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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Brown and Root, Inc.
Serious items settled and scaffold-screen citation vacated
Brown and Root settled serious allegations involving an inadequately slung boiler pipe that fell about 140 feet, an uncovered floor opening, an unguarded winch platform, and an unguarded runway at the steam-drum level. Those items were affirmed under the settlement with a total $1,000 penalty. The…
Savina Home Industries, Inc.
Thirteen construction violations affirmed
At a retail-store construction site, the judge affirmed thirteen nonserious items involving missing hard hats, deficient mobile-scaffold rails, planking and bracing, frayed drill cords, an unapproved receptacle, a knotted winch cable, reversed wire-rope clips, a damaged ladder, a mushroomed…
West Coast Construction Co., Inc.
Inadequate excavation sloping upheld
West Coast Construction was installing a storm sewer and had three employees working in a sandy ground opening that was 7.5 feet deep. OSHA cited the company because the opening lacked shoring and its walls were not sloped enough to protect employees from moving ground. The Commission held that the…
Miller Construction Company
Two trench items vacated for insufficient proof
Miller Construction was installing an underground water line when OSHA cited it for a hard-hat violation, material stored too close to a trench edge, and inadequate protection against a trench collapse. The company admitted the hard-hat item, which carried a $25 penalty. The judge found that…
General Telephone Company of Pennsylvania
Aerial-lift citation vacated as isolated misconduct
A General Telephone cable splicer worked about ten feet above the ground in an aerial-lift bucket without wearing a body belt and attached lanyard. OSHA cited the company and proposed a $90 penalty. After a remand to consider the company's timely brief, the judge found that the employee had been…
Konkolville Lumber Co., Inc.
One saw item and one chain item upheld
OSHA cited Konkolville Lumber for saw guarding, mechanical power-transmission guarding, and fire-extinguisher conditions at its Idaho sawmill. In an earlier ruling included in this release, the Commission affirmed a serious radial-saw violation with a $100 penalty and left in place a nonserious…
R.C. Smith, d/b/a R.C. Smith & Company
Late contest dismissed after effective mailed notice
OSHA issued three serious citations and a ten-item nonserious citation after inspecting R.C. Smith's apartment-building project. Smith told the inspector that he would leave the country and directed OSHA to send mail to his home address, where a tenant he had asked to handle his mail signed for the…
Schultz Roof Truss, Inc.
Judge's decision affirmed without substantive review
The Commission affirmed the judge's decision because no party objected and the review order identified no compelling public-interest issue. Commissioner Moran agreed with affirming settled nonserious items but said he would vacate two litigated serious citations under the woodworking-machinery…
Imperial Lumber Company
Late-contest dismissal reversed for notice inquiry
Imperial Lumber received OSHA's citation and penalty notice at its corporate mailing address while its president was abroad. The president wrote a contest letter when he returned, but the judge dismissed it as late because more than 15 working days had passed since the mail arrived. The Commission…
Crawford Steel Construction Co.
Fall-protection citation vacated for lack of feasible method
Crawford Steel employees walked along steel beams while erecting an exit ramp, at points more than 25 feet above the ground. OSHA cited the company for failing to provide a safety net or another listed form of fall protection and proposed a $550 penalty. The record showed that a crane had to…
Allis-Chalmers Corporation
Side-shield item upheld, tractor-guarding item vacated
Allis-Chalmers employees used machine tools and compressed air in areas where metal particles could approach their eyes from the front or side. Although employees wore frontal safety glasses, the company did not generally require side shields. The Commission affirmed the eye-protection item and its…
Alpha Poster Service, Inc.
Most failure-to-abate and liquid-handling items upheld
Alpha Poster Service operated a small silk-screen printing business that OSHA reinspected after an earlier citation became final. The judge affirmed ten failure-to-abate items at $45 each, vacated two others, and affirmed two housekeeping and exit-obstruction violations as nonserious at $115 each…
Norfolk and Western Railway Company
Railroad exemption rejected
OSHA issued two citations alleging 31 violations at Norfolk and Western Railway workplaces in Chicago. The railway admitted the violations and the penalty factors, leaving its claimed exemption from OSHA jurisdiction as the contested issue. The Commission relied on earlier decisions holding that…
Diamond International Corp.
Guarding citations upheld with reduced penalties
OSHA cited Diamond International for unguarded power-transmission equipment, unguarded saw blades, and stairways without handrails at its Idaho sawmill. The judge found nine power-transmission guarding violations but reduced their classification from serious to nonserious because employee exposure…
Philadelphia Coke Division, Eastern Associated Coal Corp.
