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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New Age International
Scaffold violations affirmed with reduced penalties totaling $825
New Age International performed masonry and stucco work at a San Antonio U-Haul project where two workers used an incompletely planked rolling scaffold without proper access or full guardrails. New Age argued that the workers belonged to an independent subcontractor, but Judge Stanley M. Schwartz…
Montana Power Company
Roof-edge violation affirmed with penalty reduced to $1,000
Montana Power was upgrading electrical service at a Missoula motel when an employee worked on the roof about 22 feet above the ground without a lanyard, guardrail, or safety net. The company argued that working from its aerial-lift basket was infeasible because the motel's weather heads faced…
Northwest Conduit Corp.
Dismissal vacated so the citation can be heard on its merits
Northwest Conduit filed its notice contesting an OSHA citation one day late, but an ALJ granted relief from the resulting final order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). The Secretary initially refused to file a complaint, and the judge dismissed the citation, but the Commission later…
O'Brien Concrete Pumping, Inc.
Hopper training and machine-guarding violations affirmed
O'Brien Concrete Pumping operated trucks with rotating auger blades inside concrete hoppers, and one operator was fatally crushed by the blades after a concrete pour. The company had removed bolts securing the heavy hopper grate so operators could raise it while cleaning and repositioning the…
Eagle Boats, Inc.
Fourth abatement-extension request denied for lack of good faith
Eagle Boats sought a fourth extension of the deadline to correct violations that had become final in 1998 and later produced $66,000 in failure-to-abate penalties. The company repeatedly said a new facility was being built, but at the hearing it offered only photographs of an empty field…
Otis Elevator, Inc.
Elevator-platform fall violation reduced from repeated to serious
Four Otis Elevator employees, including the Montana territory manager, rode an unguarded elevator platform at a hotel project without tying off, exposing them to a fall of as much as 112 feet. Otis had detailed fall-protection rules, training, audits, and progressive discipline, but all four…
30 River Court East Construction Corp.
Fall citation vacated because OSHA did not identify the worker's employer
OSHA observed a worker near the open perimeter of the 27th floor of a Jersey City high-rise without fall protection and cited the general contractor, 30 River Court East Construction. The compliance officer believed the worker was installing winter-protection plastic, work performed by the…
Accu-Rate Roofing Co.
Four roofing safety items affirmed for a $1,200 penalty
OSHA observed an Accu-Rate Roofing employee shingling a steep roof about 13 feet above the ground without fall protection. The access ladder was not tied off, did not extend three feet above the roof edge, and left the employee without a secure handhold when stepping onto the roof. The employee…
MEI Holdings, Inc. d/b/a Martin Electronics, Inc.
DOD contract does not preempt OSHA safety rules
MEI manufactured explosives and pyrotechnic devices under a Defense Department contract at its Perry, Florida plant. After a fire in a small wooden production building killed two employees and severely burned another, OSHA cited fire, exit, personal-protective-equipment, training, and…
L & D Construction
Late contest excused and citation vacated because the owner had no employees
OSHA cited L & D Construction after seeing two people working without fall protection on a pitched roof at a volunteer renovation project in Yonkers, New York. The notice of contest was filed months after the 15-working-day deadline because L & D's owner relied on the building owner, who repeatedly…
Moniger Excavating, Inc.
Trench protection and ladder items vacated for lack of employee exposure
OSHA cited Moniger Excavating after finding a narrow trench about 4.5 to 5.5 feet deep with vertical walls, no protective system, and no nearby ladder. No employee was inside the trench during the inspection, and the company explained that its force-main sewer pipe was assembled and measured from…
Russell B. Le Frois Builder, Inc.
Citation vacated after Secretary declined to file complaint
The Commission remanded Russell B. Le Frois Builder's case for further proceedings. Chief Judge Irving Sommer then ordered the Secretary of Labor to file a complaint within twenty days. The Secretary declined to do so, and the judge vacated the May 14, 1998 citation in its entirety.
