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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D.C. Pagers, Inc., d/b/a Superior Services
Electrical-training and eye-protection items vacated
D.C. Pagers performed electrical contracting work at a site in St. Clairsville, Ohio. OSHA alleged that employees lacked safety training for live electrical work and did not use appropriate eye protection while checking an electrical panel or cutting PVC pipe. The judge found that OSHA had not…
Quebecor World - Salem Division, and its successors
Lockout/tagout citations vacated for a plastic-wrapping machine
Quebecor World ran a commercial printing plant in Salem, Illinois. After an inspection of its bindery, OSHA issued three serious lockout/tagout citations tied to the Spiral Grip 8150 Strapper/Wrapper machine, faulting the company for not providing lockout hardware, not training operators in energy…
Rencor, Inc.
Default judgment affirms a $3,600 citation after the employer failed to appear
OSHA issued Rencor, Inc. a serious citation with a $3,600 penalty on December 4, 2000. The Secretary of Labor moved to dismiss the company's notice of contest as untimely and a hearing on that motion was scheduled in New York. The Secretary appeared ready for trial with witnesses, but no one from…
Brand Scaffold Rental and Erection, Inc.
Scaffold-access allegations vacated
OSHA observed Brand employees climbing scaffold members while erecting a scaffold at a Boston construction site. The judge vacated the primary access allegation because the cited provision did not apply to employees erecting or dismantling supported scaffolds. The alternative provision did apply…
Weatherproofing Systems
Default case returned for address inquiry
A chief administrative law judge dismissed Weatherproofing Systems' notice of contest after the company failed to answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to a show-cause order. The case file contained both New Hampshire and Massachusetts addresses, and critical Commission mail sent to the…
G&K Services, and its successors
Training and guard-removal citations affirmed after a commercial dryer amputation
G&K Services ran a commercial laundry in San Antonio, Texas. A worker reaching into an uncovered inspection port on a large Smith Grantham dryer had his arm pulled into the rotating basket and amputated. OSHA issued three serious citations. The judge vacated the general machine-guarding item…
Midwest Masonry Inc., and its successors
Scaffold midrail violation reclassified as repeated
Midwest employees stocked bricks, a masonry saw, and other materials on a scaffold platform about 13 feet above the ground before midrails were installed. The judge affirmed the violation as serious and assessed $100, reasoning that the employees were only stocking the platform and Midwest believed…
Architectural Glass & Metal Co., Inc.
Dismissal remanded for inquiry into missed conference
A judge dismissed OSHA's serious citation with prejudice after the Secretary's attorney missed a prehearing telephone conference. Notice of the conference had been faxed on a Sunday in an informal one-page document, and the assigned attorney never received it. The Commission found no evidence of…
Mayflower Vehicle Systems, Inc.
Power-press control violation reclassified as serious
Mayflower manufactured truck parts with a mechanical power press whose two-hand controls were mounted on a movable stand. Employees other than supervisors or safety engineers could unbolt and relocate the stand, and the stand was not consistently secured during press operation. The judge affirmed…
Miller Electric Company
Electrical violations affirmed before Commission remand
A Miller Electric journeyman was electrocuted while connecting a light fixture to an energized 277-volt circuit at a medical-center construction project. The judge found that Miller permitted work near the energized circuit and failed to ascertain and warn employees that the circuit was live. She…
A & W Construction Services, Inc.
Willful scaffold fall-protection citation affirmed at $20,000
A & W Construction, a Florida stucco and drywall contractor, was inspected while its crew did stucco work from a four-tier scaffold on a Daytona Beach building. Two 10-foot center sections at the second and third tiers, roughly 12 and 20 feet up, had no guardrails, and five employees worked there…
Reynolds, Inc.
Three excavation violations affirmed
Reynolds was installing sewer lines in Ohio when employees, including the foreman, worked in a trench more than six feet deep without sloping, shoring, or a trench box. Excavated material was piled at the trench edge, and the foreman did not complete the required competent-person inspection before…
Darcon Construction, Inc.
