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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Lanzo Construction Co., Inc.
Ladder and cave-in items affirmed, repeat classification rejected
Lanzo employees worked in an unprotected 12-foot excavation and used a ladder perched on unstable, sloping soil. The ladder was not missing a rung as first alleged, but its extension-ladder design left nonuniform spacing that created a misstep hazard. Judge Ken S. Welsch affirmed the two ladder…
Eslich Wrecking Company
Lead items affirmed, eye and asbestos items vacated
Eslich performed labor and light demolition during renovation of the Cleveland Public Library, including demolition of walls coated with lead paint. Judge Stephen J. Simko, Jr. affirmed the grouped serious lead items because Eslich conducted no initial exposure assessment and did not provide the…
Orion Electric, Inc.
Energized-circuit violation affirmed
Two Orion journeyman electricians installed dimmer switches on an energized low-voltage circuit during restaurant renovation work, and one employee died from electrocution. Judge Ken S. Welsch held that the electrical-protection standard contains no low-voltage exception and that experience working…
CRS Emergency Vehicles, Inc.
Saw-guard items affirmed, restart item vacated
CRS manufactured and upfitted security and safety vehicles at a plant on Osage tribal land in Oklahoma. Judge Stephen J. Simko, Jr. held that the Occupational Safety and Health Act applied because CRS was not tribally owned, sold products worldwide, and was engaged in commercial rather than purely…
Yannuzzi, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA issued Yannuzzi a serious citation after a May 1998 inspection, and the company received it on June 4, 1998. Its 15-working-day contest period expired on June 25, but its first written response was sent in August and its request for a late notice of contest did not reach the Commission until…
Best Structures, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed
Best Structures received an OSHA citation on July 27, 1998, and its 15-working-day contest period ended on August 17. The company did not file a notice of contest until January 10, 1999, explaining that business demands and a lack of administrative help had delayed its response. Chief Judge Irving…
Bast Hatfield, Inc.
Scaffold and ladder items affirmed
Bast Hatfield employees performed masonry work from scaffolds at a church construction project in New York. Judge Robert A. Yetman denied Bast's Fourth Amendment challenge because the OSHA inspector observed the work from a parking area that remained open to church visitors and the public. He…
Centex Construction Company, Inc.
Citation vacated after withdrawal
The Secretary withdrew a citation alleging that Centex, the general contractor on a medical-center project, failed to maintain temporary flooring beneath steel-erection work. The appended ALJ decision had affirmed the serious citation under the multi-employer worksite doctrine and assessed $500…
Windward Roofing & Construction, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed
Windward received copies of a serious OSHA citation in July 1998, making August 5 the final day to file a notice of contest. Both copies were placed on the desk of the accounting manager responsible for OSHA matters, who went on vacation and then resigned without returning. The company did not…
M & D Power Constructors, Inc.
Willful arsenic violations affirmed
M&D performed maintenance and demolition work during an outage at an Alabama coal-fired power plant, where fly ash in air heaters and an old precipitator contained inorganic arsenic. Judge Ken S. Welsch found that the air heaters remained regulated areas until representative monitoring showed…
Horizon Roofing & Sheetmetal, Inc.
Debris and fall-protection items vacated
Horizon removed and replaced a large postal-facility roof using separate chutes for stone and other roofing debris. OSHA cited the company after an employee working inside a dumpster was struck by roofing material and sustained unspecified neck, back, and arm injuries. Judge Richard DeBenedetto…
United Erie, Div. of Interstate Chemical Co., Inc.
Confined-space items affirmed as serious
A United Erie production employee died from oxygen deficiency after entering a 4,000-gallon chemical kettle. Judge G. Marvin Bober found that United lacked a site-specific permit-space program, atmospheric testing equipment, adequate attendant practices, entry permits, and complete rescue…
Henry Zavala Construction
Default judgment entered
Henry Zavala Construction agreed during two telephone conferences to provide portions of its fall-protection program to the Secretary. The company did not send the documents, respond to follow-up requests, or explain its failure to comply after the judge directed immediate overnight delivery. Judge…
J.A.M. Builders, Inc.
