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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General Dynamics Land Systems Division, Inc.
Freon use inside assembled tanks violated the general duty clause
General Dynamics employees used large quantities of freon to clean oil from the interiors of assembled M-1 Abrams tanks. The Commission found that the enclosed crew, driver, and turret compartments were confined spaces when freon was introduced because ventilation and escape were limited and toxic…
Hern Iron Works, Inc.
Record-access citation reinstated after appellate reversal
OSHA cited Hern Iron Works for willfully refusing to provide required injury and illness records during a 1988 inspection. The judge vacated the citation after concluding that the inspection was not supported by a valid warrant, subpoena, or consent. The Ninth Circuit reversed because the record…
Contractors Welding of Western New York, Inc.
Providing life vests did not require their use
Contractors Welding employees repaired a drawbridge while working near deep water. Approved life vests were available at the site, but the welders were not wearing them. The Commission held that the standard's requirement to "provide" life vests meant to furnish or make them available, not to…
The Ceco Corporation and McDevitt & Street Company
Shallow cavity ruling remanded
Ceco was a concrete-forming subcontractor and McDevitt & Street was the general contractor at a construction site with an unguarded cavity in a sixth-floor forming deck. The cavity was approximately 10 by 12 feet and 20¾ inches deep. The judge vacated the citation because an employee could not fall…
Conagra Flour Milling Co.
Hazard-communication item withdrawn
A judge affirmed an other-than-serious hazard-communication item against Conagra Flour Milling because its written chemical list included benzene even though benzene was not present at the facility. No penalty was assessed for that item. After Commission review was directed, the Secretary…
Sprinkle Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold case settled for $7,000
Sprinkle Masonry contested scaffold items alleged as willful, two repeat ladder-related instances, and an other-than-serious item. Under the settlement, the Secretary removed the willful characterization from the scaffold violations and Sprinkle Masonry withdrew its contest to those items. The…
Pan American Tanning Corporation
Secretary ordered to file a Rule 35 complaint
The judge allowed the Secretary to use a complaint prepared under Commission procedures that had been superseded in 1986. Pan American Tanning sought interlocutory review of that ruling. The Commission granted review, struck the complaint, and required the Secretary to file a new complaint…
H. Schickel General Contracting, Inc.
Penalties reduced to $600 in settlement
H. Schickel General Contracting contested only the $1,200 in penalties proposed for two serious citation items. A judge dismissed the contest after the company failed to file an answer despite a show-cause order. During Commission review, the parties settled the penalty dispute by reducing item 1…
Delford Industries, Inc.
Grounding item withdrawn after cited standard proved unsupported
The remaining item against Delford Industries concerned an ungrounded plug on a chemical tank. The judge had modified and affirmed the item under the electrical grounding provision and assessed $300. During Commission review, the Secretary concluded that the record did not establish which…
Seibel Modern Manufacturing & Welding Corporation
Welding-eye-protection item remanded on infeasibility
Seibel used pairs of employees to fit and tack-weld large metal battery cases, with welders wearing shaded helmets while helpers wore only clear prescription glasses. The Commission held that clear lenses were not "proper eye protection" because the welding standard and its related specifications…
Atlas Industrial Painters
Safety-belt item remained willful, ladder item reduced
Atlas employees painted a bridge from small scaffolds about 30 feet above the ground without tied-off safety belts, lifelines, nets, or ladder extensions. The Commission affirmed the safety-belt item as willful because Atlas knew the requirement, had a prior fall-protection citation, and declined…
Warm Springs Forest Products Industries, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation
Tribal sawmill case remanded under Ninth Circuit mandate
Warm Springs Forest Products Industries was a sawmill owned and operated by the Confederated Tribes on reservation land. The judge dismissed OSHA's complaint because he concluded that enforcement would interfere with the treaty right to exclude non-Native Americans. The Ninth Circuit reversed…
National Metalwares, Inc.
