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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Selkirk, Inc., a Division of U.S. Industries, Inc. and Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, Local Union # 456, Authorized Employee Representative
Willful machine-guarding violation affirmed after repeated notice of roller hazard
Selkirk fabricated metal pipe at its Logan, Ohio, plant using a Lown roller that created exposed in-running rolls when operated in reverse. An employee's glove was caught in the unguarded rollers in July 1999, crushing his hand, causing the partial amputation of a finger, and damaging two other…
Kellogg, Brown & Root
Electrical citation vacated because host company controlled the maintenance crew and equipment
Kellogg, Brown & Root supplied maintenance employees to an Occidental Chemical plant in Ingleside, Texas. During a turnaround, a temporary electrical helper opened an unlocked energized switchgear cabinet and was shocked and severely injured. OSHA cited KBR for failing to keep an enclosure…
Northwest Airlines, Inc.
Union objections to final settlement order referred to the judge for Rule 60(b) review
An airline workers' union objected to an ALJ order approving a settlement between OSHA and Northwest Airlines. The union said it had requested party status but was not notified of the settlement or given an opportunity to participate before approval. Because the ALJ's settlement order had already…
Talon Erectors, Inc.
Serious construction citation affirmed after employer failed to attend hearing
OSHA inspected Talon Erectors' construction site in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, and issued a citation alleging a violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.704(a). The order does not describe the cited physical condition. Talon timely contested the citation but did not attend the hearing despite certified…
Elgin Roofing Company
Five roof fall-protection violations affirmed as serious, skylight item vacated
OSHA inspected an Elgin Roofing worksite where employees were working on roofs 16 to 20 feet above grade. The judge affirmed violations involving a missing warning-line access path, tools stored near a roof edge without guardrails, unprotected work in a hoist area, roofing near an unprotected edge…
Rapid Masonry Company, and its successors
Scaffold access and fall-protection violations affirmed, penalties reduced to $600
Rapid Masonry employees were cutting and laying masonry block from scaffolding at a Lewisville, Texas, construction site. An OSHA officer saw one employee climb scaffold cross braces instead of using a ladder about 50 feet away and saw another employee working beside an open scaffold edge about 18…
Watkins Engineers & Constructors, Inc.
General contractor's scaffold citations vacated because the scaffold was being taken down
Watkins Engineers & Constructors was the general contractor building its own office in Tallahassee, Florida. A glass subcontractor's crew was up on a scaffold near a corner of the finished building when an OSHA compliance officer inspected. OSHA cited Watkins, the general contractor, for three…
Brand Scaffold Builders, Inc.
Fall-protection citation vacated on employee-misconduct defense
Brand Scaffold Builders was erecting and modifying scaffolding at an International Paper mill in Mobile, Alabama. Two employees crossed loose boards spanning between a tank and a building about 54 feet above the ground without guardrails or personal fall protection. The judge found that Brand…
Trinity Industries, and its successors
Lockout and welding-lead citation items withdrawn and vacated
The ALJ had affirmed three citation items at Trinity Industries' Beaumont, Texas, rail-car and structural-steel plant. They involved a missing annual lockout audit certification, failure to lock or tag a crane breaker during electrical troubleshooting, and a welding lead with damaged insulation…
Beverly Enterprises-Alabama, Inc.
Unlabeled circuit breakers upheld as a repeat violation, penalty cut to $100
Beverly Enterprises runs a nursing home in Fairhope, Alabama. During an OSHA inspection of its maintenance shop, the compliance officer found the circuit breakers in the panel box were not labeled to show what each one controlled. OSHA cited the company under the electrical standard requiring…
Commercial Newspaper Service, and its successors
Admitted safety violations affirmed, penalties reduced to $460
Commercial Newspaper Service published athletic posters at a small Meridian, Idaho, facility. The company withdrew its contest to violations involving emergency exit lighting, flammable-liquid and combustible storage, lockout procedures, electrical equipment and wiring, and injury-recordkeeping…
Jalco, Inc., and its successors
Three trench-safety citations upheld as violations but each downgraded in severity
Jalco is a utility contractor that was installing a 42-inch water line in Edinburg, Texas. OSHA inspected the trench work and issued three excavation citations: the trench box did not extend 18 inches above the vertical trench wall, the trench floor was dug too far below the bottom of the box, and…
B & R Wholesale Tire Co.