Willful electrical violation affirmed after fatal power-line contact
J.A.M. Builders was a construction subcontractor placing reinforcing steel for a concrete floor in Miami Beach, Florida. Employees handled rebar up to 20 feet long on a 17-foot-wide deck beneath energized, uninsulated 7,620-volt power lines. One employee died when the rebar he was holding contacted…
J & H Reinforcing & Structural Erectors, Inc.
Scissor-lift surface violation affirmed
J & H Reinforcing & Structural Erectors used a scissor lift for welding work at a library construction project in Huntington, West Virginia. The lift tipped when a wheel entered a 5.5-inch-deep offset, and the operator sustained a life-threatening injury. Chief Judge Irving Sommer found that the…
Contour Erection and Siding Systems, Inc.
EAJA fee award reduced to $27,892.48
Contour obtained vacatur of crane-operation citations arising from a crane tip-over at a sports arena project in Buffalo, New York. The company then sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Commission agreed that the Secretary's case ceased to be substantially…
Access Equipment Systems, Inc.
Scaffold supplier liable for hazard to another employer's workers
Access Equipment Systems leased and erected mast-climbing scaffolds for a condominium project in Miami, Florida. One scaffold collapsed after an Access lead employee added a fourth platform extension without load-capacity information, killing three employees of a plastering subcontractor. The…
CMC Electric, Inc.
Electrical-hazard and worksite-safety items affirmed
CMC Electric sent three journeyman wiremen to install electrical service at a cellular-telephone construction site near Andover, Ohio. An employee died after climbing a utility pole and contacting an energized 7,200-volt line that was not shown on the work schematic. CMC had not inspected for…
Albemarle Corporation
Three process-safety violations affirmed
Albemarle operated a chemical plant in Pasadena, Texas, where employees were exposed to chemical splashes during pipe opening and to a near-explosion during a reactor shutdown. In the Commission's first review of the process safety management standards, it held that the safe-work-practices…
Florida Power Corporation
Defective-crane citation vacated under wrong maritime standard
Florida Power used a shore-mounted gantry crane to unload coal barges at its Crystal River generating complex in Florida. The crane repeatedly tripped and lost control of its bucket, but the company continued unloading barges while employees worked nearby. OSHA cited the longshoring rule that…
New England Synthetic Systems, Inc.
Scaffold and electrical violations affirmed for $30,000
New England Synthetic Systems replaced exterior walls at an apartment complex in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Judge Robert A. Yetman affirmed violations involving unprotected temporary electrical wiring, lifelines tied to vent curbing and exposed to sharp edges, incomplete scaffold planking, unsafe…
New Age, Inc.
Mandatory $500 penalty assessed for scaffold fall hazard
New Age performed masonry work from a four-tier scaffold at a construction site in New Braunfels, Texas. Five to seven employees were finishing masonry work or preparing to dismantle the scaffold while required guardrails were missing or replaced by loose, incomplete cables. The administrative law…
The Ryan Company, Inc.
Excavation and sling citations vacated
The Ryan Company installed utility lines in an excavation at the Philadelphia Naval Base. OSHA alleged that employees worked in an excavation more than five feet deep without a protective system. Chief Judge Irving Sommer found no proof that employees entered the 5-foot-2-inch area and found the…
Fleming Construction, Inc.
Construction-manager citations vacated for lack of supervisory control
Fleming Construction provided construction-management services for a bank project in Durango, Colorado, where an employee of the steel contractor fell about 25 feet. OSHA cited Fleming for inadequate safety instruction and failure to provide fall protection under construction standards. The…
Sierra Resources, Inc.
Nine serious lead violations affirmed
Sierra Resources removed and replaced bridge bearing assemblies in Blue Island, Illinois, using torch cutting on paint that testing showed contained 50 percent lead. OSHA sampling measured one employee's exposure at 119.7 micrograms per cubic meter, more than twice the permissible limit, and…
Metro Steel Construction Co.