Lumex Medical Products, Inc.
Failure-to-abate notice dismissed because the presses were never cited
Lumex settled an earlier power-press case covering two cited presses and separately agreed to a correction schedule for 57 additional presses. After a reinspection, OSHA issued a $178,500 failure-to-abate notice for 12 of the additional presses. The Commission held that the settlement did not amend…
Montgomery KONE, Inc. and Parsons Brinckerhoff Construction Services, Inc.
Elevator pit held to be a confined space
Montgomery KONE employees were modernizing a hydraulic freight elevator at a Philadelphia postal facility when a welding arc ignited flammable vapors in the elevator pit, causing an explosion that injured two workers. The vapors came from primer and cement used to assemble a 70-foot PVC liner and…
Hi-Tech Builders, Inc.
Willful steel-erection fall violations affirmed for $60,000
Hi-Tech Builders erected structural steel at the Guam International Airport while employees repeatedly worked without tying off and without temporary floors or nets below them. OSHA videotaped the conduct from a public parking lot, and Judge Nancy J. Spies rejected Hi-Tech's challenge because the…
Exterior Insulation & Stucco, Inc.
Citations affirmed after incomplete discovery responses
Exterior Insulation & Stucco did not answer the Secretary's discovery requests until a judge ordered it to do so. Its eventual responses omitted witnesses, financial information, and the factual basis for its denials, and repeatedly promised information later instead of providing it. Chief Judge…
Mohegan Glass & Window Company, Inc.
Late contest dismissed despite personal hardships
Mohegan Glass & Window filed its notice of contest after the 15-working-day deadline in the OSHA citation had expired. The company's president said he had limited written English, his usual business advisers were away, his wife was hospitalized, and he believed correcting the cited conditions ended…
St. James Stevedoring Co., Inc.
First-aid and emergency-plan items affirmed on Mississippi crane barges
St. James Stevedoring used crane-mounted barges for midriver cargo transfers on the Mississippi River and refused an on-site OSHA inspection because it believed the Coast Guard had exclusive authority. Judge Ken S. Welsch held that OSHA could regulate the cited conditions because the barges were…
Tyson Foods, Inc.
Forklift training and repair items vacated after farm fatality
A Tyson Foods employee was fatally injured when a specialized three-wheeled forklift overturned while he collected frozen chicken carcasses from a contract poultry farm. Judge Nancy J. Spies held that the agricultural-operations exception did not apply because collecting the carcasses was…
Seyforth Roofing Co., Inc.
Propane-tank traffic violation affirmed with penalty reduced
Seyforth Roofing used a 250-gallon propane tank to heat a tar kettle while a large forklift repeatedly passed within several feet of the tank. Caution tape had been installed earlier but Seyforth's kettleman allowed another trade to remove it and relied on verbal warnings to the forklift driver…
Pickus Construction and Equipment Company, Inc.
Trench citation affirmed after repeated foreman warnings
OSHA observed a Pickus Construction employee grading inside an unprotected trench that was six feet deep in Type B soil. Chief Judge Irving Sommer credited the compliance officer's measurements over conflicting company testimony and found the cave-in-protection rule violated. Pickus argued…
Rocky Mountain Materials & Asphalt
Trench items affirmed by default for $4,325
Rocky Mountain Materials & Asphalt said during a pretrial conference that it intended to defend two excavation citations but did not appear at the scheduled E-Z Trial hearing. OSHA presented testimony and video showing a nearly ten-foot-deep excavation in Type C soil with spoil material stored…
Croman Corporation, and its successors
Damaged helicopter logging slings violated removal rule
Croman used wire rope chokers to lift logs by helicopter at an Idaho timber sale. OSHA found slings in service with more than five broken wires in a single strand near the nubbin, where field use concentrated stress. Judge Benjamin R. Loye held that the cited removal rule presumed a hazard when its…
Adanlock Office Environments, Div. of Superior Jamestown Corp.