Machine-guarding case settled for $12,000
National Metalwares faced a failure-to-abate allegation involving mechanical power press dies and a repeat machine-guarding item involving a tube bender. The settlement withdrew the failure-to-abate allegation for one die and reduced that penalty to $11,500. The parties approved die-specific…
E. K. Construction Company, Inc.
Employee illness did not excuse late contest
E. K. Construction did not submit a written notice of contest within the required 15-working-day period. It later requested an informal conference and explained that the employee assigned to handle the matter had been ill. The Commission held that this was simple negligence rather than excusable…
Georgia-Pacific Corporation
Authorized union controlled employee participation in settlement
OSHA cited Georgia-Pacific over employee exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl hazards, and the company later settled with the Secretary. The authorized collective-bargaining representative elected party status, while several employees sought separate representation by another union and a former…
Acrom Construction Services, Inc.
Oral notice could not contest citations
Acrom Construction received hardhat and guardrail citations while working as a drywall subcontractor. Its project manager called OSHA during the contest period because he believed the general contractor, rather than Acrom, was responsible, but Acrom did not submit a written contest until about…
Woolston Construction Co. Inc.
Unprotected landfill trench violation was willful
Woolston Construction excavated a trench for a methane gas venting system at a New Jersey landfill. A cave-in killed a Woolston employee and an employee of another subcontractor after the nearly vertical trench walls collapsed. The trench had cracks, sloughing material, prior collapses, and a bowed…
Sealtite Corporation
Repeated noncompliance justified default dismissal
Sealtite contested willful, serious, and other-than-serious asbestos citations arising from removal work at a Veterans Administration facility. Although appearing without a lawyer, the company repeatedly failed to answer, produce requested documents, submit required prehearing information, or…
J. F. Shea Company, Inc.
Internal mail delay did not excuse late contest
OSHA mailed two citations to J. F. Shea Company after inspecting a Colorado worksite. The company received them on January 25, 1989, but an office assistant did not receive and date-stamp them until February 3. Shea relied on the later date and filed its notice of contest eight days after the…
Capra Industries, Inc.
Settlement withdrew machine, electrical, and chemical citations
Capra Industries manufactured jewelry and music boxes and was cited after OSHA inspected its workplace. The citations addressed an unguarded pulley, an ungrounded receptacle, hazard communication deficiencies, and failure to post an OSHA notice. After review was directed, the parties reached a full…
Dover Elevator Company
Settlement retained one ladder violation and $720 penalty
Dover Elevator employees worked in an open elevator shaft during a building renovation. OSHA cited inadequate safety training, failure to use fall protection, an unsecured ladder, and unguarded floor openings. The judge vacated the training item and affirmed the other three items with penalties…
Gary Concrete Products, Inc.
Unstable concrete piling storage was a serious violation
Gary Concrete Products manufactured and stored large concrete pilings at a Georgia worksite. An improperly stacked group of pilings collapsed and killed a rigger while employees were moving pilings with a crane. The Commission found that the company could have discovered the unstable stack because…
Regina Construction Company
Foreman's assignment supported unprotected fall citation
Regina Construction was a concrete subcontractor on a hospital construction project in Washington, D.C. OSHA observed an employee performing concrete finishing beside an unguarded floor edge 24 feet above the ground without a safety belt. The Commission admitted and credited the employee's…
Bland Construction Company
Trenching violations affirmed, willful classifications reversed
Bland Construction Company was cited after OSHA inspected an Austin, Texas, worksite where a trench wall collapsed and killed an employee. The Commission affirmed violations involving an unstable bedrock trench and a separate soil trench under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652(b). It found that Bland could have…
Archer-Western Contractors, LTD., and Gilbert Corp. Of Delaware, Inc., A Joint Venture
Crane-overload violation affirmed, training item vacated
Archer-Western Contractors and Gilbert Corporation of Delaware operated a joint venture constructing an airport terminal in West Palm Beach, Florida. A tower crane collapsed after supervisors pressed the crane operator to lift a concrete stairwell form despite repeated warnings that the load…
Spancrete Northeast, Inc.
