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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E. M. Duggan, Inc.
Stair-rail citation conditionally affirmed
E. M. Duggan was a plumbing and heating subcontractor whose employees regularly used nine unguarded stairways at a multi-employer construction site. The company did not create or control the missing railings, and the judge vacated the citation under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.500(e)(1)(ii). The Commission…
4G Plumbing & Heating, Inc.
Open-ground citation vacated
4G Plumbing & Heating was one of three prime contractors on a Montana prison-farm construction project. OSHA found that a temporary receptacle installed by the electrical contractor had an open ground and cited 4G under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.401(c) because its employees used the outlet. The defect was…
Otis Elevator Company
Scaffold-access violation reduced to de minimis
Otis employees installing elevators worked from a 30-foot scaffold inside an elevator shaft and climbed built-in scaffold rungs spaced 18 inches apart. The judge found that the rungs were not equivalent to a proper access ladder under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(a)(13), affirmed a nonserious violation…
Valley Roofing Corporation; J. B. Eurell Company
Fall-protection citations vacated
Employees of Valley Roofing and J. B. Eurell worked near roof edges 13 and 29 feet above the ground without safety belts or another form of fall protection. OSHA cited both employers under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a), but the judge vacated the citations because the Secretary did not show a feasible…
Gerard Leone & Sons, Inc.
Trench spoil citation affirmed
Gerard Leone & Sons was a general contractor performing trenching work in Massachusetts. OSHA found excavated material piled at the trench edge above employees working below and cited 29 C.F.R. § 1926.651(i)(1), which required the material to be kept at least two feet from the edge. The judge…
Charles A. Gaetano Construction Corp.
Four serious citations affirmed
Charles A. Gaetano Construction was building a parking ramp when OSHA cited serious hazards involving an inadequately guarded saw, missing personal fall protection, incomplete floor-edge guardrails, and an unguarded carpenter's bracket scaffold. The company argued that an ANSI standard incorporated…
T. J. Service Company
Ladder penalty cut and extinguisher citation reinstated
T. J. Service operated an oil-well workover rig whose derrick man climbed an unprotected fixed ladder to a work platform about 44 feet above the ground several times each day. The Commission affirmed a serious violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.450(a)(5) because the ladder lacked a cage, offset…
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Pre-1971 crane citation vacated
OSHA cited Westinghouse for failing to guard rotating couplings next to a walkway on an overhead crane under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.179(e)(6)(i). The judge vacated the item because employees did not use the walkway during what he considered the crane's normal operating conditions. The Commission affirmed…
Robberson Steel Company
Commission upholds the inspections, denies dismissal, and remands for a merits hearing
OSHA inspected Robberson Steel Company's Oklahoma City facility after receiving written safety complaints, and a follow-up industrial hygiene inspection led to health-hazard citations. Robberson asked the administrative law judge to throw out the citations, arguing that the first inspection was…
Seaboard Coastline Railroad
Railroad-wide OSHA exemption rejected
Seaboard Coastline stipulated that cited workplace conditions violated OSHA standards and that the proposed penalty was appropriate. It argued, however, that railroads were exempt from the OSH Act under 29 U.S.C. § 653(b)(1) because the Department of Transportation regulates the industry. The…
Favrot-Bellows, A Joint Venture
Serious fall-protection violation affirmed
OSHA alleged that Favrot-Bellows willfully violated fall-protection requirements stated in the alternative under three construction standards and proposed a $10,000 penalty. The judge instead affirmed a serious violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a) and assessed $500. On review, the employer expressly…
Hullenkremer Construction Co., Inc.
Scaffold penalty reduced
A Hullenkremer employee washed a newly erected school wall while standing on a scaffold 16 feet above the ground with no guardrails or toeboards. The company president admitted that the condition violated 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(a)(4), but explained that a mason had removed normally used guardrails…
Fattore Construction Company
Multiple citations and $1,680 affirmed
The judge affirmed five citations for serious violations and six of seven items in a citation for nonserious violations against Fattore Construction Company. Total penalties of $1,680 were assessed. Fattore challenged the judge's procedural handling of the case and many factual findings. After…
Borg-Warner Corporation
Serious asbestos exposure citation affirmed
At Borg-Warner's plumbing-products plant, an employee dusted plaster molds with NYTAL 200 talc in a visibly dusty operation. Multiple laboratory analyses found airborne fiber concentrations above the ceiling limit in 29 C.F.R. § 1910.93a(b)(3), and NIOSH electron microscopy and diffraction analysis…
Schultz's, Inc.
Commission declines review, leaving the judge's vacatur of a general-duty citation in place
Administrative Law Judge Henry K. Osterman had vacated a citation and proposed penalty against Schultz's, Inc. for an alleged violation of the general duty clause, section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act. Former Commissioner Moran directed the case for review "for error," bringing it to the full Commission…
Glendale Mills Inc.
