Federal agency decisions, searchable in plain English.
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) and mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Pettey Oil Fields Services, Inc.
Incomplete logging-standard order remanded
Pettey employees pushed down and cut trees while clearing a route for a gas line in West Virginia. OSHA issued multiple logging-standard and hazard-communication citation items, and the judge granted summary judgment to OSHA on the logging standard's applicability and fair-notice issues. The…
New York Elevator, Inc.
Elevator counterweight and training items vacated
An experienced elevator helper suffered serious leg and head injuries after climbing above a compliant counterweight guard and being caught by a moving counterweight. The employees were modernizing one elevator while keeping the adjacent passenger elevator operating, and the record did not explain…
John Carlo, Inc.
Willful trench violation results in $50,000 penalty
John Carlo employees worked in a 14.5-foot trench in Type C soil with only an eight-foot trench box and unsloped walls above it. A large clay mass fell into the trench and killed one employee. The judge found that the project superintendent and foreman knew the trench-protection requirements…
Smoot Construction
Scaffold and trench violations affirmed with penalty reduction
Smoot was the prime contractor on a university construction project where employees worked from incompletely planked scaffolds and a subcontractor's employees entered an inadequately sloped trench. The Commission held that the full-planking exception did not apply because Smoot's employees were…
Roy's Construction, Inc.
Citations vacated after OSHA refused to file complaint
Roy's Construction filed a late notice contesting three citations with $40,600 in proposed penalties and obtained relief from the final order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). The judge then ordered OSHA to file a complaint so the merits could be litigated. OSHA refused because it…
SALCO Construction, Inc.
Steel and platform violations result in $3,000 penalty
A SALCO employee bolted purlins while sitting on a steel beam about 18 feet above a concrete floor without fall protection. The judge found that he was not a connector because he was not working with hoisting equipment, so the 15-foot steel-erection fall rule applied. Two other employees worked…
Jalco, Inc.
Confined-space rescue failures result in $11,800 penalty
A subcontractor employee lost consciousness after entering a 15-foot sewer manhole without atmospheric monitoring, effective ventilation, or rescue equipment. Jalco's foreman entered without a harness, lifeline, or respirator and became dizzy before climbing out. The judge found that the foreman's…
McWane, Inc., d/b/a Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company
Repeat protective-clothing violation results in $10,000 penalty
An employee cleaned hot iron and calcium oxide from a foundry pit without heat- and chemical-resistant coveralls, exposing unprotected skin to thermal and chemical burns. McWane conceded the violation but disputed whether it was repeat. The judge found it substantially similar to a 2003 violation…
Thos. S. Byrne, Ltd.
Ladderway fall hazards result in $1,750 penalty
Byrne employees used unguarded ladderway openings on the roof and third floor of a theater restoration project, with falls of about 13.5 feet possible. The judge affirmed the opening-protection item for those ladderways but dismissed an instance involving smaller floor holes because OSHA cited the…
Schuler-Haas Electric Corp.
Asbestos violations affirmed and penalties grouped
Schuler-Haas performed electrical renovation work in a college building where asbestos abatement repeatedly left contaminated material in walls and ceilings. Air monitoring showed that electricians were exposed to asbestos, including one excursion-limit exceedance, yet the company lacked required…
Baker Hi-Way Express, Inc.
Default set aside for settlement review
The judge entered default against Baker Hi-Way Express after the company failed to answer OSHA's complaint or respond to a show-cause order. Baker sought Commission review, and the parties then submitted a signed settlement agreement with certifications that union representatives and employees had…
Fabi Construction, Inc., and Pro Management Group
Parking-garage collapse decision assesses $21,000
Four parking-garage levels collapsed during concrete placement at an Atlantic City project, killing four employees and injuring 21. The judge found serious general duty violations because reinforcing mesh did not follow the approved shop drawings and longitudinal steel was installed contrary to…
Graphic Packaging International, Inc.
Press shaft guarding violation affirmed
Graphic Packaging operated printing presses used to make cardboard packaging. OSHA cited the company after six rotating press shaft ends were left unguarded during press alignment and doctor-blade cleaning. The judge found that employees worked within inches of the exposed shafts and that plant…
Reynolds Inc.
Quick-coupler items split and trench violations affirmed
Reynolds was installing a water main when an excavator bucket detached from a hydraulic quick coupler, rolled into an excavation, and fatally struck an employee. The judge vacated the general-duty and safety-program items because Reynolds lacked notice that the experienced operator would skip…
EMS Construction, Inc.
Low-slope roof fall violation affirmed
EMS employees placed sheet metal on a curved roof between about 9 and 18 feet above the ground. An OSHA compliance officer observed two employees working without fall protection, including one who came within one or two feet of the eave. The judge credited the officer over the foreman, who could…
AAA Delivery Services, Inc.
