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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Champion International Corp.
Machine-guarding item vacated after employee notice
Champion International contested only item 8 of a 13-item nonserious citation. The Secretary moved to dismiss that item because the facts did not establish a violation of the point-of-operation guarding standard, and the judge vacated it. The Commission reviewed whether affected employees had…
Kit Manufacturing Co.
Eye-protection failure-to-abate penalty vacated
Kit Manufacturing's uncontested original citation required eye protection for employees working around saws and routers that emitted wood chips and sawdust. OSHA later alleged that the company had not corrected the violation and proposed an additional $2,900 penalty. At the reinspection, the…
M-CO Equipment Co., Inc.
Crane fire-extinguisher item reinstated
M-CO Equipment was installing a sewer line at an Arizona construction site. A required fire extinguisher for a crane was kept in a pickup truck normally about 150 feet away, and the truck moved around the worksite. The Commission held that this did not make the extinguisher accessible and available…
Oestreichers Prints, Inc.
Citation affirmed after withdrawal of contest
Oestreichers Prints decided to withdraw its notice of contest after correcting the violations and paying the penalty in full. Neither party appeared at the scheduled hearing because the company failed to submit the expected withdrawal motion and the Secretary relied on its assurance that it would…
Jersey Steel Drum MFG. Corp.
Drum-expander guarding citation vacated
Jersey Steel Drum used an automatic drum-hoop expander whose hydraulic rams formed ribs in steel drums. During weekly maintenance, a foreman entered between the rams without locking out the power, accidentally triggered the machine, and was killed. The Commission majority held that the cited…
J. R. Simplot Co.
Swing-saw guarding violation affirmed
J. R. Simplot used a 20-inch metal-cutting swing saw equipped with an adjustable blade guard. The guard could comply when allowed to float on the material, but the judge found that employees normally secured it in a raised position that left the point of operation exposed. The raised guard left…
Arkansas-Best Freight System, Inc.
Toe-protection citation reinstated
Arkansas-Best operated a busy North Carolina freight terminal where dock workers handled freight ranging from light goods to castings, pipes, and 55-gallon drums while forklifts moved throughout the area. Repair-shop employees also handled heavy tools, parts, and large truck tires. The company did…
Underhill Construction Corp. & DIC Concrete Corp, d/b/a DIC Underhill, A Joint Venture
Ninth-floor safety-belt citation affirmed
Employees of the DIC-Underhill joint venture stacked and rigged plywood at the unguarded edge of a building's ninth floor. As a load shifted during hoisting, one employee moved to avoid it, stepped off the edge, and fell to his death. The judge found that perimeter railings could not remain in…
Crescent Wharf & Warehouse Co.
Hazardous-cargo warning violation affirmed
Crescent Wharf employees loaded bags of barium hydroxide monohydrate and insecticide onto a vessel at an Alameda, California, terminal. Some bags leaked, and employees who inhaled or contacted barium hydroxide dust experienced breathing difficulty, coughing, irritation, nausea, and eye symptoms…
Pyropak Manufacturing, Inc.
One abatement extension approved and three dismissed as late
Pyropak Manufacturing sought additional time to correct four nonserious citation items involving machinery and electrical conditions. The judge found the petition timely only for item 5 and extended that item's deadline to January 6, 1975. He dismissed the extension requests for items 6, 7, and 8…
Eichleay Corp.
Safety-belt violation affirmed and scaffold allegation vacated
Eichleay employees removed temporary boards from inside a vertical power-plant duct about 50 feet above its bottom. A boilermaker foreman and a union steward recognized that the task was hazardous but performed it without available safety belts or lifelines, and the foreman fell to his death. The…
Copperweld Steel Co.
Bottomless slag-pot citation affirmed
Copperweld Steel used a bottomless slag pot with a temporary dolomite bottom to handle molten slag at temperatures near 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Employees, union representatives, the safety director, and other company supervisors repeatedly warned management that the pot was unsafe, but the…
Pack River Lumber Co.
Saw-guarding violation classified as serious
Pack River Lumber operated two swing cutoff saws and one radial-arm saw without guards on the lower portions of their blades. It also had numerous unguarded gears, chains, belts, and pulleys that created pinch-point hazards throughout the workplace. The judge affirmed both violations as nonserious…
Consolidated Aluminum Corporation
Coal-tar exposure item vacated
OSHA alleged that a Consolidated Aluminum employee was exposed to coal-tar pitch volatiles above the eight-hour limit. The company contested that item and its proposed $40 penalty. The Secretary later moved to withdraw because the company had made good-faith corrective efforts and the investigative…
Frank Galey, Jr., d/b/a Galey Construction Co.