Three violations affirmed and poster item vacated
Glendale Mills manufactured knitwear and clothing at a New York plant where OSHA found misleading exit doors, an unrailed stairway, a temporarily missing OSHA poster, and an inadequately guarded bench grinder. The judge affirmed the exit, stair, and grinder items but found that the company had…
Minnotte Contracting & Erection Corporation
Roof fall-protection citation affirmed
Two Minnotte employees worked on a sloped roof 35 feet above the ground without a catch platform or safety belts attached to the available static line. The Commission affirmed a serious violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(u)(3). The employee-misconduct defense failed because Minnotte did not prove…
Lehr Construction Company
Broken-ladder and fall citations affirmed
Lehr employees used a ladder with a broken top rung as the only access to a work platform, and a welder straddled the top of an A-frame ladder near an unguarded platform edge about 25 feet above the ground without a safety belt. The Commission unanimously affirmed the broken-rung citation because…
Del-Cook Lumber Co.
Conveyor violation affirmed and platform penalty removed
At Del-Cook's sawmill, employees used a raised platform with a ten-foot unguarded edge and repaired a log conveyor by restarting it while maintenance work was still underway. During the usual chain-repair procedure, an employee continued holding a log with a cant hook as the conveyor restarted…
F. H. Sparks of Maryland, Inc.
Penalty-only contest and fall citation affirmed
In the first docket, F. H. Sparks expressly contested only the penalties for an uninsulated welding-cable connection and a safety-belt citation, while stating that both conditions were violations and had been corrected. The Commission refused to let the company later expand that clear notice into a…
Hughes Tool Company
Towel and aisle citations remain vacated
OSHA cited Hughes Tool over its method of issuing cloth hand towels and over forklift aisles that were not striped and were sometimes obstructed. The judge vacated both items, finding that employees carried individual towels and could exchange them, that machinery placement visually marked the…
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp.
Pre-1971 crane citation vacated
OSHA cited Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.179(g)(2)(i), which requires crane electrical equipment to be located or enclosed so employees cannot accidentally contact live parts during normal operation. The judge affirmed the citation and held that the requirement applied to the…
Clifford B. Hannay & Son, Inc.
Spray-booth electrical violation reduced to de minimis
Hannay manufactured industrial hose reels and used flammable lacquer and solvents in spray booths. Electrical switches and receptacles that were not approved for a Class I, Division 2 hazardous area were located more than five feet but less than twenty feet from the booth openings, contrary to 29…
Joseph Weinstein Electric Corp.
Service ruling set aside and remanded
OSHA mailed citations, penalty notices, and a failure-to-abate notice by certified mail to Joseph Weinstein Electric's New York City jobsite rather than its corporate office. The judge vacated the documents because the employees who received them were not authorized to accept formal service for the…
Wood Products Co.
Judge affirmed without merits review
The Commission placed the Wood Products case under review on its own initiative. Neither party petitioned for review, objected to the judge's decision, or otherwise expressed dissatisfaction with it. In the absence of a compelling public interest, the Commission declined to pass on or change the…
Supermarkets General Corp.
With no party objecting, the Commission declines review and lets the judge's decision stand
This case reached the Commission only because a Commissioner ordered review on his own motion. Neither Supermarkets General Corp. nor the Secretary filed any objection to the administrative law judge's decision, whether by petitioning for review or by responding to the review order. Because no…
Weaver's Cabinet & Millwork Co.
Judge affirmed without merits review
The Commission placed the Weaver's Cabinet & Millwork case under review on its own initiative. Neither party filed a petition, objected to the judge's decision, responded to the review order, or otherwise expressed dissatisfaction. With no compelling public interest requiring merits review, the…
K.L. House Construction Company
With no party objecting, the Commission declines review and lets the judge's decision stand
This consolidated case reached the Commission only because a Commissioner ordered review on his own motion. Neither the employer nor the Secretary filed any objection to the administrative law judge's decision, either by petitioning for review or by responding to the review order. Because no party…
Shaw Construction, Inc.