Truss bracing, competent inspection, and forklift platform violations affirmed
B & R Wholesale Tire was building a roofed addition between two company buildings in Youngstown, Ohio, when a group of 80-foot wood trusses collapsed and one worker sustained a minor injury. The judge found that the trusses lacked sufficient temporary and ground bracing and that some bracing was…
Idaho Trout Processors, Co.
Hatchery guardrail and processing-machine items vacated, lockout item affirmed
Idaho Trout Processors operated a trout hatchery and a nearby fish-processing plant in Buhl, Idaho. OSHA cited unguarded catwalks over fish runs, but the judge found the hatchery was a separate agricultural establishment and that the general-industry walking-surface standard did not apply. He also…
Nu-Waay Enterprises, Inc.
Safety-program, first-aid, and fall-protection citations affirmed after a 24-foot fall
Nu-Waay Enterprises is a small construction company that built an elevated walkway and observation platform at a national wildlife refuge in Mississippi. While a crew was removing the formwork under the finished platform, a stuck I-beam broke loose, catapulting a worker who fell about 24 feet and…
R.P. Industries, Inc.
Heavy-equipment seat-belt and inoperable-horn violations affirmed
R.P. Industries was clearing and grading a construction site in Florence, Alabama, using scrapers and other heavy equipment. A scraper operator who was not wearing a seat belt was ejected during a traffic-avoidance maneuver and sustained multiple fractures, a punctured lung, and other injuries…
Riverdale Mills Corporation
Glove-selection and machine-guarding violations affirmed after roller injury
Riverdale Mills manufactured wire mesh at its Northbridge, Massachusetts, plant. An operator's glove or shirt sleeve caught on a sharp wire panel while he fed it into a flattening machine, pulling his hand into the rollers and breaking three fingers. The judge found the company's hand-protection…
Nova Fedrick/AJV, and its successors
Trencher-training citation vacated, vehicle item affirmed without penalty
Nova Fedrick/AJV was installing a fuel pipeline at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. An employee working close to a high-speed trencher was pulled into its cutting mechanism and killed. OSHA alleged that employees had not been instructed to recognize and avoid the hazards of working near the…
North West Handling Systems, Inc., and its successors
Scissor-lift and fall-training violations affirmed, willful items reduced to serious
North West Handling Systems used a scissor lift while relocating warehouse pallet racks in Sandpoint, Idaho. A company installer removed part of the lift's guardrail, provided little safety training to two temporary workers, and used a forklift to push up the lift platform after it stopped rising…
Pete Miller, Inc.
Safety monitor had to be on the same roof as the monitored worker
Pete Miller was a roofing subcontractor on a hospital addition in Marysville, Ohio. An employee on a small lower roof handled metal curbs weighing about 150 pounds and pushed them over an unguarded edge to the ground 15 feet below. The company used a foreman on an upper roof as the employee's…
James R. Howell & Co., d/b/a Howell Construction
Commission holds contractor to the asbestos presumption despite an owner's verbal assurance
Howell Construction was the general contractor for a remodeling project in a pre-1980 pipe-fitters hall in Denver. The building owner verbally told Howell that pipe insulation had been tested and contained no asbestos, but no supporting report was produced before a subcontractor removed presumed…
G.S. Garcia Construction, Inc.
Late contest is dismissed after proof of Federal Express delivery
G.S. Garcia Construction was a subcontractor at a Houston construction project when OSHA inspected and later issued a repeat citation. Federal Express records showed that the citation was delivered to the company's office on March 16, 2000, making April 6 the final day to contest it. The company…
Beaver Plant Operations, Inc.
Citation vacated on remand for lack of fair notice
The First Circuit reversed the Commission's earlier decision affirming a citation against Beaver Plant Operations because the company lacked adequate notice of the Commission's interpretation of the cited standard. Although proof that Beaver actually knew of a hazardous condition could have…
Odyssey Capital Group III, L.P., d/b/a Cascades Apartments
Commission rejects reliance on limited asbestos studies
Odyssey owned and operated a nine-building apartment complex in Pittsburgh where maintenance employees scraped and repainted pre-1981 ceiling material. The company took none of the asbestos precautions required by OSHA because two earlier environmental studies had reported less than one percent…
Complete General Construction Co.