Attorney-fee application denied
AAA distributed newspapers through street-corner vendors, one of whom died after an automobile struck him while he was selling papers. OSHA cited AAA for failing to provide reflective clothing, but the Commission later vacated the citation because the vendor was an independent contractor rather…
High Voltage Electric Service, Inc.
Electrical-shock fee application denied
High Voltage Electric Service directed subcontracted electricians responding to a power failure at a research facility. One electrician suffered severe burns after contacting 4,160-volt equipment that had been re-energized. OSHA cited the company for inadequate warnings and electrical work…
Building Contractors, Inc.
Respiratory-program citation vacated
Building Contractors dry-cut masonry brick at a shopping-mall construction site, generating dust that a bulk sample showed contained 50 percent silica quartz. OSHA cited the company for lacking a respiratory protection program, and the judge held that the general-industry respiratory standard…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Asbestos notice violations reduced to non-serious
Trinity owned a pre-1980 foundry and hired a contractor to repair a furnace covered by an insulation blanket. Trinity believed a prior contractor had removed any asbestos, but it did not perform the testing required to rebut the standard's presumption that the thermal insulation contained asbestos…
St. Lawrence Food Corp., d/b/a Primo Foods
Discovery dismissal reversed and remanded
The judge ordered OSHA to disclose internal documents exchanged between compliance officers and the Solicitor's attorney, then dismissed the citations when OSHA refused. The Commission held that the communications were protected by the attorney-client privilege because they were confidential…
Downrite Engineering Corporation
Manhole safety violations mostly affirmed
Downrite employees installed a sewer manhole invert while one employee worked at the bottom of a 10-foot manhole and another lowered cement, bricks, water, and tools from above. The judge rejected Downrite's Fourth Amendment challenge because the general contractor and Downrite supervisory…
Jimerson Under-Ground, Inc.
Sewer confined-space citations vacated and remanded
Jimerson replaced an existing municipal sewer line by inserting a smaller structural PVC pipe through it and rebuilding connected manholes. Two subcontractor employees died after being overcome in a manhole, and two Jimerson employees survived after attempting a rescue. OSHA cited Jimerson under…
Stanley Roofing Company, Inc.
Willful roof-fall violation reduced to serious
OSHA observed Stanley employees unloading insulation at the edge of a sloped roof about 33 feet above the ground without fall protection. The Commission found the evidence insufficient to prove that the worker who identified himself as foreman had actually been given supervisory authority, so his…
Gate Concrete Products Co.
Gantry crane guarding items partly vacated
Gate Concrete Products manufactured precast concrete products and used gantry cranes to move them around its Jacksonville plant. An employee lost two fingers after reaching through a missing engine-compartment door while a maintenance supervisor tried to start a stalled crane. The judge vacated the…
Seedorff Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold violations affirmed with reduced classification and penalty
Seedorff Masonry employees worked on a scaffold about 19 to 20 feet above the ground. A materials platform blocked the normal ladder access, and a mason's tender used an unguarded end of the work platform and worked within three feet of that edge. The judge affirmed the guardrail violation as…
Keating Building Corporation
Parking-garage formwork citation vacated
Keating was the general contractor for a hotel and parking-garage expansion where part of the garage collapsed during a concrete pour, killing four employees and injuring twenty-one. OSHA cited Keating under the cast-in-place concrete formwork standard and proposed a $7,000 penalty. Although the…
JGB LLC d/b/a General Fire-Proof Door Corp
Review vacated after employer failed to brief
The chief administrative law judge entered a default judgment against JGB after the company failed to comply with an order compelling discovery responses. That judgment affirmed citations alleging numerous general industry violations, primarily involving machine guarding, and assessed $70,750 in…
Aquatek Systems
Balcony fall-protection citation vacated
Aquatek waterproofed apartment balconies, and its foreman directed two employees to finish work on unguarded balconies without fall protection. The administrative law judge imputed the foreman's knowledge to Aquatek, rejected the company's safety-program evidence, and affirmed a $1,500 citation…
Saipan Koreana Hotel
Attorney-fee amount remanded for review
OSHA cited Saipan Koreana Hotel under a temporary labor camp water-supply standard after finding contaminated water in employee housing, then withdrew the citation after the condition was corrected. The hotel sought attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, and the judge twice denied…
D.R.B. Boring Drilling Company
Five serious trench violations affirmed
D.R.B. performed boring work from a trench approximately 9 feet deep with vertical, unprotected walls. The judge rejected the owner's claim that the business was a sole proprietorship without employees, finding under the economic realities test that a worker the owner paid and directed was D.R.B.'s…
Conti Carlucci Construction, Inc.