Late contest dismissal affirmed for lack of excusable neglect
Adanlock received an OSHA citation on February 19, 1998, making March 12 the deadline to contest it, but did not file a notice of contest until June. Its human resources manager said she faxed the citation to counsel, yet neither she nor the company president confirmed receipt or followed up. The…
NYNEX
Relief from late contest denied after citation was redirected internally
OSHA mailed an asbestos citation by certified mail to NYNEX's Braintree office, but the mailing was redirected to a NYNEX office in New York, where an employee signed for and logged it. NYNEX did not contest the citation until more than 35 working days later and offered no evidence explaining what…
Dessau Brass, Inc.
Late contest dismissed despite OSHA inexperience and financial hardship
Dessau Brass received serious citations on December 10, 1998, but did not contest them until March 29, 1999, after OSHA sought overdue penalties. The company said it had corrected the conditions, was unfamiliar with OSHA, misunderstood the fifteen-day deadline, and would suffer financial hardship…
Capeway Roofing
Settlement reclassifies citation and sets $1,000 penalty
Capeway Roofing contested one serious citation arising from a December 1998 OSHA inspection. At the hearing, the parties announced a complete settlement and later submitted it in writing. Judge Ann Z. Cook approved the agreement, reclassified the item as a Section 17 violation, affirmed it as…
George Campbell Painting Corporation
Bridge fall violation reduced from willful to serious
A Campbell painter fell 35 feet from the Queensboro Bridge while maneuvering a heavy spray pump through a wall opening without tying off. The Commission allowed the Secretary's post-hearing amendment from guardrail standards to the fall-protection standard at § 1926.105(a) because Campbell had made…
B. A. Ward, Inc.
Default dismissal conditionally reopened after unserved show cause order
B. A. Ward timely contested five serious construction citations carrying $4,050 in proposed penalties, but its non-lawyer representative failed to answer the Secretary's complaint or keep the company informed. The chief judge dismissed the contest after a show cause order went unanswered. The…
Aviation Constructors, Inc.
Willful excavation violation affirmed but penalty reduced
Aviation Constructors hired a subcontractor to install a shotcrete shoring system for a baggage-tunnel excavation at Atlanta's airport. The company knew a registered professional engineer had not approved the design, yet it allowed subcontractor employees to work for ten days in the excavation…
Ragnar Benson, Inc.
Floor-cover items vacated for lack of employer knowledge
An OSHA compliance officer found plywood covers over floor holes that were neither secured nor marked at a construction project where Ragnar Benson was the general contractor. On review, the Secretary abandoned the theory that Ragnar was liable solely through general-contractor control and relied…
Belden Brick Co.
OSHA silica exposure calculation upheld
OSHA sampled six employees at Belden Brick's Ohio manufacturing facility and found exposure to respirable dust containing crystalline silica above the permissible limits. Belden argued that each calculated silica limit should be compared only with the pure silica portion of the dust sample, rather…
Ohio Cast Products, Inc.
Silica dust calculation and $8,000 penalty affirmed
Ohio Cast Products sampled an employee performing work with silica-containing sand and disputed OSHA's method for deciding whether his exposure exceeded the permissible limit. The company argued that the calculated limit should be compared only with the pure silica portion of the sample. The…
Illinois Power Company
Premature settlement approval vacated for union objections
The chief judge approved a settlement between the Secretary and Illinois Power before the full objection period had run for I.B.E.W. Local 51, the authorized employee representative. Commission rules added three days for service by mail and excluded weekends from the ten-day period. The union's…
Black Construction Corporation
Unprotected manhole trench affirmed for $500
Black Construction excavated a trench near Guam International Airport to replace a manhole and redirect a sewage pipe. An employee worked in a section measured at six and one-half feet deep without sloping, shoring, or another cave-in protective system. Judge Nancy J. Spies rejected the Secretary's…
Guam Top Builders, Inc.