Settlement reduces penalties to $30,000
OSHA cited Darcon Construction after inspecting its stucco worksite in New Rochelle, New York. The citations alleged willful, repeated, and serious construction-safety violations with $108,100 in proposed penalties. Under the settlement, two Citation 2 items were reclassified as serious and the…
R.G. Bigelow Electrical Company, Inc.
Electrical and aerial-lift violations affirmed
A Bigelow electrician was assigned to tighten a connection on an energized 480-volt circuit from an aerial lift at a Connecticut printing company. The supervisor rejected the employee's suggestion to de-energize the box and did not provide insulated tools, electrical protective equipment, or…
Rodriquez Cornice Construction Co., and its successors
Five construction violations affirmed
Rodriquez Cornice contested OSHA's citation but did not appear for the scheduled hearing. OSHA's compliance officer testified that employees installing cornice worked about 21 feet above the ground without guardrails or personal fall arrest systems and had not received scaffold training. The…
Ernest Bock & Sons, Inc.
Aerial-lift citations withdrawn and vacated
The case involved subcontractor employees working from aerial lifts without required fall protection at a Pennsylvania construction project. The administrative law judge had treated Bock Construction's site superintendent as Ernest Bock & Sons' agent under the multi-employer worksite doctrine and…
Danis Shook Joint Venture, XXV
Basin-hazard training and PPE violations affirmed
Danis Shook was building wastewater equalization basins where accumulated water was held above a 42-inch drain by a plywood plug. A pipefitter foreman entered the water without protective equipment, the plug dislodged, and the draining water pulled him into the pipe, where he drowned. The…
S & G Packaging Company, L.L.C.
Bag-machine guarding violation affirmed
S&G employees adjusted a paper bag machine's paste knob and nozzle while working near two unguarded drive rollers. An employee's hair became entangled in the rollers, causing a severe scalp injury that required several surgeries. The Commission held that the injury established an actual…
Don Davis, d/b/a Davis Ditching & Davis Ditching, Inc.
Trench citations vacated for lack of employees
Don Davis contracted to install utility lines at a Colorado industrial park, where OSHA observed three people working around an unprotected trench. Two were unpaid brothers of the property developer who helped when they chose, and the third was a self-employed truck driver hired and paid by the…
Mica Corporation, and its successors
Power-line crane citations affirmed after a fatal electrocution
Mica Corporation was moving concrete traffic barriers along Interstate 35 near Hillsboro, Texas, using a leased crane. The crane cable came within a few inches of a 14,400 volt overhead power line and made contact. Two workers, the leased crane operator and a Mica foreman, were electrocuted and…
North Landing Line Construction Co.
Willful high-voltage substation violation affirmed
North Landing Line was modifying a switch carrying up to 34,500 volts at a Navy electrical substation. Its job superintendent and a backhoe operator held a steel bracket near energized parts, and the operator contacted an energized insulator, suffered electrical and thermal burns, and later died…
RWS Building Company
Citation vacated after the government failed to appear at the hearing
OSHA inspected an RWS Building Company construction site in Columbus, Ohio, and issued a four-item citation for alleged construction safety violations. RWS contested and a hearing was set for June 4, 2001. The employer's counsel appeared, but no one from the Secretary of Labor's side showed up…
Union Tank Car Company
Recordkeeping items withdrawn, exposure-record violation left in place
Union Tank Car employees cleaning railcars that had carried electrode binder developed skin and respiratory symptoms, and company monitoring found exposure above OSHA's permissible limit. The judge found that Union Tank Car willfully withheld employee exposure-monitoring records despite repeated…
Midwest Generation, LLC, and its successors
Sling and hoist violations affirmed, other items vacated
Midwest employees helped a contractor hoist 25-foot wooden I-joists inside a power plant using a pneumatic winch and nylon sling. A joist slipped from the sling, fell down the hoist bay, and struck and killed the employee signaling the winch operator. The judge affirmed three sling violations…
North Atlantic Fish Company, Inc.