Contest dismissed after employer stopped participating
OSHA cited Conti & Carlucci Construction for several construction-standard violations and proposed $119,000 in total penalties. The parties stated at the scheduled hearing that they had reached a settlement, but the employer did not return the written agreement and stopped responding to its own…
North Texas Contracting, Inc.
Trench safety citations affirmed with $9,000 in penalties
North Texas Contracting was installing a box sewer line in a Dallas trench when OSHA found employees working near vertical walls, accumulated water, spoil piles, and an excavator at the trench edge. The judge credited OSHA's measurements and found that the approximately 10-foot-deep excavation was…
M.D. Roofing & Siding, L.L.C.
Residential roofing fall-protection violation affirmed
M.D. Roofing & Siding employees performed residential roofing work on two Philadelphia roofs without conventional fall protection. OSHA observed one employee working 22 feet above the ground and another working 30 feet above the ground near unprotected roof edges. The employer argued that it used a…
Pegasus Tower, Inc.
Tower hoisting and hard-hat violations affirmed
Pegasus Tower was constructing a communications tower in Wisconsin when OSHA observed an employee riding a hoist line while conduit was lifted at the same time. The judge found that this practice violated the general duty clause because the tower industry recognized the fall hazard and employees…
McWane, Inc., d/b/a Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company
Fixed-stair rule applied to earthen pit
Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company used a seven-foot-deep earthen pit to capture molten metal spilled during its pipe manufacturing process. Employees entered the pit each workday to remove debris, but no fixed stairs or ladder were in use when OSHA inspected. The company argued that the fixed…
Earl F. Douglass Roofing Co.
Roofing fall-protection citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
OSHA found three Earl F. Douglass Roofing employees working more than 21 feet above the ground without tying off their fall-protection harnesses. The foreman knew the crew was still working after the roof anchors had been removed, but the employer argued that the conduct violated its established…
Earl F. Douglass Roofing Co.
Roofing fall-protection citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
OSHA found three Earl F. Douglass Roofing employees working more than 21 feet above the ground without tying off their fall-protection harnesses. The foreman knew the crew was still working after the roof anchors had been removed, but the employer argued that the conduct violated its established…
August Winter & Sons, Inc.
Falling-load citation vacated
August Winter & Sons was installing drainage tile at a Wisconsin construction project when OSHA cited the company for allegedly allowing an employee beneath a loaded excavator bucket. The compliance officer observed from about 35 feet away and 10 feet above the employee, while the employee and…
George Cairns & Sons, Inc.
Attorney-fee application denied
George Cairns & Sons sought attorney fees and expenses after an excavation violation was reduced from willful to serious in the underlying case. The judge found that Cairns was the prevailing party on the classification issue because the penalty fell from the proposed $44,000 to $7,000 and the…
J B Distributing Co.
Late notice of contest dismissed
J B Distributing filed its notice of contest 23 working days after receiving OSHA's citations, beyond the 15-working-day deadline. The company argued that OSHA used an incomplete corporate name and that only its president could validly sign for certified mail. The judge found that the naming…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
Missing stairway guardrail citation vacated
Summit Contractors was the general contractor for an apartment project where a temporary laborer died after falling 15 feet from an unguarded stairway landing. The guardrail had been removed, but Summit disputed that it knew the temporary crew would enter the building or that the railing was…
Southern Pan Services Co.
Leading-edge violations affirmed as serious, with two items vacated
Southern Pan Services erected concrete formwork at a Home Depot construction project where OSHA cited multiple employees working near leading edges without conventional fall protection. The Commission found that horizontal lifelines or related personal fall arrest systems were feasible for Items 1…
Saw Pipes USA, Inc.
Divided Commission vacates review of willful recordkeeping violations
OSHA cited Saw Pipes USA for numerous failures to record occupational injuries and illnesses on its OSHA 200 logs. The administrative law judge affirmed 59 recordkeeping violations as willful but grouped them for a single $70,000 penalty. Both Commission members agreed that management's knowing…
Jindal United Steel Corp.
Divided Commission leaves grouped recordkeeping penalties in place
OSHA cited Jindal United Steel for extensive failures to record occupational injuries and illnesses on its OSHA 200 logs. The administrative law judge affirmed 110 violations, classifying 82 as willful and 28 as other-than-serious, then grouped them into penalties of $70,000 and $7,000. Both…
Lake Erie Construction Company, Inc.
Highway-sign fall violations affirmed with grouped penalty
Lake Erie Construction employees changed an overhead highway sign more than 20 feet above a road. One employee rode in an aerial-lift basket without tying off, while another worked on the sign structure without continuous fall protection because he had only one lanyard. The Commission found…
Haines & Kibblehouse, Inc. and E.P. Guidi, Inc.