Roof fall and short ladder-rail items affirmed
Guam Top Builders repaired typhoon-damaged condominium roofs about 18 feet above the ground. Employees worked near the roof edge without conventional fall protection while the person identified as safety monitor operated a forklift across the street, outside the required visual and speaking range…
Black Micro Corporation
Saipan airport excavation required cave-in protection
Black Micro excavated a 54-foot-long pit for taxiway construction at Saipan International Airport. Six employees worked in vertical walls five and one-half to six feet deep without sloping, shoring, or another protective system. Judge Nancy J. Spies excluded OSHA's soil sample because it was…
Malu Construction Co., and its successors
Jury-rigged scaffold items affirmed for $8,000
Malu called its framing workers independent subcontractors, but it supplied their scaffold and safety equipment, assigned their work, provided training, and retained authority to stop work. Judge Stanley M. Schwartz therefore treated them as Malu employees under the common-law control test. OSHA…
Cleveland Construction, Inc.
Skylight fall item reduced from willful to serious
Cleveland Construction supervised replacement of large skylight panels at a university building. OSHA videotaped the company superintendent and another worker next to an uncovered skylight opening 18 to 22 feet above the floor without fall protection. Judge Ken S. Welsch found the skylight standard…
North Pacific Enterprises
Unprotected 25-foot scaffold work affirmed for $525
Two North Pacific employees worked from a narrow board on a wooden scaffold more than 25 feet above a concrete parking lot without guardrails or personal fall protection. The company president had seen the same conduct the previous day but did not stop or discipline the workers, and the foreman…
D.W.K. Contractors, Inc.
Trench-depth item vacated but spoil-pile violation affirmed
D.W.K. dug a trench to install a rainwater drain and placed excavated soil directly at both edges. OSHA measured one wall at eight and one-half feet by measuring from the top of the spoil pile, but Judge Covette Rooney held that trench depth must be measured from original ground level and OSHA had…
Groesbeck Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold decking, guardrail, and training items affirmed
Two Groesbeck Masonry employees washed an acid-cleaned brick wall from a scaffold 10 to 12 feet high while straddling two planks, without full decking or guardrails. A third employee dismantled the level above, but the workers had not been specifically trained to wait until the lower level was…
Murray Roofing Company, Inc.
Unsafe roof access and repeated fall violation affirmed
Six Murray Roofing employees reached a one-story roof by climbing a ladder to a canopy and then climbing the remaining three-foot elevation without a ladder or other safe access. OSHA also observed two roofers near an unprotected 15.5-foot edge after warning lines had been moved for membrane work…
Hechinger Investment Company of Delaware, Inc., d/b/a Builders Square
Defective ladder-stand locks affirmed
OSHA inspected a Builders Square store after the manager failed to respond to a complaint about ladder-stand wheels. Six of about twelve rolling ladder stands moved when tested because their automatic caster locks did not hold them firmly in place. An employee was using a wobbly ten-step stand with…
Thomas Mlodzinski, d/b/a TNT Roofing
Unprotected hotel roof work affirmed
OSHA observed three TNT Roofing workers, including the owner, installing shingles on low- and steep-slope portions of a hotel roof 40 to 50 feet above the ground without fall protection. The crew had fall-arrest equipment and had used it earlier, but stopped because they felt secure without it…
White Electrical Construction Company
Active-train training and barricade violations affirmed
White electricians worked on an elevated Jacksonville transit line beside an active track carrying quiet, remotely operated trains. The foreman knew the unusual site and train-control procedures but gave only general warnings, provided no communication device to the remote crew, and used no…
Yenter Companies
Excavation spoil violation affirmed with penalty cut to $100
Yenter Companies relocated historic buildings and had employees constructing a wall near the bottom of an excavation about 15 feet high. OSHA observed rocks and excavated material within two feet of the edge, creating a falling-material hazard, and the company foreman was present. Judge Robert A…
Tri-State Steel Construction Co., Inc.