Repeated guardrail violation affirmed after defenses fail
Spancrete Northeast employees grouted a mezzanine floor about 13 feet, 8 inches above the ground while working near hundreds of feet of unguarded perimeter. The Commission reversed the judge and found a violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.500(d)(1). Spancrete's greater-hazard defense failed because it…
Arco Chemical Co., Lyondell Petrochemical Co.
Fire-equipment cases remanded for further proceedings
These consolidated cases arose after a fire extinguisher exploded during a fire-control training exercise at Lyondell Petrochemical Company's Houston facility, killing an Arco Chemical Company employee. The ALJ granted summary judgment to both companies without stating the reasons for the rulings…
Phoenix Roofing, Inc.
Attorney-fee request remanded for substantial-justification finding
This order concerns Phoenix Roofing's application for attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Fifth Circuit reversed and remanded an ALJ award because the judge found Phoenix Roofing was the prevailing party but did not decide whether the Secretary's position was substantially…
Smith Steel Casting Company
Air-contaminant violations and silica controls affirmed
Smith Steel Casting Company employees were exposed to excessive respirable silica dust from sand-handling work and excessive copper fume from arc-air gouging. The Commission rejected Smith Steel's challenge to the validity of the air-contaminant standard at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1000 because the cited…
Ficks Reed Company
Settlement conditionally affirmed to permit union input
Ficks Reed Company and the Secretary submitted a settlement after the authorized employee representative, a union, had elected party status. The union objected that it had not been consulted before the agreement was executed and asked the Commission not to approve it. Applying intervening…
E. Clifford Durrell & Son
Settlement reduces penalty and deletes citation items
The Commission approved a settlement between the Secretary of Labor and E. Clifford Durrell & Son. The settlement deleted one item and its penalty from Citation 1, reduced another Citation 1 penalty from $480 to $300, deleted one instance and four items from Citation 2, and required a $300 payment…
Mautz & Oren, Inc.
Remaining electrical citation withdrawn and case dismissed
The underlying case concerned a repeat citation alleging that Mautz & Oren failed to use ground-fault circuit interrupters or an assured equipment grounding conductor program at a construction site. The ALJ had affirmed the citation under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.404(b)(1)(i) and assessed a $980 penalty…
Power Fuels, Inc.
Serious hydrogen-sulfide and respirator violation affirmed
A Power Fuels truck driver was fatally overcome by hydrogen sulfide while working alone at an oil-field salt-water tank in North Dakota without a respirator. The Commission found that the evidence established exposure above the maximum peak concentration allowed by 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1000(b)(2). It…
Pace Construction Corp.
Serious scaffold and balcony fall hazards affirmed
A Pace Construction employee fell 30 feet from an unguarded outrigger scaffold and suffered serious injuries at a Florida construction project. The Commission affirmed that Pace failed to require safety belts and used another scaffold with unsecured planking and incomplete guardrails. It accepted…
RMI Company
Hazard-communication citation withdrawn and case dismissed
The underlying case arose after a subcontractor employee connected a respirator to a plant compressed-air line that was being purged with nitrogen and died from asphyxiation. The ALJ had affirmed a serious hazard-communication violation under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200(h)(1)(ii) and assessed a $350…
Keefe Earth Boring Company, Inc.
