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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Todd Joseph Properties
Fall and scaffold violations affirmed
Todd Joseph Properties was demolishing a church when OSHA observed two employees working near an unprotected second-floor edge about 15 feet above the ground. One employee also climbed a scaffold frame without a ladder and worked on its top platform without adequate fall protection. The judge found…
Daisy Construction Company
Willful trench violations affirmed
Daisy Construction was installing underground conduit during a road project when employees worked for hours in a trench more than seven feet deep with vertical walls and no cave-in protection. The foreman and the acting superintendent both saw the work, knew trench protection was required, and did…
Cambria Contracting, Inc.
Asbestos violations reduced from willful to serious
Cambria Contracting removed trash and debris from the basements of interconnected abandoned warehouse buildings where friable asbestos pipe insulation was damaged and missing. Its employees used powered equipment, brooms, and shovels in debris later shown to contain asbestos. OSHA cited eleven…
Nuprecon, LP d/b/a Nuprecon Acquisition, LP
Fall citation affirmed for work near open edge
Nuprecon employees were demolishing an aircraft hangar beside a 21-foot-wide unprotected opening with a 36-foot drop. The Commission rejected the judge's exposure finding for a Bobcat operator because the fall standard's definition of a walking or working surface excludes vehicles, and the record…
Shaw Areva Mox Services, LLC
Electrical grounding citation vacated
OSHA cited Shaw Areva after finding a three-plug adaptor and a fuel-pump cord with missing grounding prongs at a nuclear-fuel facility construction project. The Commission held that the grounding-path standard applied to the adaptor because it functioned as a multiple receptacle that was required…
All Steel Consultants, Inc.
Roofing citations partly affirmed
All Steel Consultants was installing metal roofing when OSHA observed four employees working without tying off and two others using lifelines with enough slack to contact the lower roof in a fall. The foreman knew the company's tie-off rule but allowed employees to work without following it, and he…
Boh Brothers Construction Co., LLC.
Lifeline citation vacated on remand
OSHA cited Boh Brothers after a bridge-work accident, alleging that more than five employees were tied to a horizontal lifeline designed to support no more than five. The judge originally affirmed the citation, but the Commission remanded for clearer credibility findings and reconsideration of the…
Barnhart, Inc.
Settlement approved after construction-safety decision
OSHA cited Barnhart, the controlling contractor on a Marine Corps barracks renovation, for electrical, floor-hole, fall-protection, training, and inspection issues involving its subcontractors. The appended judge's decision had affirmed three items involving temporary cords, uncovered floor holes…
21st Century Roofing Systems, Inc.
Roof fall citations affirmed by default
OSHA observed 21st Century Roofing employees working near the edge of a low-slope roof without adequate fall protection. The warning line was only about 2.5 to 4 feet from the edge instead of the required 6 feet, and employees worked outside it near a roughly 25-foot drop without a safety monitor…
Era-Valdivia Contractors, Inc.
Independent lifeline item affirmed
Era-Valdivia employees painted a water tower from suspended Spider baskets about 80 feet above the ground. One painter climbed outside his basket and tied his harness lanyard to the scaffold's suspension cable instead of an independent lifeline. The judge vacated a general-duty item based on…
Eutaw Construction Company, Inc.
Controlling-employer trench citation affirmed
Eutaw Construction was the general contractor for a sewer-line project where a subcontractor worked in a 14-foot-deep bore pit. The excavation was dug in unstable Type C soil, and its protective system had trench boxes several feet above the bottom, gaps, a damaged support, water seepage, erosion…
Sand Cut Properties, LLC.
Willful excavation violations affirmed
Sand Cut Properties sent an employee into an excavation that was 6 to 9 feet deep, accumulating water, and repeatedly collapsing in unstable soil. A roughly 15-foot-high spoil pile overhung the edge, and the owner directed the employee to attach a sling to a concrete structure before the collapsing…
Consolidated Grain & Barge Co.
Two grain-bin items vacated
Consolidated Grain & Barge employees entered a grain bin while a partially guarded sweep auger was operating. The judge found that CGB's instructions to remain a safe distance behind the auger and its use of an outside attendant were not equally effective alternatives to deenergizing or positively…
Conoco Phillips Bayway Refinery
Asbestos items reclassified as serious
The Commission had previously affirmed nine asbestos-in-construction items as other-than-serious and assessed $350 per item. The Third Circuit vacated that order and directed the Commission to classify the violations as serious and reconsider the penalties. On remand, the Commission considered that…
Florida Power and Light Company
Arc-flash citations affirmed
An electrical contractor at Miami International Airport needed Florida Power and Light to open a meter can and remove a protective plate so it could replace wiring and a breaker. The FPL employee raised an energized bypass handle without first asking what work had been done or inspecting the…
NRG Sound & Communications, LLC.