EAJA cases remanded after circuit reversal
Tri-State sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Commission had previously combined Tri-State's net worth with that of its parent, National Engineering and Contracting Company, and found the resulting assets exceeded the $7 million eligibility ceiling. The…
Texas A.C.A., Inc., and its successors
Scaffold citations vacated for foreman misconduct
Texas A.C.A. employees performed stucco work from an incomplete scaffold with missing bracing, incomplete planking, unstable supports, unsafe access, and inadequate fall protection. The foreman knew the crew was assigned to roof work and that the scaffold was unfinished, but moved them onto it…
Drum Construction Co., Inc.
Employees outside trench box exposed to cave-in hazard
OSHA observed two Drum Construction employees working outside a trench box near a manhole in Type B soil. One area was about ten feet deep, another had been about eight feet deep during backfilling, and the trench walls were essentially vertical; the access ladder was also outside the protected…
Orion Construction, Inc.
$100 penalties upheld for low-gravity fall violations
Orion employees installed metal studs at an 11-foot edge where the guardrail midrail had been lowered, and other employees passed within a few feet of a partially covered stairwell opening protected only by caution tape. The Commission agreed that both conditions were serious violations but found…
RBV, Inc., d/b/a R.B. Ventures
Late contest dismissed despite officer's hospitalization
R.B. Ventures received an OSHA citation on November 18, 1998, making December 10 the contest deadline, but filed on December 14. The secretary-treasurer who normally handled all paperwork was hospitalized for cancer-related treatment from late November until December 13. Chief Judge Irving Sommer…
Schipper Construction, Inc.
Default set aside after pro se response was misdirected
Schipper Construction timely contested a willful excavation citation carrying a proposed $14,000 penalty but did not file a formal answer to the Secretary's complaint. When the Secretary sought default, the company's pro se president promptly wrote a response raising defenses but mistakenly mailed…
Crowley American Transport, Inc.
Seat-belt general-duty citation vacated for no proven hazard
Crowley used heavy Capacity tractors to move trailers short distances on and off cargo barges, generally at speeds no greater than 25 miles per hour. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause for not requiring seat belts after a tractor went through a guardrail and fell 20 feet, killing…
Sofco Erectors, Inc.
Crane-load citation vacated because operator was not hoisting
A steel connector stood on a beam while trying to align its free end with a column. One end was already bolted, the other was wedged low, and the crane line remained under tension; when the worker pried the beam loose, it sprang upward and bruised his leg. Judge Ken S. Welsch found that the crane…
S.K. Wellman Friction Company
Press guarding, training, inspection, and lockout items affirmed
An employee lost a fingertip while clearing a frequently jammed turntable on a Toledo 250-ton press. Judge Ann Z. Cook found an obvious unguarded nip point, inadequate operator training before first use, and no documented program of periodic press inspections, although setup personnel performed…
Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), and its successors
Duplicate federal citation dismissed
Federal OSHA cited a personnel basket on a shore-based crane because its access doors were not positively secured while the basket was lowered into a vessel. CalOSHA had already cited Stevedoring Services of America for the same condition under California's approved state plan. Judge Benjamin R…
Baker Drywall Company, Inc.
Aerial-lift and edge fall violations affirmed
Baker Drywall employees relocated metal studs on simulated smokestacks at a movie theater construction site. One worked from an aerial-lift basket without tying off and at one point straddled its top rail, while another stood on a structural ring about 16 feet above a steel roof without fall…
Olympia Drywall Company, and its successors
Debris citation vacated for no employee exposure
Scrap lumber with protruding nails and other debris existed at Olympia Drywall's multi-employer construction site and presented tripping and puncture hazards. OSHA relied on employee statements to argue that Olympia workers entered the affected areas to reach restrooms or a food truck. Judge Robert…
The Pike Company, Inc.
Edge, scaffold, and ground-fault items affirmed
At a prison construction project, Pike employees worked near a 13-foot unguarded edge, and another employee poured concrete from an unguarded outrigger scaffold about 20 feet high without a proper access ladder. Judge Ann Z. Cook rejected infeasibility because the edge work did not require removal…
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.