Serious trench-shoring violation affirmed
This decision followed a Fifth Circuit remand requiring two Commission members to agree on the trench-shoring citation rather than leaving the judge's ruling in place through an evenly divided vote. Shaw's trench was about nine feet deep, with six to seven feet cut through limestone and the upper…
The Schundler Company
Discharged-extinguisher citation vacated
An OSHA inspector found a discharged, inoperable fire extinguisher standing on the floor of Schundler's furnace room rather than in its mount. Other operable extinguishers provided adequate coverage, and the judge vacated the citation on that basis. The Commission explained that 29 C.F.R. §…
Carmody Roofing
Judge affirmed without merits review
The Commission placed the Carmody Roofing case under review on its own initiative. Neither party petitioned for review, objected to the judge's decision, or otherwise stated that it was dissatisfied. The Commission declined to pass on, modify, or change the ruling because no compelling public…
United States Pipe and Foundry Company
Conveyor lockout violation affirmed
Employees repaired a coal screw conveyor while its ground-level power switch was neither tagged nor locked out. The conveyor was energized during the repair, and an employee was caught in the equipment and fatally injured. United States Pipe argued that OSHA's accident-prevention tag rule was the…
Penn-Dixie Steel Corp. (formerly Continental Steel Corp.)
Citations remanded for a merits hearing
The Seventh Circuit remanded the Penn-Dixie Steel case to the Commission. Following the court's order, the Commission sent Citation No. 1 and item 47 of Citation No. 2 back for a hearing on their merits. The order does not identify the cited standards, describe the alleged hazards, state the…
Cagle Construction Co.
Trench citation vacatur affirmed
The judge vacated a trench citation after finding that the Secretary did not prove noncompliance with either 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652(c), as cited, or § 1926.652(b), as alleged in the complaint. The Secretary sought review of a legal conclusion and several statements about government counsel's conduct…
Bratton Corporation
Stair violations conditionally affirmed
Bratton supplied and installed metal stairways and handrails at a six-story construction project. Some permanent rails did not fit and had been returned for reworking, while the general contractor had filled the stair treads but left the landings unfilled. Three Bratton employees used the stairs to…
Springfield Steel Erectors
Crane power-line citation affirmed
Springfield leased a crane and operator to a painting contractor whose employee spray-painted from the crane basket near a 13,800-volt transformer system. The spray hose contacted an energized line, allowing current to travel through the liquid paint to the nozzle, and the painter was fatally…
Western Electric, Inc.
Judge affirmed on court remand
The Second Circuit remanded the Western Electric case to the Commission. In accordance with the court's order, the Commission affirmed Administrative Law Judge Paul E. Dixon's August 14, 1975 decision. The Commission order does not describe the underlying citations, standards, hazards, detailed…
Constructora Maza, Inc.
Safety-belt violation reclassified as willful-serious
Constructora Maza, Inc. employees worked near an unguarded wall opening on the sixteenth floor without safety belts or other protective equipment. The Commission allowed OSHA to amend the alleged violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a) from repeated to willful because the standard, facts, and means of…
Atlantic Steel Company
Noise-control case remanded for economic feasibility
OSHA cited Atlantic Steel for failing to use feasible engineering or administrative controls to reduce excessive noise exposure for a rougher, assistant roller, and shearman in its fabrication mill. The Commission upheld the judge's findings that proposed booths, barriers, fan changes, a quiet…
Barker Brothers, Inc.
Loader safety violation affirmed
Barker Brothers, Inc. was cited under the general duty clause after an employee was fatally injured while a track loader was being moved onto a dump truck. The truck moved and its bed tipped because available brakes, wheel chocks, chains, and boomers were not used. The Commission held that the…
Mid-States Construction Co., Inc.
Trench and crane rulings affirmed in two-member impasse
Mid-States Construction Co., Inc. was cited over trench shoring, an unbarricaded crane swing radius, and unguarded moving machine parts. Both commissioners agreed that the crane required a physical barricade and affirmed that violation. They disagreed about the trench-shoring violation and whether…
Willamette Iron & Steel Co.
Repeated housekeeping violation affirmed with lower penalty
Willamette Iron & Steel Co. admitted that walkways and work areas on a ship were cluttered with hoses, electrical leads, cords, and debris in violation of the shipyard housekeeping standard. The company had received a final citation under the same standard at the same dry dock nearly three years…
C. Kaufman, Inc.
Fall-protection citation affirmed for untied welder
C. Kaufman, Inc. assigned a welder to perform a short tack weld on an unguarded scaffold about 19 to 23 feet high without a tied-off safety belt. The Commission reversed the judge's vacation of the citation because the cited standards required fall protection regardless of the experienced…
Brown & Root, Inc.
Stair-rail penalty reduced to $150
Brown & Root, Inc. conceded that flights of metal stairs between several floors of a generating-plant project lacked required handrails. An earlier uncontested citation involved the same standard at a different company division and worksite, and the judge classified the new violation as repeated…
Sierra Construction Corp.
Five high-rise construction violations affirmed
Sierra Construction Corp., the general contractor for a seventeen-story hotel addition, was cited for five fall-protection, material-storage, floor-opening, and crane-signal violations. Fifteen employees worked near open floor edges and gaps about 130 feet above ground without fall protection, and…
Hoffman Construction Co.