Worker found to be an employee
NRG Sound & Communications installed speakers on a school football stadium roof using an aerial lift. NRG claimed that the second worker was a silent partner or independent contractor rather than an employee, but both men initially identified him as an employee and described NRG's owner as the…
Haberle Steel, Inc.
Unsecured steel plate citation affirmed
Haberle Steel stored large steel plates on edge in an outdoor rack at its Pennsylvania fabrication shop. An employee died after a nearly vertical plate tipped and pinned him against another plate. OSHA cited the company under the material-storage standard because nothing prevented that plate from…
Daniel Crowe Roof Repair and its Successors
Fall protection and training citations affirmed
Daniel Crowe Roof Repair hired two roofers to replace a residential roof in Pennsylvania, and one inexperienced worker fell about 17 feet and suffered multiple fractures. The judge found that the roofers were employees, not independent contractors, because Crowe controlled the work, supplied the…
Southern Scrap Materials Co., Inc.
Lead, cadmium, first-aid, and guarding violations yield $114,500 penalty
Southern Scrap Materials operated a Louisiana scrap-recycling facility where workers torch cut metal and used industrial machinery. The Commission rejected the company's broad challenges to OSHA's inspection, testing, and the validity of the lead and cadmium standards. It found that Southern…
Bill Jones Repair & Reroofs, Inc.
Timely-contest evidence requires further proceedings
OSHA cited Bill Jones Repair & Reroofs for four serious construction violations and proposed $10,000 in penalties. An administrative law judge dismissed what appeared to be a late notice of contest and affirmed the citations. On review, the company produced a letter apparently faxed to OSHA within…
Aerospace Manufacturing CT Systems, LLC
Civil case stayed during criminal review
After a workplace fatality, OSHA issued Aerospace Manufacturing a willful citation and referred the matter to the Department of Justice for possible criminal proceedings. The administrative law judge denied the Secretary's request to stay the Commission case because no indictment had been issued…
T & F Systems, Inc.
Willful low-slope roof fall violation affirmed
T & F Systems employees installed roofing material on an Ohio high school roof about 25 feet above lower levels. The judge found that the roof was about 80 feet wide, so a safety-monitoring system alone could not satisfy the cited fall-protection standard. The evidence also showed that the company…
Broan-Nutone Storage Solutions, LP
Power-press supervision and guarding violations affirmed
A Broan-Nutone machine operator's hand was amputated when a mechanical power press cycled while she was clearing a jam. The judge found that she received almost no instruction or supervision when assigned to the press, which lacked the light-curtain protection used on the facility's other presses…
Otis Elevator Company
Remaining fall-protection item withdrawn
OSHA cited Otis Elevator over fall protection used while installing a new elevator platform system. The administrative law judge vacated two scaffold-based allegations but affirmed an alternative allegation that employee lifelines were attached to the same overhead beam used for the platform's…
Ford Motor Company – Buffalo Stamping Plant
Crane-inspection dispute remanded for factfinding
OSHA issued Ford's Buffalo Stamping Plant a willful citation alleging that unsafe crane conditions were not corrected before operation resumed. The administrative law judge granted summary judgment to Ford and vacated the citation. The Commission found genuine factual disputes over what Ford's…
Tecta America New England, LLC
Unprotected roof-edge work results in serious citation
Two Tecta roofing employees worked near the edge of a commercial roof about 20 feet above the ground without tying off their available fall-protection equipment. The working foreman's knowledge of the condition was imputed to the company. Tecta argued that the conduct was unpreventable because it…
B & B Underground Contractors
Excavation and gas-cylinder violations yield $8,000 penalty
B & B Underground Contractors operated a deep boring pit for a wastewater pipeline project in Alabama. The judge affirmed a serious violation for unsecured gas cylinders and found that the pit's only ramp was unsafe and more than 25 feet from employees' work area. Water was accumulating in the pit…
Stellar Management Group d/b/a QSI
Eye protection required during poultry-equipment rinsing
Stellar Management employees used high-pressure, heated water to clean poultry-processing equipment without eye protection. The spray blasted and splashed bone, blood, and chicken particles from equipment while employees worked within three or four feet. The judge found a serious eye hazard and…
Archon Construction
Unprotected trench violation affirmed as repeat
Two Archon employees entered a six-foot-deep trench with steep walls and no cave-in protection to cut an existing sewer pipe. The judge found that the foreman knew the trench's physical condition, even though he mistakenly believed it was less than five feet deep. That mistaken belief prevented a…
Southern Solar
Ladder-use and training items vacated for insufficient proof
A Southern Solar employee used a stepladder that did not extend three feet above the parapet used as the upper landing surface. The judge found that OSHA did not prove the company's lead worker knew or reasonably should have known how that ladder was being used. OSHA also cited Southern Solar for…
O'Connell Electric Company, Inc.