Trench citation affirmed for subcontractor and dismissed for construction manager
Haines & Kibblehouse installed a sewer line at a Philadelphia construction site where a trench collapsed and seriously injured one of its employees. The judge found that employees worked in a vertical-walled trench that was at least five feet deep without a protective system. H&K's foreman treated…
E.P. Guidi, Inc. and Haines & Kibblehouse, Inc.
Trench citation affirmed for subcontractor and dismissed for construction manager
Haines & Kibblehouse installed a sewer line at a Philadelphia construction site where a trench collapsed and seriously injured one of its employees. The judge found that employees worked in a vertical-walled trench that was at least five feet deep without a protective system. H&K's foreman treated…
Latite Roofing & Sheet Metal Co., Inc.
Roof fall-protection instance vacated for lack of fair notice
Latite Roofing used an alternative fall-protection plan with a warning line and safety monitor while employees worked on a residential roof. The Commission considered OSHA's long history of advice, withdrawn citations, settlements, a prior Latite victory involving a materially similar roof, and…
Bilodeau Homes
Default order set aside after E-Z Trial pleading confusion
Bilodeau Homes timely contested three serious construction citations but did not file an answer after its pro se case was removed from E-Z Trial. The judge granted the Secretary's dismissal motion, affirmed all three items by default, and assessed $3,000. The Commission found no claim of prejudice…
Townsend Tree Services Corporation
Testing-area lockout violation affirmed
Townsend Tree Services employees changed blades and a belt on a remote tree trimmer, then energized the machine to test the replacement parts. The foreman moved within three feet of the rotating blades and died after the boom moved and the blades struck him. The judge held that the lockout/tagout…
Reed Engineering Group, Inc.
Late general-duty amendment required continuance and remand
A Reed Engineering employee died in an excavation while the company performed environmental testing. The Secretary initially cited three construction standards, then moved four days before the hearing to add a general-duty-clause allegation in the alternative. The Commission held that allowing the…
Major Construction Corp., Inc. and Michael J. Polites
Individual respondent's fee application denied
Michael J. Polites sought $292,815.77 in attorney fees and expenses after the underlying citation against him individually was dismissed. The Secretary had attempted to hold him personally liable by piercing the corporate veil because corporations he owned or controlled had substantial unpaid OSHA…
AAA Delivery Services, Inc.
Reflective-vest citation vacated because vendors were not employees
A newspaper vendor was struck and killed while selling papers near a Florida intersection before dawn. OSHA cited AAA Delivery Services for not providing reflective vests, but AAA argued that the vendors were independent contractors rather than its employees. Applying the common-law employment…
American Shoe Corporation
Late notice of contest dismissed
American Shoe Corporation received OSHA's citation on September 23, 2004, but did not submit a notice of contest by the October 15 deadline. The company's vice president was traveling when the citation arrived, and an accounts payable employee mistakenly filed it with paperwork from an earlier…
Caretti, Inc.
Masonry-block stacking citation vacated
Caretti was a masonry contractor at a Pennsylvania prison project where OSHA found a stack of blocks about 11 to 12 feet high that was not tapered above six feet. The judge allowed OSHA to correct a typographical error in the cited standard because the factual allegation was unchanged and Caretti…
J.E. Dunn Construction Company
Fall and suspended-load citations vacated
J.E. Dunn ironworkers were guiding a large suspended rebar mat around obstacles near a 20-foot-deep elevator excavation when the load failed and pushed the foreman into the shaft. The judge found that Dunn's taut, maintained caution tape qualified as a barricade under the cited fall-protection…
Williams Insulation
Residential fall-protection citation affirmed
OSHA observed a Williams Insulation employee working on a residential roof about 40 feet above the ground without fall protection. The employee straddled one chimney, walked across the roof carrying plywood, and covered another chimney while his harness remained on the ground. Williams argued that…
Active Oil Service, Inc.
Confined-space violation reduced from willful to repeat
Two Active Oil Service employees were overcome while cleaning an underground oil tank without atmospheric testing, positive ventilation, respirators, harnesses, or a rescue tripod. The Commission held that tank removal was construction work, so the general-industry confined-space standard did not…
Pegasus Tower
Tower fall violations affirmed with grouped PPE penalty
Pegasus Tower employees erected a television tower and worked hundreds of feet above the ground. OSHA cited hazards involving employees riding a dual-drum hoist line, inadequate fall-protection training, and failure to maintain continuous fall protection while moving on the tower. The Commission…
Mead Coated Board, Inc.
Serious paper-mill violation vacated under settlement
The Secretary and Mead Coated Board jointly asked the Commission to reopen its final order, vacate the portion affirming a serious paper-mill safety violation, and approve a settlement. The Commission had already stated that it would grant the requested relief if the Eleventh Circuit returned 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.