A. Stuart Bolling Company the right to participate and affirmed the citation and proposed penalty because the company had not filed an answer. The company sent a letter explaining that it had posted the pleadings and misunderstood the answer requirement, while briefly disputing the…
Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, AFL-CIO
Employee contest scope limited
OSHA issued Mobil Oil three serious citations and one citation containing 90 other than serious items. The employer did not contest, but the employees' union challenged the length of the abatement period for one item and asserted that 69 other items described as abated had not actually been…
Gerosa, Inc.
Crane inspection citation vacated
Gerosa assigned a competent operator and oiler to run a rented crane while steel columns were placed at a power plant construction site. OSHA cited the company for allegedly failing to designate a competent person to inspect the crane before and during use. The crane passed customary operational…
Universal Maintenance & Repair Corporation
Mail-conveyor lockout violation affirmed
Universal maintained and repaired more than 200 conveyor belts at a mail-sorting facility. OSHA issued a serious general duty clause citation after an employee lost his right arm while attempting to clear a conveyor that had not been locked out. The judge found that the available locks and shared…
Bill Echols Trucking Company
Citation vacated after delayed contest transmission
OSHA cited Bill Echols Trucking Company for a serious failure to provide reverse signal alarms on vehicles with obstructed views and proposed a $600 penalty. It also issued an other than serious citation with no proposed penalty. The company promptly wrote that it had installed the signaling device…
R. D. Blue Construction, Inc.
Trenching hazard citation affirmed
R. D. Blue Construction was excavating a trench for utility work near a hospital when two employees worked in a section at least eight feet deep. OSHA alleged that the trench had unstable sides, lacked adequate sloping, shoring, sheeting, or bracing, and had excavated material placed too close to…
Wetmore & Parman, Inc.
Open-floor citation affirmed and penalty raised
Wetmore & Parman was constructing a six-story college building when employees worked near an unguarded sixth-floor edge about 60 feet above the ground. OSHA had previously told the company's superintendent how to guard the open floor, but the company did not install adequate protection because it…
Texports Stevedore Company, Inc.
Falling-cargo penalty increased
Texports was unloading two-tier stacks of 4,200-pound pulpwood bales from a barge when one bale fell and disabled a forklift. The company sent a mechanic into the hold without securing the remaining cargo, and another bale fell and severely injured him. The judge found that the first falling bale…
Equity Supply Company
Liquid and extinguisher items vacated
Equity Supply stipulated to several housekeeping, guarding, protective-equipment, compressed-air, and electrical violations at its Montana facility. The remaining dispute concerned alleged storage of combustible liquid in open containers and inspection of fire extinguishers. The Commission vacated…
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.