PPE selection and hazard-certification items affirmed
O'Connell Electric crews performed electrical replacement and maintenance work at a university building where some 34,500-volt switches remained energized. An electrician entered an energized switch cabinet outside the crew's assigned work and suffered severe burns in an arc flash. The judge found…
DeWitt Excavating, Inc.
Willful unprotected-trench violation affirmed
Three DeWitt Excavating employees worked in an eight-foot-deep Type C soil excavation with nearly vertical walls and no cave-in protection. The foreman knew protection was required but proceeded without using one of the company's available trench boxes. The judge rejected DeWitt's…
Schaer Development of Central Florida
Improper excavation slope affirmed
Schaer Development installed a manhole in a Florida excavation that reached about 14 feet deep near a highway. OSHA cited spoil piles and a track hoe located within two feet of the edge, but the judge vacated that item because the Secretary did not prove the material or equipment could fall or roll…
Cranesville Aggregate Companies, Inc., d/b/a Scotia Bag Plant; and Cranesville Block Company, Inc.
Discovery orders narrowed and cases resumed
Cranesville sought internal OSHA memoranda and depositions of three Mine Safety and Health Administration employees to support a jurisdictional defense. The Commission held that two OSHA memoranda were protected in full by the work-product privilege and should not have been disclosed, even in…
Delek Refining, LTD.
Third-party report privilege requires in-camera review
After a refinery explosion and fire, OSHA issued process-safety citations and subpoenaed a draft technical report prepared by an outside consultant. Delek claimed the report was protected by attorney-client privilege, but the judge denied its motion to quash without reviewing the document. The…
Central Building & Preservation
Unprotected 200-foot roof edge results in serious citation
A foreman and laborer worked inches from the edge of a Chicago building about 200 feet above the ground with their harnesses unattached. OSHA personnel observed and photographed the condition from an office across the street. The foreman's participation established employer knowledge, and the…
Caterpillar Logistics Services, Inc.
Work-related elbow illness should have been recorded
A Caterpillar employee developed epicondylitis while repeatedly scanning and handling parts in a distribution facility. The condition led to work restrictions, time away from work, reassignment, and medical treatment. The judge found the company's same-day ergonomic review deficient because it…
Dandelion Inn
Late contests dismissed and citations left final
OSHA issued Dandelion Inn two sets of citations with combined proposed penalties of $4,450. The hotel filed its notices of contest months after the applicable 15-working-day deadlines. It argued that confusion, abatement submissions, staff changes, unreturned calls, and the informal-conference…
Ultra Commercial Interiors, Inc.
Unsecured and unmarked floor-cover violations affirmed
An Ultra Commercial Interiors foreman stepped on an unsecured plywood board that covered a floor opening and fell 16 feet, sustaining serious knee and ankle injuries. The cover was neither secured nor marked as a hole or cover. The judge found constructive knowledge because company supervisors knew…
Chicago Bridge & Iron
Crane swing-radius barricade violation affirmed
Chicago Bridge used a crane with a broken swing-radius barricade while constructing a water tower. A walkway to the job trailer passed through the crane's danger zone, and employees worked nearby while cylinders were moved. The judge found employee access reasonably predictable even apart from…
M.C. Dean, Inc.
Unguarded skylight violation affirmed after fatal fall
An M.C. Dean electrician went onto a warehouse roof to inspect exhaust fans and fell through an unguarded skylight nearly 26 feet to the floor. He died from his injuries two weeks later. The judge found constructive knowledge because the onsite field supervisor failed to inspect the unfamiliar…
Modern Building Solutions, LLC
Steep-roof fall violation affirmed at church project
A Modern Building Solutions worker replaced missing roof-sheathing nails and removed boards on an 8-in-12 church roof without conventional fall protection. The judge found the church was a commercial project, so the alternative residential-construction provision did not apply. The inspection…
Framers R Us, Inc.
Ladder violations affirmed and repeat fall item vacated
Framers R Us employees used a closed A-frame ladder as the only access to the third level of a motel construction project. The judge held the company responsible even though it did not own or place the ladder because its employees used it and the company took no alternative protective steps. The…
Summer & Winter Contruction, LLC
Roofing safety violations yield $89,000 in penalties
OSHA inspected Summer & Winter roofing crews at two New Hampshire sites and found extensive fall-protection and related safety violations. At the first site, workers used body belts, shared anchors, worked beneath a raised lift, used a damaged ladder, and accessed a steep roof without compliant…
Southern Crushed Concrete
OSHA citations vacated because MSHA had jurisdiction
Southern Crushed Concrete operated an integrated sand-dredging and processing facility in Texas. OSHA cited conditions at a pug mill where dried sand was mixed with a small amount of cement to produce stabilized sand. The judge found that the pug mill was technologically and geographically…
Ben Hur Construction Company
Partial EAJA fee award granted after citations were vacated
Ben Hur Construction prevailed after OSHA withdrew or the judge vacated citations arising from a fatal crane-disassembly accident. The company then sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge found the Secretary substantially justified in pursuing the…
Sanchez Arango Construction
Four violations affirmed and two vacated
OSHA cited Sanchez Arango Construction after an inspector saw an employee working about twenty-five feet above the ground without tying off. The judge affirmed serious violations for using a damaged synthetic sling and failing to provide fall protection, rejecting the employee-misconduct defense…
Birdair, Inc.