Conveyor-ramp citation vacated
Philadelphia Coke used an enclosed, inclined conveyor ramp between two elevated screening stations. OSHA cited the company because the ramp rose about four to four-and-a-half inches for every twelve horizontal inches. The Commission held that the cited standard required stairs or a ramp where an…
State, Incorporated
Guardrail item upheld with increased penalty
State, Incorporated performed construction work at a steel plant where a furnace eruption killed two employees working above the operating area. The judge vacated OSHA's general duty clause citation because the evidence did not establish that the charging operation presented a recognized hazard…
Wisconsin Electric Power Company
Ungrounded line truck violation affirmed
A Wisconsin Electric crew used a boom-equipped line truck to transfer energized overhead wires to a new utility pole. The truck and attached trailer were neither grounded nor barricaded, and the truck became energized when an exposed part of the boom contacted a primary wire. A lineman on the…
Hoerner Waldorf Corp.
Forklift citation vacated after witness exclusion
OSHA cited Hoerner Waldorf for allegedly operating two powered industrial trucks with defective brakes or a defective horn and for inadequate operator inspection training. Before the hearing, the judge ordered both parties to exchange witness and exhibit information in writing. The company…
Crain Electric, Inc.
Eight construction items vacated for lack of exposure proof
Crain Electric was an electrical subcontractor on a large power-station construction project with many other contractors. OSHA cited temporary wiring conditions, floor openings, floor holes, and unguarded elevated floors and proposed penalties totaling $145. The compliance officer did not observe…
Burlington Northern Incorporated
Railroad exemption rejected
OSHA cited Burlington Northern for seven nonserious violations at a Nebraska railroad facility. The railroad stipulated that no Department of Transportation rule covered the specific working conditions and admitted the violations if OSHA had jurisdiction. The Commission relied on earlier decisions…
Chicago, West Pullman and Southern Railroad Company
Railroad exemption rejected
OSHA cited Chicago, West Pullman and Southern Railroad for failing to comply with 30 safety and health standards at a Chicago workplace. The parties resolved all issues except whether federal railroad regulation exempted the company from OSHA jurisdiction. The Commission relied on earlier decisions…
Underhill Construction Corp. and DIC Concrete, trading as DIC-Underhill, A Joint Venture
Construction violations upheld with penalty reductions
DIC-Underhill was erecting concrete high-rise structures at a large New York construction site. A serious guardrail citation and $1,000 penalty became final because the company's notice of contest referred only to a later six-item nonserious citation. The judge merged a duplicate nonserious…
Par Construction Company, Inc.
Unsupported trench violations affirmed
Three Par Construction employees worked in a trench that was more than five feet deep and dug in loose, unstable soil. The trench had not been shored, braced, sloped, or otherwise supported, and the company had not provided an adequate exit. The judge affirmed a serious trench-support violation…
D. Federico Co., Inc.
Trench exit and spoil-pile items affirmed
D. Federico was installing a sewer in a 14-foot-deep trench where an employee worked inside an open-topped wooden manhole chamber. The Commission held that soil stored within two feet of the trench exposed the employee to a hazard and that neither an eight-foot ladder nor a loose backfill ramp…
Beldon Roofing & Remodeling Co.
Flat-roof guardrail citation vacated
Beldon Roofing was reroofing a flat-roofed building, and an employee filled and carried buckets of hot tar near an unguarded roof edge. OSHA cited the company under the open-sided floor and platform guardrail standard and proposed a $500 penalty. The judge initially affirmed the item as nonserious…
Southern Pacific Transportation Co.
Railroad exemption rejected
OSHA cited Southern Pacific for violating 12 safety and health standards at its Avondale, Louisiana workplace. The railroad admitted the alleged violations and the penalty factors. Its contested issue was whether federal railroad regulation created an industry-wide exemption from OSHA jurisdiction…
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
Meat-cutter PPE citations vacated
OSHA cited A&P supermarkets because meat cutters did not use metal mesh gloves and, in two stores, did not use protective aprons. The judge found that mesh gloves were not customary in retail meat departments, could interfere with handling meat, and raised sanitation and other practical concerns…
Underhill Construction Corp. and DIC Concrete Corp., trading as DIC-Underhill, A Joint Venture
Safety-belt and hard-hat items upheld
Two DIC-Underhill employees grouted elevator sills near an unguarded shaft without properly secured safety belts. The Commission affirmed the personal-protective-equipment violation but vacated a separately pleaded lifeline-use provision because that provision did not require employees to use…
Frank Briscoe Company, Inc.
Construction citations partly upheld and partly vacated
Frank Briscoe was the general contractor for a multilevel building project where OSHA cited housekeeping, floor-opening, scaffold, ladder, fall-protection, and hard-hat conditions. The Commission vacated a general personal-protective-equipment item because OSHA did not identify or prove a feasible…
Republic Granite Company, Inc.