Spoil-pile citation stands, but cave-in item fails under the Secretary's admission
Complete General Construction was relocating water lines while widening a state highway in Waverly, Ohio. OSHA cited the company because a two-foot-high spoil pile sat directly at the edge of an excavation where two employees were working nearby. The judge held that § 1926.651(j)(2) requires spoil…
Sun Roofing, and its successors
Six-month delay after a penalty demand defeats request to excuse late contest
Sun Roofing operated a roofing business in Appleton, Wisconsin, and OSHA cited it for a serious residential fall-protection violation. The company received the citation on August 31, 1999, which made September 22 the deadline to contest it. Sun Roofing did not submit a notice of contest until May…
Coastal Horizontal, Inc., d/b/a Coastal Power, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed, $8,900 citation stands as a final order
Coastal Horizontal, a Florida excavation contractor doing business as Coastal Power, was inspected by OSHA after a March 2000 dig in Navarre, Florida. OSHA issued a five-item serious citation with an $8,900 penalty and mailed it certified on April 28, 2000. Coastal received it on May 1, which gave…
Copperhead Chemical Company
Commission remands process-safety case for settlement review
Copperhead Chemical Company faced process-safety-management citation items involving safety information for an explosive chemical product and changes to its mixing process. An earlier ALJ order had vacated three items concerning the initial compilation of process safety information because the work…
Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distribution Co., Inc.
Wheel-chock violation stands, but training and recordkeeping items fail
Piggly Wiggly operated a large grocery distribution warehouse where a forklift operator was killed when a hostler moved a trailer away from the dock while the employee was still inside. OSHA's inspection produced serious, willful, and recordkeeping citation items. The judge affirmed the serious…
H. Carr & Sons Inc.
Contractor is liable for repeated fall hazard under economic-realities test
H. Carr & Sons worked on a shopping mall and movie theater project in Providence, Rhode Island. OSHA observed a worker on a mezzanine about 14 feet above a concrete floor where a sagging wire rope did not provide adequate fall protection. Although another company issued the worker's paycheck…
Interstate Brands, Inc.
Commission remands motion challenging an order that vacated the contest
The Chief Administrative Law Judge granted the Secretary's motion to vacate Interstate Brands' notice of contest. Interstate Brands then moved under Commission Rule 90(b)(3) to vacate that decision, arguing in part that the order may have resulted from oversight or inadvertence. The Commission…
Raytheon Constructors, Inc., and its successors
Medical, eye-protection, electrical, and fall items are vacated
Raytheon was building a chemical-weapons disposal incinerator at the Umatilla Army Chemical Depot in Oregon. After an unknown chemical exposure sickened workers, OSHA cited the company for inadequate access to medical advice, but the judge found that qualified emergency medical technicians were…
G. Porter and Company
Commission approves a settlement and sets aside the ALJ scaffold decision to the extent inconsistent
G. Porter and Company is a masonry subcontractor. OSHA inspected a Chicago-area construction site in February 1999 and cited Porter for a serious scaffolding violation: employees were working on a scaffold that lacked the required guardrails, exposing them to falls of roughly 18 to 20 feet. After…
D.T. Construction Company, Inc.
Three willful trench violations affirmed, most other items upheld, $119,750 penalty
D.T. Construction is a Pennsylvania contractor that installs underground water and sewer lines. After OSHA inspected several of its dig sites in 1998, the agency issued three citations covering willful, serious, and other-than-serious violations. The heart of the case was three willful cave-in…
Morse Diesel International, Inc.
All citations vacated because the contractor lacked knowledge of the hazards
Morse Diesel International (MDI) was the general contractor on the "Wedge One" phase of the Pentagon Renovation Program in Arlington, Virginia. During a September 1999 inspection, OSHA cited MDI for two serious guardrail items (a wire-rope guardrail around a second-floor opening had sagged below…
A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co.