Compliance officer's phone records protected by informer's privilege
Birdair subpoenaed the personal cellular-phone records of the OSHA compliance officer who investigated it. The Commission held that the informer's privilege protected the records because phone numbers, call frequency, and call duration could identify people who assisted OSHA and reveal how much…
Altor, Inc., and/or Avcon, Inc.
Eight willful items affirmed with $412,000 penalty
OSHA cited extensive hard-hat, open-edge, and floor-hole hazards during construction of a sixteen-story concrete building. The Commission held that Altor and Avcon operated as a single employer because they shared a worksite, management, ownership, office support, and integrated operations. The…
KS Energy Services, Inc.
Review withdrawn and judge's decision made final
The Commission vacated its earlier direction for review of the case. As a result, the administrative law judge's decision became the Commission's final order on April 26, 2011. The order does not discuss the underlying citations or explain why review was withdrawn. It expressly states that the…
Trinity Yachts, LLC, and its Successors
Argon-training case remanded for excluded testimony
After a welder died while working with argon in a yacht's enclosed vent trunk, the judge affirmed a training violation but vacated atmospheric-testing and mechanical-ventilation items. The Commission did not decide the merits. It held that the judge improperly cut off testimony from Trinity's…
ADM Milling Company
Manlift guarding citation vacated under grandfather provision
OSHA cited ADM Milling for failing to guard the lower pulley and moving steps of a continuous-belt manlift installed in 1954. The judge held that the manlift standard's grandfather provision, reinforced by OSHA's own 1991 interpretation letter, made the standard inapplicable to manlifts installed…
Waterford Aluminum Company, Inc.
Pro se default set aside and case remanded
A judge entered default against Waterford Aluminum after the company failed to answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to a show-cause order. The Commission set the default aside because the record did not establish that Waterford received the show-cause order, a broken water pipe had closed…
Korte Construction Co.
Flexible-cord damage citation vacated
Korte Construction routed two heavy-duty electrical cables and a smaller extension cord through friction-hinged windows at a construction project. OSHA alleged that the cords were insufficiently protected from sharp edges and pinch-point damage. The judge found that the heavy rubber sheathing…
Benise-Dowling, Inc.
Fire-suppression and eyewash violations affirmed
OSHA cited conditions at Benise-Dowling's powder-coating facility during a follow-up inspection. The judge affirmed a serious violation because a new electrostatic spray booth lacked automatic fire suppression, rejecting the company's claim that an earlier OSHA discussion deprived it of fair…
Revoli Construction Company, Inc.
Gas-line excavation violations affirmed
A Revoli crew severed an unmarked gas main while excavating near a school. The judge found that Revoli's training was inadequately documented and was delivered in English to workers with limited English proficiency without a reliable method to ensure comprehension. He also credited a police officer…
Avcon, Inc., Vasilios Saites, and Nicholas Saites
Fall-protection violations largely affirmed with $77,350 penalty
OSHA cited numerous hazards during construction of an eighteen-story concrete building. The Commission dismissed Bill and Nick Saites individually because the Secretary added them after the six-month limitations period and did not show that their original omission resulted from a mistake that would…
Winesburg Builders, LLC
Defective lifting-sling violation affirmed
Winesburg used a visibly cut and frayed nylon sling, with its safety thread showing, to lift construction beams. The judge rejected the company's argument that the sling was not defective because later testing showed it could withstand a 6,000-pound load. A foreman must be able to identify…
Crown Cork & Seal USA, Inc.
Press-cleaning violations affirmed and pathogen items vacated
An employee lost a finger while cleaning a running can-end press near the unguarded rear of a pulley. The judge found it reasonably predictable that employees would clean beyond the machine's front because they had done so regularly and were never clearly prohibited from cleaning the rear. Crown…
AKM LLC d/b/a Volks Constructors
Four recordkeeping violations treated as continuing
Volks failed to create incident reports and log entries for numerous injuries, review its logs for completeness, obtain executive certification of annual summaries, and keep one annual summary posted for the full required period. The Commission majority held that the first four omissions continued…
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.