Silica-control citation vacated for lack of feasible controls
Republic Granite's monument-shaping process generated silica dust well above the permissible airborne limit. Its shaper wore an approved supplied-air respirator that the record found fully protected him from breathing the dust. OSHA argued that the company first had to use a ventilated shaping…
Wallace L. Boldt General Contractor, Inc.
Scaffold citation upheld with reduced penalty
An employee of Wallace L. Boldt worked on a narrow mobile-scaffold platform about 18 feet above a concrete floor without guardrails or toeboards. The judge found that the scaffold was under the general contractor's control and that its employee was exposed to a fall capable of causing serious…
Agrico Chemical Co.
One-sided runway guarding found insufficient
Agrico employees used elevated runways beside fertilizer conveyors and hopper-car tracks that were guarded on only one side. The runways were 40 to 49 inches wide and were used for operating, cleaning, checking, and maintaining the equipment. The judge agreed that they were special-purpose runways…
Edward Hines Lumber Co.
Mixed sawmill citations resolved with $510 penalty
OSHA cited Edward Hines Lumber after inspecting its large Oregon sawmill complex, alleging numerous machine-guarding, conveyor, walkway, ladder, and power-transmission violations. The judge vacated many items because the cited standards were advisory or inapplicable, the machinery was guarded by…
Southern Pacific Transportation Co.
Railroad exemption ruling reversed
Southern Pacific admitted ten alleged safety violations at a Houston railroad facility but argued that the railroad industry was outside OSHA's authority under the statutory exemption for working conditions regulated by another federal agency. The judge accepted that argument and vacated the…
Weyerhaeuser Company
Noise-standard ruling reversed and remanded
Weyerhaeuser's Honolulu corrugated-box plant exposed a single-facer operator to noise above the limits in OSHA's occupational-noise standard. The company required hearing protection and had investigated a range of engineering controls, while the judge vacated the citation after declaring § 1910.95…
Chopko Construction Company
Default affirmed after repeated nonresponse
Chopko Construction failed to answer the Secretary's complaint and did not respond to the chief judge's order to show cause, so the judge affirmed the citation and proposed penalty by default. The company later asked that its notice of contest be treated as its answer. The Commission directed…
Frank Briscoe Company, Inc.
Fall-protection item affirmed and ladder citation amended
Frank Briscoe employees worked near unguarded building edges, including one employee standing on a ladder beside the open third-floor perimeter without a tied-off safety belt. The Commission vacated the roof-edge citation under then-current precedent holding that § 1926.500(d)(1) did not apply to…
Cornell & Co., Inc.
Safety-belt citation affirmed for 100-foot steel work
Cornell employees bolted steel on a flare derrick 100 feet above ground without tying off their safety belts, and no floor or net would break a fall. Before the hearing, OSHA replaced inapplicable temporary-floor and safety-net allegations with a charge under the personal-protective-equipment and…
Stephenson Enterprises, Inc.
Eight plant-safety items reinstated
Stephenson Enterprises manufactured men's and boys' pants at a Georgia plant cited for several housekeeping, fire-protection, electrical, storage, machine-guarding, and sewing-machine conditions. The judge vacated the contested items after finding OSHA's evidence too conclusory. The Commission held…
Circle Industries Corp.
Unguarded-floor citation reinstated
Circle Industries was a carpentry subcontractor on a New York City apartment project where floor perimeters lacked guardrails. Its employees worked within five feet of those edges while installing door bucks, although the compliance officer did not see them exposed during the inspection. The…
Process Engineering, Inc.
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in these consolidated Process Engineering cases by referring to its decision in Francisco Tower Service. The short order did not address the underlying citation, standards, facts, or penalties. Commissioner Moran dissented, arguing that two…
National Rolling Mills Co.
Open-pit item reduced to de minimis
National Rolling Mills operated a steel mill where an employee sometimes stepped across a 23-inch-wide pit to guide a coil onto a spindle. The Commission held that the open-pit standard applied because the coil buggy and tracks did not fully occupy the opening, and the standard itself presumed a…
Wood Products Company
Timely oral contest accepted and case remanded
Wood Products Company orally told OSHA within the 15-working-day deadline that it intended to contest its citation and proposed penalties. The owner had several contacts with the area director, did not initially understand that the notice had to be written, and mailed written confirmation within no…
Utilities Line Construction Company, Inc.
Line-status violation affirmed, clearance item vacated
Utilities Line Construction was upgrading a Massachusetts power line when a journeyman lineman contacted a 2,400-volt line and was electrocuted. The crew had noticed the new line but did not determine whether it was energized, even though it could have checked within minutes. The Commission…
Brand Insulations, Inc.