Two fall-protection items vacated for insufficient proof
Metro Steel erected structural steel for a shopping mall in Westbury, New York. OSHA alleged two instances in which employees walked exterior beams about 40 feet above the ground without fall protection. For the first item, the Commission found critical ambiguity because Metro's witnesses testified…
Stevedoring Services of America
Container fall-protection citation vacated
Two Stevedoring Services of America employees worked on top of cargo containers about 16 feet above a ship's deck after their usual fall-protection system malfunctioned. Their hatch boss knew the system had failed and allowed the work to continue. Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld applied Fourth Circuit…
L. R. Willson and Sons, Inc.
On remand, Commission vacates a steel-erection fall-protection citation for lack of proof the supervisor's misconduct was foreseeable
L. R. Willson and Sons is a steel erection contractor. OSHA cited it for a violation of the fall protection standard for steel erection at 29 C.F.R. § 1926.750(b)(1)(ii). Earlier in the case the Commission had affirmed the violation as serious, imputing a supervisor's acts and knowledge to the…
Thoroughgood, Inc., d/b/a Azalea Court
Most bloodborne pathogen and vermin citations affirmed at a personal care home
Thoroughgood, Inc., doing business as Azalea Court, runs a residential personal care home in downtown Philadelphia that housed about 70 to 80 residents. After a September 1996 inspection, OSHA cited the home for failing to control rodents and insects and for ten separate violations of the…
Pilgrim's Pride Corporation
Damaged passageway floor violated aisle-repair rule
Pilgrim's Pride operated a chicken-processing plant where employees pushed wheeled carts through a hallway to a freezer. The hallway floor had numerous shallow depressions where its asphalt-like covering had cracked and flaked away. Judge Ken S. Welsch found that the alternative floor-cleaning…
Grayhawk of America, Inc.
Four construction safety violations affirmed after employer failed to appear
OSHA cited Grayhawk of America for four serious construction safety violations involving head protection, eye and face protection, unprotected deck edges, and unguarded floor openings. The employer received notice of the hearing but did not appear or request a postponement. The compliance officer…
Ruscilli Construction Co., Inc.
Steel-erection citation split and penalties reduced on reconsideration
Ruscilli Construction erected steel for a large warehouse project in Ohio. OSHA issued seven serious citation items involving jobsite inspections, fall protection, compressed-air hoses, and aerial lifts. Judge Ken S. Welsch affirmed the inspection-program item because the designated competent…
Atlas Central Corporation
Bridge-painting citations split over dust, lead, and cadmium controls
Atlas Central Corporation removed paint from a Cleveland bridge by abrasive blasting inside a ventilated containment. OSHA cited employee exposure to lead, total dust, and cadmium, along with deficiencies in exposure controls, monitoring, written programs, housekeeping, and training. Judge Ken S…
Propellex Corporation
Open flames and smoking near explosives were serious violations
Propellex manufactured munitions and used a crew to destroy defective primers containing black powder. An explosion injured five employees after spilled powder was placed in a burn barrel near the work area. The Commission found that the explosives standard applied to the burn barrel, a lighter…
Venango Environmental, Inc.
Willful loader hazards affirmed after fatal overturn
Venango Environmental used a front-end loader with defective brakes and steering at a wastewater-treatment construction project. A foreman operating the loader died from injuries sustained when it overturned. Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld vacated the brake-performance item because the Secretary did…
Equipment Holding, Inc., and its successors
Three longshoring crane violations affirmed
Equipment Holding leased cranes and operators for longshoring work at the Port of Houston. After an accident involving one of its cranes, OSHA cited missing or incomplete load information, an excess counterweight, the absence of a load-indicating device, and inadequate maritime certification. Judge…
Armco, Inc.