Asbestos, HazCom, and combustible-dust electrical violations largely affirmed, many as willful
A.E. Staley Manufacturing runs a large grain wet-milling plant in Decatur, Illinois. A lengthy OSHA inspection begun in July 1990 produced two sets of citations, consolidated here as Docket Nos. 91-0637 and 91-0638. In the first docket, the Commission affirmed as willful the asbestos items for…
Walker Crane & Rigging Corporation
Crane-near-power-line citation affirmed, $3,500 penalty
Walker Crane & Rigging is a small Connecticut crane company. In October 1999 its operator was using a crane to set the sections of a modular house in Higganum, Connecticut, working on a narrow street with overhead power lines along the far side. While moving the fourth house section, the crane's…
New York State Electric & Gas Corp.
PPE citations vacated because employer knowledge was not proved
New York State Electric & Gas Corporation sent a two-person crew to install residential gas service in Binghamton, New York. An OSHA compliance officer saw one crew member operating a jackhammer without eye protection and later determined that he also lacked protective footwear, although both forms…
Gulf Hauling & Construction, Inc.
PPE-training and eyewash items affirmed, most items vacated after a fatal chemical-burn accident
Gulf Hauling & Construction is a family-owned Mobile, Alabama company that hauls paper-processing waste for the International Paper plant. An employee was found on the concrete waste pad in black liquor solids, a caustic material, and died several weeks later from complications of chemical burns…
W. G. Fairfield Company
Highway contractor had to address safe roadway crossing in its program and training
W. G. Fairfield Company employees were digging a trench beside a six-lane interstate in Cincinnati to install fiber-optic cable. After the crew struck an abandoned cable, an employee crossed the three northbound lanes on foot to inspect a median junction box and was fatally struck while attempting…
Big Apple Wrecking and Construction Corp.
Willful scaffold fall-protection citation affirmed at $56,000, most serious items upheld
Big Apple Wrecking & Construction is a New York City demolition contractor. In mid-1998 OSHA inspected its demolition of a six-story theater building, where crews worked on the top level of scaffolding surrounding the structure. OSHA issued a serious citation, a repeat citation, and a willful…
Key Energy Services, Inc., and its successors
Vacuum-truck venting hazard affirmed, three other items vacated
Key Energy Services was servicing an oil well at the Garcia Lease when a vacuum-truck cargo tank exploded and a worker was fatally struck by flying parts. The judge found that Key should have recognized the fire and explosion hazard created by venting flammable crude-oil vapors beneath the truck…
A. J. McNulty & Company, Inc.
Mixed ruling on fall protection during precast concrete erection
A. J. McNulty & Company was erecting a precast concrete parking garage in White Plains, New York, when OSHA cited numerous fall-protection and other safety violations. The Commission rejected McNulty's request to exclude inspection evidence, finding that OSHA substantially honored the company's…
CB&I Constructors, Inc.
Commission approves settlement of gas-cylinder and scaffold case
CB&I Constructors was performing construction work at a wastewater treatment facility in Bellaire, Ohio. OSHA cited the company for storing oxygen and acetylene cylinders without the required separation and for leaving a scaffold platform more than 14 inches from the work face without guardrails or…
Cincinnati Incorporated
Bypassed lathe interlock exposed operators to rotating parts and flying chips
Cincinnati Incorporated manufactures metal-forming equipment at its Harrison, Ohio, plant. The company bypassed the interlock on an automated lathe so operators could partially open its door and hold newly threaded bolts with a PVC pipe during the cutoff cycle. The judge found that the door was…
McDevitt Street Bovis, Inc.
General contractor liable for a subcontractor's scaffold violations
McDevitt Street Bovis was the general contractor building a two-story medical center in Douglas, Georgia. During a 1997 inspection, OSHA found that a scaffold used by employees of subcontractor CPD Plastering was not fully planked, lacked cross-bracing, guardrails, and safe access, and had not been…
David Weekley Homes
General contractor citation vacated for insufficient proof and lack of knowledge
David Weekley Homes was the general contractor for residential construction at the Horizon Pointe development in Colorado. OSHA cited Weekley for nine conditions grouped into six willful items involving its safety program, hard hats, scaffold support, fall protection, guardrails, training, and…
Lavelle Construction
Default dismissal reversed and remanded for a hearing
Lavelle Construction is a small contractor that appeared before the Commission without a lawyer. After an OSHA inspection of its worksite in Ashland, Massachusetts, the agency issued serious and repeat citations with penalties totaling $7,800. Lavelle filed a timely notice of contest but never…
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company
Trench inspection and cave-in protection violations affirmed
Southwestern Bell Telephone had two technicians repairing telephone lines in an unshored trench about six feet deep with nearly vertical sides in Alton, Texas, in 1998. An OSHA compliance officer driving by stopped and inspected. The soil was Type B, which requires sloping or another protective…
Manganas Painting Co.