Relief from seven uncontested citation orders denied
Keefe Earth Boring Company failed to file timely notices of contest to seven citation orders issued in 1987 and 1988 involving trenching, training, and hard-hat requirements. After the Secretary began a federal penalty-collection action, the company sought relief under Federal Rule of Civil…
Tudor's Body Shop
Spray-booth sprinkler citation vacated for lack of applicability proof
Tudor's Body Shop painted vehicles in a spray booth that did not have automatic sprinklers around its filters. The Secretary cited 29 C.F.R. § 1910.107(b)(5)(iv), but did not establish that the booth was a conventional dry-type spray booth with overspray dry filters or filter rolls covered by that…
Virgil Alan Hickman & Sherry K. Lowe, d/b/a Al Kim Painting
$57,000 default set aside and case remanded for an answer
The Secretary issued two citations alleging 26 serious and four willful violations against Virgil Alan Hickman and Sherry K. Lowe, doing business as Al Kim Painting, with proposed penalties totaling $57,000. The ALJ entered a default after they failed to answer the complaint or respond to a…
E. L. Jones and Son, Inc.
Serious elevator-shaft guarding violation affirmed
A subcontractor employee suffered fatal injuries after falling 35 feet through an unguarded elevator-shaft opening at a Texas office-building project where E. L. Jones and Son was the general contractor. Jones conceded that the opening violated 29 C.F.R. § 1926.500(b)(1) but disputed knowledge and…
Ormet Corporation
Crane warning-signal violation affirmed after fatal billet fall
Ormet Corporation used an overhead crane to move large aluminum billets to an inspection table at its Ohio smelter. A load fell after a billet struck the table, and one billet struck and killed an employee who had moved several feet away. The Commission affirmed a serious violation of 29 C.F.R. §…
Milliken & Company
Cotton-dust exposure and respirator items vacated for lack of knowledge
OSHA sampling at Milliken's Georgia textile plant showed second-shift cotton-dust exposure above the permissible limit in 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1043(c)(1). The Commission accepted the ALJ's finding that OSHA's vertical-elutriator sampling was substantially accurate. It nevertheless vacated the exposure…
Monfort of Colorado, Inc.
Willful refusal to provide injury logs affirmed
A former employee requested copies of Monfort's OSHA 200 injury and illness logs for the meat-packing plant where she had worked. Monfort knowingly denied the request, first calling it a union request and later arguing that disclosure would violate federal labor law and its Fourth Amendment privacy…
General Motors Corporation, Electro-Motive Division
Record-access violations affirmed, willfulness reversed
General Motors denied three employee requests for medical and exposure records because the employees had pending Illinois workers' compensation claims. The Commission held that the access requirements in 29 C.F.R. § 1910.20 did not supersede or alter state workers' compensation law and did not…
Tri-City Electrical Contractors, Inc.
Ladder settlement approved with $100 penalty
Tri-City Electrical Contractors was cited for unsecured portable ladders, improperly constructed job-made ladders, and unguarded open-sided floors at an apartment construction project. The Commission approved a settlement in which the Secretary withdrew the unsecured-ladder item and its $300…
Patent Scaffolding Co.
Scaffold fall-protection citation withdrawn and case dismissed
The underlying case concerned an employee dismantling scaffolding from a partially guarded platform about 110 feet above the ground without a safety belt or safety net. The Secretary alleged alternative violations under the safety-net and scaffold-guardrail standards. The ALJ affirmed the…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Commission limits judicial control of employee settlement input
Boise Cascade and the Secretary were negotiating settlement of extensive citations from a Maine pulp and paper mill when the employee union objected that it had not been included in the negotiations. The ALJ ordered that the union receive notice and be present as a silent observer at future…
A.P. O'Horo Company, Inc.
Willful trenching and training violations affirmed
A.P. O'Horo employees were installing sewer pipe in a 10-foot-deep trench beside a heavily traveled Ohio highway when a wall collapsed and buried a pipe layer, who died several days later. The Commission found that the trench was not adequately sloped, shored, braced, or protected by the available…
Delford Industries, Inc.