Settlement approved over union lockout-procedure objection
The Secretary and Armco submitted a settlement agreement, but the authorized employee representative objected that plant foremen were being allowed to omit or alter existing lockout procedures. Judge Covette Rooney reviewed the objection after a Commission direction for review and remand. She…
Mass. Electric Construction Co.
Energized-panel violation affirmed after electrical flash
Mass. Electric employees worked on an energized 480-volt distribution panel without effective insulation or other protection. An electrical flash burned the job foreman while he attempted to remove tape from energized busbars. The company argued that the foreman acted contrary to its safety rules…
Patterson Drilling Co. Rig #4
Rig-floor guarding and emergency washing violations affirmed
OSHA cited Patterson Drilling for inadequate guarding at a rig-floor opening and inadequate emergency washing facilities where employees handled caustic soda. The opening was protected only by a sagging chain without a midrail, exposing employees to a 20-foot fall. Judge James H. Barkley found that…
Kenny Niles Construction Company
Trench citations reinstated after business closure
Kenny Niles Construction Company was investigated after a trench cave-in resulted in an employee's death. OSHA issued three willful citation items involving trenching hazards, but the sole proprietor had closed his businesses and no longer had employees before the citation was issued. An…
Joel Yandell, d/b/a Triple L Tower
Citations reinstated despite employer's cessation of business
Joel Yandell operated a tower-erection business whose three employees died in a fall while being lowered from a communications tower. He stopped operating the business after the incident, before OSHA issued willful and serious citations. An administrative law judge dismissed the case under prior…
Preston Trucking Company, Inc.
Late contest dismissed after citation was misplaced
Preston Trucking received an OSHA citation but filed its notice of contest well after the 15-working-day deadline. The terminal manager was on vacation when the citation arrived, and his secretary misplaced it. Preston argued that it took safety seriously, promptly abated the cited conditions, and…
All Waste Environmental Services/North Atlantic
Hydroblasting lance-ejection hazard violated general duty clause
All Waste used high-pressure water to clear a blockage from a pipe at a paper mill. A pressurized cleaning lance unexpectedly exited the pipe, moved out of control, and seriously injured an employee. Judge Ann Z. Cook found that uncontrolled lance ejection was a recognized hydroblasting hazard…
James Eddy, d/b/a Eddy Roofing, Inc.
Roofing safety violations affirmed and penalties reduced for size
OSHA inspected Eddy Roofing after a fatal fall from a roofing worksite about 40 feet above the ground. The company withdrew its contest to violations involving its safety program, fall-hazard training, roof edges, skylights, guardrails, warning lines, access, and hazard communication. Judge…
L. R. Willson & Sons, Inc.
Steel erector's tie-off program did not replace temporary-floor requirement
L. R. Willson erected structural steel for an Army medical center and used a strict 100 percent tie-off policy. An employee disregarded that policy and a direct instruction, climbed a column without being tied off, and died after falling about 80 feet. OSHA cited the company for failing to maintain…
Armstrong Steel Erectors, Inc.
Incomplete bridge fall protection supported repeated violation
Armstrong Steel Erectors was constructing a bridge when an ironworker died after falling about 90 feet. The company required 100 percent tie-off but provided only one lanyard per worker and left gaps in its lifeline system, so workers could not remain tied off while moving through several areas…
Dillard Texas Operating Limited Partnership, and its successors
Floor and emergency-preparedness items affirmed
OSHA cited a Dillard's store for damaged floors and walls, locked or poorly fitting exits, emergency-planning deficiencies, inadequate fire-extinguisher training, machine guarding, and electrical conditions. Judge James H. Barkley affirmed an other-than-serious passageway violation because…
Dillard Department Store, Inc. d/b/a Dillard's, and its successors
Emergency-plan and delayed-exit sign items affirmed
Dillard's locked several customary store exits outside business hours, leaving two available exits more than 450 feet from some work areas. OSHA issued overlapping items requiring unlocked egress and procedures for opening the doors during an emergency. Judge James H. Barkley vacated the…
TraCorp Construction and its successors
Crane-rope and suspended-load violations affirmed
TraCorp's crew was erecting a building when a hoist cable broke and a falling steel truss killed an employee working beneath it. Judge Stanley M. Schwartz found that TraCorp was the employer because it assigned and paid the crew, supplied most tools, and controlled the work. The wire rope showed…
Modern Continental/Obayashi, a Joint Venture
Unguarded slurry-wall excavations supported repeat violation
Modern Continental/Obayashi constructed deep slurry-wall excavations for Boston's Central Artery project. Employees worked close to excavation edges without guardrails or equivalent protection, even though the openings extended as deep as 100 feet. Judge Covette Rooney held that the excavation…
T.L.T. Construction Co., Inc.