Broad fish-plant safety violations affirmed
OSHA's safety and health inspections of North Atlantic's Massachusetts fish-processing plant identified extensive fire, machine, electrical, chemical, respiratory, noise, storage, and powered-industrial-truck hazards. The judge affirmed most of the serious items, including general duty violations…
Coastal Petroleum Services, Inc.
Remote-site first-aid violation affirmed
A Coastal well-servicing rig overturned at a remote Mississippi oil well, killing one crew member and seriously injuring another. The judge vacated a general duty allegation concerning the mast's guylines and anchors because OSHA did not produce the manufacturer's specifications for the particular…
Reflections Tower Service, Inc.
Three violations affirmed and two vacated after a tower-dismantling inspection
Reflections Tower Service dismantled a communications tower in Ohio, where an employee lost two fingers after his glove was caught in hoist equipment. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause and several construction standards. The judge vacated the general duty clause item because OSHA…
Bigge Crane and Rigging Company, and its successors
Roof-edge fall protection violation affirmed
Bigge Crane and Rigging performed construction work at Travis Air Force Base in California. An OSHA compliance officer observed a Bigge foreman standing near the unprotected edge of a 25-foot-high commissary roof without fall protection. The judge credited the compliance officer's account over the…
R & J Crane Service, Inc.
Penalty dispute remanded for further proceedings
R & J Crane Service withdrew its notice contesting a serious citation, and the administrative law judge affirmed an $875 proposed penalty. The company later requested relief, asserting that an OSHA attorney had said the citation was being withdrawn after the company withdrew its contest. The…
Formica Corporation
A laminate-plant pit was not a permit-required confined space, so all three citations were vacated
Formica Corporation makes surfacing products like tabletops, flooring, and sheeting at a plant in Evendale, Ohio. After a formal complaint, OSHA inspected the facility and cited Formica for three violations tied to a pit beneath adjustable collating tables, where employees stepped down about twice…
Williams Gas Pipeline/South Central
Case remanded to resolve the respondent's identity
An administrative law judge approved a settlement involving two amended general duty clause items and a $13,950 penalty. The named respondent then asked the Commission to change the case caption from Williams Gas Pipeline/South Central to Texas Gas Transmission Corporation, which it said was the…
Marcella Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Cinnaminson Nursing Center, Geriatric & Medical Services
Bloodborne-pathogen citations vacated
OSHA cited three related New Jersey nursing facilities for using traditional syringes rather than safety syringes, and cited Marcella for the location of containers used to discard disposable razors. The judge found that OSHA's prior guidance did not give the facilities fair notice that safety…
Miller Electric Company, Inc.
Electrical case remanded after testimony was misunderstood
Miller Electric received three serious electrical citations after a journeyman electrician was electrocuted while connecting a light fixture to an energized circuit. The administrative law judge affirmed two items and rejected the company's employee-misconduct defense. The Commission found that the…
Guerrero Masonry, Inc., and its successors
A notice of contest filed 20 months late was dismissed, so the citations became final
Guerrero Masonry, Inc. was inspected by OSHA and received two citations in November 1998, a serious citation with a proposed penalty of $16,800 and a non-serious citation with a proposed penalty of $300. Employers have 15 working days to contest citations, and the paperwork Guerrero received said…
Dore & Associates Contracting, Inc.
Late notice of contest remanded for evidence on excusable neglect
Dore & Associates filed its notice contesting OSHA citations after the statutory 15-working-day deadline. The judge dismissed the late contest and affirmed $8,400 in proposed penalties because Dore had not established grounds for relief from the final order. In its review petition, the company said…
BSE Industrial Contractors, Inc.
Fall-protection citation vacated for lack of knowledge, but inadequate fall training affirmed
BSE Industrial Contractors is a steel erection contractor. OSHA investigated after an ironworker on a BSE crew fell 40 feet and died while climbing a rain-slicked noise baffle inside a smoke stack at a USX steel plant in Fairfield, Alabama. OSHA issued three items: working on an elevated surface…
Nordam Group
Eye-protection violation affirmed after citation amendment
Nordam manufactured and repaired aerospace products at a Tulsa facility where employees ground fiberglass parts. OSHA originally alleged that the company failed to provide side shields or goggles, while the judge found that several employees wore no eye protection at all. The Commission allowed…
Superior Rigging & Erecting Co.