Four construction violations and increased penalties affirmed
Brand Insulations supplied and installed insulation at an Ohio power-plant construction project. The violations involved debris outside a fabrication shop, materials obstructing narrow passageways, employees using a high runway plank with only a rope rail on one side, and employees working from…
Spector Freight System
Citation vacated after OSHA withdrew for lack of evidence
OSHA sought to withdraw its citation and complaint against Spector Freight System because it lacked enough evidence to carry its burden of proof. The judge treated OSHA's notice as a motion because the agency could not end the case unilaterally. He found no purpose in continuing once OSHA…
Pittsburgh Des Moines Steel Co.; Stone & Webster Engineering Corp.; Dravo Corp.
Reactor-building citations vacated
The three contractors were building an 80-foot-wide, open-top reactor structure at the Shoreham Nuclear Power Station. OSHA cited them for bringing gas cylinders into a confined space, failing to provide ventilation for welding in a confined space, and lacking two means of egress. The judge found…
Penrod Drilling Company
General duty citation vacated over hazard recognition
Penrod employees were preparing to dismantle an oil derrick and worked from a girder about 125 feet above the ground without safety belts. One employee stepped onto the bridle assembly, the sling broke, and he fell to his death. OSHA alleged a serious general duty clause violation and proposed a…
Arvin Millwork Co.
No penalty assessed for alleged failure to abate
An earlier uncontested citation alleged that Arvin Millwork failed to guard a platform 30 feet above ground. OSHA later alleged that the company had failed to abate that condition and challenged several evidentiary rulings by the judge. During Commission review, however, OSHA expressly stated that…
Universal Terminal & Transport, a Division of Universal Maritime Service Corp.
Unsecured hatch-beam citation affirmed
Universal Terminal & Transport conducted longshoring work at the Port of New York beneath a one-ton hatch beam whose locking devices were broken. The company tied the beam with manila rope, but a crane cable snagged it and pulled it from its sockets, causing it to fall into the hatch and inflict…
Wichita Precision, Division of Wellman Industries, Inc.
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in the Wichita Precision case by referring to Francisco Tower Service. The official release does not identify the underlying standards, workplace facts, citation result, or proposed penalties. Commissioner Moran dissented, arguing that the majority…
Communication Cable-Laying Co., Inc.
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in the Communication Cable-Laying case by referring to Francisco Tower Service. The official release does not identify the underlying standards, workplace facts, citation result, or proposed penalties. Commissioner Moran dissented, arguing that the…
Grand Union Co.
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in the Grand Union Store #1830 case by referring to Francisco Tower Service. The official release does not identify the underlying standards, workplace facts, or proposed penalties. Commissioner Moran's dissent states that the judge had vacated all…
Wildman Logging Company
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in the Wildman Logging case by referring to Francisco Tower Service. The official release does not identify the underlying standards, workplace facts, citation result, or proposed penalties. Commissioner Moran dissented, arguing that the majority…
Hawthorne Steel Co.
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in the Hawthorne Steel case by referring to Francisco Tower Service. The official release does not identify the underlying standards, workplace facts, citation result, or proposed penalties. Commissioner Moran dissented, arguing that the majority…
Dan J. Brutger, Inc
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in the Dan J. Brutger case by referring to Francisco Tower Service. The official release does not identify the underlying standards, workplace facts, citation result, or proposed penalties. Commissioner Moran dissented, arguing that the majority could…
Williams Enterprises, Inc.
Counterweight case reversed and remanded
Williams Enterprises was assembling a crane for a Library of Congress construction project when a 43,000-pound counterweight left standing on an inclined street toppled into a second counterweight. The two weights trapped and killed a foreman and an oiler. OSHA alleged a willful general duty clause…
Ted Breihan dba Ted Breihan Electric
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in the Ted Breihan Electric case by referring to Francisco Tower Service. The release says the judge assessed no penalty, but it does not identify the underlying standards, workplace facts, or citation disposition. Commissioner Moran dissented…
Champlin Petroleum Co.
Flat-roof citation vacated
A Champlin employee worked at the edge of a service-station roof while removing a sign without a safety line or safety belt. OSHA cited Champlin for a serious violation of the construction perimeter-guarding standard, and the judge affirmed that item. The Commission vacated the citation because its…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Radial-saw guarding citation affirmed
Boise Cascade operated four radial saws at its Springfield, Virginia workplace without lower-blade guards that automatically adjusted to the stock being cut. The parties stipulated to those conditions, so the only disputed issue was whether the radial-saw guarding rule had been validly adopted as…
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.