Open-edge and willful scaffold violations affirmed
T.L.T. Construction was the general contractor on a school gymnasium project where employees worked near an unguarded floor edge and on tall scaffolds. Judge Richard DeBenedetto found that the open-sided floor exposed employees to falls of six to nine feet. He also found that employees climbed…
Easthaven Masonry, Inc.
Denial of E-Z Trial procedure reversed
Easthaven Masonry requested the Commission's simplified E-Z Trial procedure for a scaffold case. The Secretary objected only that some discovery might be needed, and the Chief Administrative Law Judge denied the request. The Commission held that the stated need for discovery was not enough on the…
Plumb Square & Lovell, and its successors
Roof-edge violation affirmed but electrical and skylight items vacated
Plumb Square & Lovell employees framed a roof about 15 feet above the ground without fall protection. Judge Stanley M. Schwartz affirmed that serious violation even though the contractor mistakenly believed California's 15-foot rule governed the federal worksite. He reduced the penalty to $150…
Norm's Utility Contractors, and its successors
Repeat trench-protection and access violations affirmed
Norm's Utility Contractors used trench boxes in a wet excavation about ten feet deep, but several feet of nearly vertical, sloughing soil remained above the boxes. Employees worked from the top of a box below the trench edge and lacked a safe ladder or ramp after earlier ramp access was removed…
WellTech Mid-Continent
Muddy access-road citation vacated after truck overturn
WellTech used tractor-trailer rigs to haul rock to an oil-well access road during rainy weather. One loaded truck left the muddy road, overturned into a pond, and the driver died. Judge Ken S. Welsch held that the cited earthmoving-equipment standard did not apply because the trucks operated both…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Railcar lining compartments were permit-required confined spaces
Trinity employees entered hopper railcar compartments and spray-applied flammable protective linings while forced-air ventilation operated. OSHA measured flammable vapor at 24 to 26 percent of the lower explosive limit at the lower compartment openings, more than twice the permit-space threshold…
L. R. Willson and Sons, Inc.
Commission lacked authority to halt penalty collection
An administrative law judge had affirmed a tag-line violation against L. R. Willson and Sons and assessed a $4,000 penalty. The parties later settled Willson's separate Equal Access to Justice Act fee claim concerning a withdrawn general duty clause item. When the Secretary sought to collect the…
Brungart Equipment Company, Inc.
Forklift inspection item vacated but illegible nameplate affirmed
Brungart repaired forklifts, and an employee was injured when a customer's forklift tipped during a maintenance check drive. OSHA alleged that the truck had not been examined before being placed in service because its battery lacked a restraint. Judge Stephen J. Simko, Jr. vacated that item because…
VP Buildings, Inc.
Overhead-crane obstruction citation vacated after coil fatality
VP Buildings used an overhead crane to move a steel coil into a storage rack. The suspended coil contacted stored coils, two coils fell, and an employee died after being pinned beneath them. OSHA alleged that the company failed to keep a hoisted load from contacting an obstruction. Judge Nancy J…
Specialized Grading Enterprises, Inc.
Attorney fees awarded for unsupported trench items
Specialized Grading sought fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act after prevailing on four trench citation items. Those items arose from an employee's brief, unauthorized entry into an unprotected trench while working alone. Judge Stanley M. Schwartz held that the Secretary's litigation…
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.