Settlement approved with $68,600 total penalty
Superior Rigging & Erecting and the Secretary settled the remaining issues in a case involving fall protection during elevator-shaft work. The agreement retained an affirmed item, resolved a scaffold-guardrail item under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(a)(4), dismissed an alternative allegation under 29…
Cody-Zeigler, Inc.
Consensual inspections and mixed citation rulings affirmed
Cody-Zeigler faced citations arising from five programmed inspections at construction projects in Ohio. Although company representatives consented when OSHA arrived, the contractor later argued that the frequency of inspections showed a lack of administrative probable cause. The Commission held…
Williams Brothers Construction, Inc.
Uncovered floor holes citation affirmed despite a multi-employer defense
Williams Brothers Construction was doing interior demolition at a university library in Charleston, Illinois, and also served as the project's coordinating contractor. OSHA cited it with an other-than-serious violation, no penalty proposed, for a cluster of uncovered floor holes on the second floor…
M & M Roofing, Inc.
A willful residential fall-protection citation cut to serious after a bench trial
M & M Roofing is a residential roofing contractor. OSHA inspected a Mason, Ohio jobsite in August 2000 and issued two citations: a serious citation for not having a program of frequent, regular jobsite inspections by a competent person, and a willful citation for not protecting workers from falls…
Valley Electric Company of Mount Vernon, and its successors
Electrical-panel guarding citation vacated
Valley Electric performed electrical remodeling work at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington. OSHA cited three energized distribution panels because cardboard flaps covered them instead of permanent metal covers. The judge found that screwed-in dead fronts prevented accidental contact…
C-Post
Willful lockout and guarding citations cut to serious after a small fence-post maker's amputation injury
C-Post is a small Montana company that makes wooden fence posts and furniture legs from logs, employing about 10 people. After a worker's left hand was severed in a doweler machine, OSHA inspected and issued a long list of serious, willful, repeat, and other-than-serious citations covering…
Fiore Construction Co., Inc.
Willful trench violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Fiore Construction had two employees working in an eight-foot-deep utility trench without a trench box, shoring, or adequate sloping. The foreman had extensive excavation experience, had completed OSHA excavation training, and admitted knowing that cave-in protection was required under the…
Cashiola Construction
Late notice of contest dismissed
Cashiola Construction received an OSHA citation and proposed penalty on November 9, 2000, making December 1 the deadline to contest. OSHA did not receive the company's contest until January 22, 2001, when the company asserted that it was not the proper party. The company did not respond to the…
Airloc, Inc.
A window maker's late contest of failure-to-abate penalties was dismissed
Airloc, Inc. is a small aluminum window, door, and awning maker in Youngstown, Ohio. In June 2000 it received a notification that it had failed to abate two power-press hazards, one for unguarded foot pedals and one for missing periodic inspections, with $3,000 in additional penalties proposed. The…
Stolle Products A Division of American Trim
Settlement approved after an acid-tank burn injury, $9,200 penalty
Stolle Products, a division of American Trim, runs a metal finishing plant in Sidney, Ohio. After an employee burned his legs in an acid tank in April 2000, OSHA inspected the anodizing department and issued serious and other-than-serious citations. Stolle contested them, and a hearing was held…
ABF Freight System, Inc.