Commission affirms bridge fall violations and raises repeated-violation penalties
Manganas Painting was sandblasting and repainting the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge near Cincinnati, Ohio. OSHA cited the company after employees used an unguarded painter's pick and clipped safety-belt lanyards to beam openings in a way that could let the hooks disengage. The Commission held that the…
The Haskell Company
Scaffold items affirmed for hazards exposing its own employee
The Haskell Company was the general contractor expanding a pilot training center in Savannah, Georgia. OSHA found Haskell's employee working 12 feet above the ground on an exterior tubular-frame scaffold with wide gaps in the planking, missing guardrails, and no access ladder. The superintendent…
General Glass & Window, Inc.
All citations vacated after a glazier's fatal crushing
General Glass & Window is a Florida glass installation (glazing) company. In February 1999 an experienced glazier, working alone in the bed of a flatbed truck, was fatally injured when a stack of glass panes tilted and fell on him as he unloaded them at a West Palm Beach work site. OSHA…
A. W. Ross, Inc.
Late notice of contest, Rule 60(b) relief denied
A.W. Ross, Inc. is a small New Jersey company run by its president, Alexander Ross. OSHA inspected its Passaic facility in March 1999 and cited it for four serious violations with a proposed penalty of $2,550. Mr. Ross glanced at the citation, noticed only the abatement date, and assumed no penalty…
Wolkow Braker Roofing Corp.
Attorney fees awarded under EAJA for an excessive penalty demand
Wolkow Braker Roofing Corp. is a small roofing company that was cited after two OSHA inspections of the same worksite in 1997, with combined proposed penalties of $61,100, including a willful item carrying $56,000. After a consolidated trial, Administrative Law Judge Robert A. Yetman had vacated…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
Stair handrail item vacated, fire-extinguisher item affirmed without penalty
Summit Contractors was the general contractor building a two-story apartment complex in Guymon, Oklahoma. OSHA cited a stairway that lacked a handrail and the absence of fire extinguishers within the building. The judge found the handrail requirement infeasible during the narrow stage when workers…
Thiro USA, Inc.
Utility-pole training and fall-protection violations affirmed
Thiro USA is an electrical utility construction company. During a November 1999 inspection at a utility-pole worksite in Everett, Massachusetts, an OSHA compliance officer saw two Thiro employees working from the elevated end of a derrick truck boom, at least 15 feet up, without fall protection…
Ormet Primary Aluminum Corp., Hannibal Reduction Division
Commission remands a settlement approval to let the ALJ weigh the union's objections
Ormet Primary Aluminum ran an aluminum reduction plant in Hannibal, Ohio. After OSHA issued a five-item serious citation, Ormet and the Secretary of Labor signed a settlement that affirmed three items with penalties and withdrew the other two. The steelworkers union, which had elected party status…
Joseph J. Magnolia, Inc.
Willful trench citation vacated, backhoe-bucket general duty violation affirmed
Joseph J. Magnolia, Inc. is a Washington, D.C. area utility contractor that was excavating and installing sewer lines during a hospital expansion. After an OSHA inspection it was cited for one willful and two serious violations. Administrative Law Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld reached a split result…
Trinity Industries, Inc. -- Plant 22, and its successors
Steel-tank storage citations vacated
Trinity Industries manufactured large steel tanks at its Fort Worth, Texas, plant and stored partly finished tanks close together on wooden supports and chocks between production steps. During lifting, one tank caught and raised the tank in front of it, dislodging a chock and causing that tank to…
Agra Erectors, Inc.
Serious citation affirmed, willful citation remanded after tower collapse
Agra Erectors is an Ohio company that erects grain elevators. In October 1997, while its crew was building an 85-foot grain elevator tower in Mill Hall, Pennsylvania, an employee working atop the fully erected tower died when the tower collapsed after the crane supporting it was disconnected and a…
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.