Separate scaffold violations affirmed
Hoffman Construction Co. used two separate scaffolds that lacked the guardrails and toeboards required by 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(a)(4). One employee welded from an unguarded plank 30 feet above ground, while another worked on a noncompliant scaffold 16 to 18 feet high. The Commission reversed the…
Smith Masonry Contractors, Inc.
Repeated scaffold guardrail violation affirmed
Smith Masonry Contractors, Inc. was cited after a hod carrier removed blocks from the unguarded 13-foot level of a partially dismantled scaffold. Although the compliance officer did not see the employee on the upper level, photographs taken ten minutes apart established exposure through…
Donald Harris, Incorporated
Damaged scaffold-plank violation affirmed
Donald Harris, Incorporated admitted that several split and damaged planks on a tubular-frame scaffold had not been immediately replaced. The company had two earlier final citations under the same standard at other Pennsylvania worksites, and OSHA alleged that the new violation was repeated. The…
Gotham Electric Company
Subcontractor safety violations conditionally affirmed
Gotham Electric Company employees were exposed to construction debris, defective job-made ladders, unguarded floor openings, and unguarded open-sided floors at a multi-employer worksite. The electrical subcontractor did not create or control the conditions, but the Commission held that an exposing…
Corhart Refractories Company
Silica-abatement deadline extension affirmed
Corhart Refractories Company filed four petitions seeking more time to abate an alleged silica-dust violation. The judge found that the company acted in good faith and that existing technology could not accomplish abatement, leaving the company to develop or invent suitable controls. Neither OSHA…
Limbach Co.
Subcontractor stairway-rail violation affirmed
Limbach Company employees used an open-sided stairway without the required railing for about one week at a multi-employer construction site. The mechanical subcontractor did not create or control the hazard, but it took no action to protect its employees or ask the general contractor to install…
Gulf Oil Company
Four violations affirmed and one vacated
An OSHRC judge affirmed four alleged violations against Gulf Oil Company, vacated a fifth, and reclassified one alleged serious violation as nonserious. The judge assessed total penalties of $910, including a reduced $100 penalty for the reclassified item. No party challenged the vacation or…
Julian Hirschbein, d/b/a State Home Improvement Co.
Roofer fall-protection citation affirmed
State Home Improvement Company employees installed shingles on a sloped, two-story roof without safety belts, lifelines, catch platforms, or other protection capable of preventing a fall. A wooden toeboard helped prevent slipping but could not stop a fall of more than 16 feet, and testimony…
Charles P. Blouin, Inc.
Stairway-rail violation conditionally affirmed
Charles P. Blouin, Inc. employees used narrow stairways at a multi-employer construction site that lacked railings on both open sides. The sheet-metal subcontractor did not create or control the condition, but the Commission held that employee exposure established a prima facie case. To avoid…
Schriber Sheet Metal & Roofers, Inc.
A divided Commission affirms a general-duty fall citation for unguarded flat-roof work
Schriber Sheet Metal & Roofers received three nearly identical citations for letting employees work near the edge of flat roofs about 25 feet up without guardrails or other fall protection. Each citation alleged a serious violation of both a specific construction standard, 29 C.F.R. 1926.500(d)(1)…
Quality Roofing Company
Guardrail citation vacated after amendment dispute
OSHA cited Quality Roofing Company for failing to provide a guardrail or equivalent protection for employees working on a flat roof. Before the hearing, the Secretary sought to replace that allegation with an alternative charge requiring safety nets when other fall-protection methods were…
Hogan Mechanical, Inc.
Citations vacated because foreman's exposure was not foreseeable
Hogan Mechanical installed mechanical equipment at construction sites and employed a working foreman who reported directly to the company president. OSHA cited the company for unsecured ladder conditions and missing guardrails after the foreman went alone to a church project, although he had told…
American Bechtel, Inc.
Safety-belt violation and $110 penalty affirmed
American Bechtel was the prime contractor building a soda ash processing plant. Two employees worked outside concrete forms without attached safety-belt lifelines, and the judge found that they were about 25 feet above the ground. The company argued that the work lasted only about five minutes, the…
Security Window Division of Builders Supply Co., Inc.
Commission sets aside a judge's order and remands so a settlement can be considered
An administrative law judge had thrown out the Secretary of Labor's notification that Security Window Division of Builders Supply Co., Inc. failed to correct an earlier violation, doing so because the Secretary did not file a required complaint. On the same day that order became final, the parties…
Unit Builders, Incorporated
Safety-net violation and $100 penalty affirmed
Unit Builders was a steel erection subcontractor constructing a one-story warehouse. OSHA originally cited a steel-erection safety-net standard, then amended the charge at the hearing to the general construction safety-net standard while keeping the same factual allegation. Employees were working…
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.