Trailer wheel-blocking citation withdrawn
OSHA cited ABF Freight for loading and unloading uncoupled trailers without wheel blocks at its Houston terminal. The administrative law judge rejected the company's argument that modern spring-powered parking brakes made wheel chocks unnecessary and affirmed the serious item with a $3,150 penalty…
Aggrecon Concrete, Inc., and its successors
Late contest dismissed after the owner signed for the citation but never opened it
Aggrecon Concrete installed sewer and water lines at a project in Donna, Texas. OSHA inspected the site and mailed citations by certified mail, which the company president signed for on May 19, 2000. The company did not file its contest until August 24, 2000, well past the 15-day deadline, so the…
Precision Concrete Construction
Concrete-bucket citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
A Precision Concrete employee was killed when a 347-pound concrete bucket fell approximately 30 feet during a parking-deck pour. The Commission held that the standard barring employees from working under buckets while they are elevated or lowered applied even though the bucket was moving both…
Quality Builders, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed, citations become final
OSHA inspected a Quality Builders work site and issued two citations with penalties, which the company received by certified mail on September 12, 2000. Under the OSH Act an employer has 15 working days to file a written notice of contest, and here that deadline passed on October 3, 2000 with…
Bredshall Plastering, Inc.
Unguarded table saw and missing scaffold guardrail affirmed, infeasibility and greater-hazard defenses rejected
Bredshall Plastering is a small Ohio contractor doing exterior insulation and stucco work. During work on a historical society office addition in Wilmington, an OSHA officer driving by saw a foreman on scaffolding without fall protection and stopped to inspect. OSHA issued a serious citation for an…
Cooper/T. Smith Stevedoring Company, Inc.
Forklift attachment items vacated and settled items affirmed
Cooper/T. Smith operated forklifts with paper-roll and bale-clamp attachments at a Memphis marine terminal. OSHA alleged that the company needed prior manufacturer approval and revised forklift data plates for those attachments. The judge found that proper front-end attachments within the…
Field & Associates, Inc.
Commission affirms the fall-protection citation but throws out the material-storage citation for lack of exposure
Field & Associates is a roofing contractor. In August 1997, two of its employees were distributing bundles of shingles along the peak of a new church roof in Tipp City, Ohio, with no fall protection when two OSHA compliance officers passing by stopped to inspect. OSHA issued five serious citation…
Performance Site Management
Cave-in citation affirmed after a fatal trench accident, safety-program and training items vacated
Performance Site Management is a site-development contractor that was installing sewer lines for a housing project in Cleves, Ohio. A trackhoe bucket, attached with a quick-coupler hitch, came loose and fell into an excavation, fatally injuring a worker who was inside. After a fatality…
Capform, Inc.
Commission affirms a training violation after a fatal form-stripping accident
Capform is a concrete-form contractor that was building a research facility at a Dallas medical center. Its crews strip out the wood-and-jack shoring that supports each poured concrete floor, an operation the company itself treats as hazardous. On the day of the accident, a foreman borrowed three…
Saugus Construction Corporation
Fall-protection citation vacated because OSHA never proved the beam was too low to guard the edge
Saugus Construction Corp. is a steel erection contractor that was working on the Central Artery Tunnel Project in Boston. During a February 2000 inspection, an OSHA compliance officer saw a Saugus welder leaning across a horizontal steel beam with his head over an excavation roughly 18 to 20 feet…
Stevens Construction Corp.
Roofing citation vacated, fall-protection plan supervision violation affirmed
Stevens Construction was installing roof trusses and sheathing on a wood-frame apartment project in Racine, Wisconsin. OSHA cited the company for unprotected residential roofing work and for failing to place its alternative fall-protection plan under a competent person's supervision. The judge…
George J. Igel & Co., Inc.
Eye-protection item vacated, compressed-air and dump-body support violations affirmed
George J. Igel & Co. was performing construction site development work in Columbus, Ohio. OSHA cited the company after a mechanic used 160 psi compressed air to clean a truck's backup alarm without approved safety glasses while the dump body was raised without its locking support. The judge vacated…
Emerson Electric Company, Motor Division
Recordkeeping citations affirmed for not logging two work-related illnesses
Emerson Electric's Motor Division makes household-appliance motors at a plant in Oxford, Mississippi. After a complaint, OSHA inspected the facility and issued an "other than serious" recordkeeping citation, alleging Emerson failed to enter certain work-related illnesses on its OSHA 200…
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.