One docket severed and made final while review continues
The Commission had jurisdiction over both consolidated Delford Industries dockets after review was directed. It determined that no compelling public interest warranted further review of the issues in docket 89-1753. The Commission severed that docket and made the ALJ's decision for it a final…
Penrod's Palace
Default dismissal and $3,200 penalty affirmed
Penrod's Palace timely contested a willful citation but did not answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to the ALJ's show-cause order. The ALJ dismissed the notice of contest, affirmed the citation, and assessed a $3,200 penalty. Penrod's argued that its counsel believed the Secretary's counsel…
Coleco Industries, Inc.
Willful elevator safety violation largely affirmed
A Coleco employee was crushed and killed when a freight elevator unexpectedly moved while he was loading it with a forklift. The Commission found a recognized hazard under the general duty clause because elevator door and gate interlocks had been intentionally bypassed, a gate was missing, and the…
Gulf and Western, Energy Products Group, Bonney Forge Division
Excessive noise exposure proved and remaining issues remanded
OSHA cited Bonney Forge after measuring excessive noise exposure for 13 employees in its machine shop, forge shop, and production grinding area. The ALJ vacated the citation because he considered OSHA's measurements unreliable and found that overexposure had not been proved. The Commission…
Metal Goods Service Centers, Div. Of Alcan Aluminum Corp.
Settlement remanded for required employee notice
The ALJ approved a settlement before affected employees had received the required 10-day notice and opportunity to comment. The Commission held that the approval was premature and remanded the case to preserve employee rights under Commission precedent. The official release also includes the later…
Thermal Reduction Corporation
Review vacated after failure to comply with Commission orders
Thermal Reduction Corporation repeatedly failed to file required corporate-ownership information and current contact information for its representative. It also failed to respond to the Commission's show-cause order. The Commission therefore vacated the direction for review and made the ALJ's…
Action Group, Inc.
Default set aside for inquiry into claimed settlement
Action Group contested failure-to-abate penalties totaling $4,200 but did not file an answer to the Secretary's complaint. Its new plant manager timely responded to the ALJ's show-cause order by stating that he believed OSHA and the company had resolved the matter for $500, but the ALJ did not…
St. Joe Resources Company
Medical-removal back pay remanded for calculation
St. Joe transferred employees with elevated blood lead levels to jobs with less lead exposure. OSHA cited the company under the lead standard's medical removal protection provision, which required the transferred employees to retain their earnings, rights, and benefits. The Fifth Circuit held that…
Amax Lead Company of Missouri
Medical-removal back pay remanded for calculation
Amax transferred employees with elevated blood lead levels to jobs with less lead exposure. OSHA cited the company under the lead standard's medical removal protection provision, which required the transferred employees to retain their earnings, rights, and benefits. The Fifth Circuit held that the…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Settlement-participation issues accepted for interlocutory review
Boise Cascade and the United Paperworkers' union sought interlocutory review of ALJ orders governing employee participation in settlement discussions. The Commission granted review of six questions, including whether employee representatives had to attend all settlement discussions, what input they…
P. R. Drydock & Marine Terminals, Inc.
Settlement cuts citation penalties to $2,400
OSHA issued P. R. Drydock three citations with proposed penalties totaling $4,800, and an ALJ later dismissed the company's notice of contest as untimely. While the case was under Commission review, the parties settled. The Secretary reduced the serious-citation penalties from $3,680 to $1,840 and…
Bratton Corporation
Untied steel erectors exposed to exterior fall hazard
Bratton employees welding bar joists on perimeter beams were exposed to exterior falls of about 28 to 33 feet. They wore safety belts but were not tied off, and Bratton left that decision to each employee. The Commission held that the steel erection temporary-flooring standard addressed interior…
Compass Steel Erection, Inc.
Welding-cable citation settled as other-than-serious
OSHA cited Compass Steel after finding damaged arc-welding cable repaired with duct tape, an incomplete hazard communication program, and oxygen and acetylene cylinders placed together. An ALJ affirmed the welding-cable item as serious with a $360 penalty and found the four remaining items de…
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.