Ladder item reinstated and trench violation classified as nonserious
Galey Construction installed drain pipe in a long trench that reached approximately 18 feet deep at its western end. The Commission affirmed a trenching violation as nonserious because the hard, compact soil was nearly sloped to the required angle and the record did not establish a substantial…
Western Metal Decorating Company
Stairway item reinstated and respiratory-protection item vacated
Western Metal Decorating Company decorated flat sheets of tin and steel using coating, printing, and baking lines. OSHA issued a 25-item citation covering conditions that included housekeeping, powered industrial trucks, flammable liquids, machinery, electrical equipment, employee eating areas, and…
Wayne Taysom & Eli Taysom, d/b/a Taysom Construction Company
Crane power-line violation affirmed with a $300 penalty
Taysom Construction was building a concrete bank vault and used a crane to move cement from a delivery truck to the vault. The crane boom contacted an energized 12,000-volt power line, and the delivery-truck driver was killed when current traveled through the crane cable and bucket. The judge found…
Davenport Brothers, Inc.
Trench and head-protection violations affirmed, penalty reduced to $200
Davenport Brothers sent two employees into a trench to repair a broken water line. The judge found that the trench was more than five feet deep and was not shored, braced, or sloped, and that neither employee wore protective headgear. The Commission affirmed the serious trenching violation and the…
Carolina Power and Light Company
Settlement approved with surplus order language stricken
OSHA cited Carolina Power and Light Company for allowing fly ash to accumulate on a floor in a load allegedly greater than the structure was designed or approved to support. The parties settled after the company moved to withdraw its notice of contest, represented that the condition had been…
Julius Nasso Concrete Corporation and Beach Concrete Company, Inc., a Joint Venture, d/b/a Nasso Beach Concrete
Citation vacated for lack of reasonable promptness
Nasso Beach Concrete was the concrete subcontractor on a high-rise apartment project. An employee installing perimeter guardrail protection on the sixteenth floor fell and died, and OSHA investigated the next day. The area director decided on December 26, 1972, to issue a citation concerning fall…
Greguson's Nursery, Inc.
Limited contest made power-line citation final, penalty set at $100
Greguson's Nursery performed landscaping work, and one of its employees was electrocuted when the boom he was operating contacted an energized power line while he moved boulders. The employer's notice of contest expressly challenged only OSHA's proposed $600 penalty. The Commission held that the…
Laster and Fingeret, Inc.
Penalties imposed for eight admitted construction violations
Laster and Fingeret was the general contractor at a building project and admitted three serious and five nonserious construction violations. The cited conditions included missing stair and perimeter railings, unguarded floor openings, fire-extinguisher and first-aid deficiencies, unsecured gas…
C. N. Flagg & Company, Inc., d/b/a Northeastern Contracting Company
Serious trench violation affirmed, willful citation vacated
Flagg was installing sewer pipe in a trench more than 15 feet deep. The trench boxes and sheeting did not protect the bottom portion, where employees worked, and the Commission upheld the finding that the soil was unstable. It affirmed a serious trenching violation and its $700 penalty from the…
Carpenter Rigging and Contracting Corporation
Serious fall-protection violation reinstated with a $650 penalty
Carpenter Rigging was a subcontractor constructing an automated container warehouse at John F. Kennedy Airport. Two employees repositioned planking while standing on eight-inch girders about 21 feet above a concrete floor without safety belts or lanyards, and one employee fell and died. The…
Hoffman Construction Co.
Fall-protection violation affirmed, scaffold item vacated
Hoffman Construction employees installing concrete forms at a nuclear power project worked about 40 to 50 feet above the ground while wearing safety belts but not tying off their lanyards. The Commission found that most of the workers were stationary, could feasibly tie off, and faced a serious…
Bay Marina, Inc.
Forklift failure-to-abate penalty set at $315
Bay Marina sold, stored, and repaired boats using a forklift that had an added counterweight without the manufacturer's approval. The company admitted the powered-industrial-truck violations and failed to remove the counterweight by the abatement date, leaving only the additional penalty in…
Todd Shipyards Corp.
Three repeated ship-repair violations affirmed
Todd Shipyards was repairing the S/S OREGON MAIL when OSHA found an unguarded manhole, an obstructed passageway, and an employee working from a scaffold railing without fall protection. The judge found repeated violations of the manhole, housekeeping, and elevated-work standards because earlier…
Underhill Construction Corp.
Open-floor fall hazard affirmed for $700
Underhill Construction employees stripped concrete forms near unguarded perimeters on the 18th through 20th floors of a New York apartment project. The judge vacated the citation because contract negotiations began before the effective dates stated in a Construction Safety Act provision. The…
Dayton Tire & Rubber Co.
Recordkeeping duty covered supplied warehouse workers
Dayton operated a tire warehouse using about 65 workers supplied and paid by Manpower, Inc. Dayton selected the workers, trained and equipped them, controlled their schedules and assignments, supervised them, and could discipline or remove them. The Commission held that economic reality made Dayton…
California Rotogravure Co.
Storage-roof violation affirmed without penalty
California Rotogravure operated a printing plant where employees occasionally climbed onto an unguarded office roof to handle stored materials. The Commission held that the roof became a working platform when employees used it and affirmed the guardrail violation without a penalty. It vacated a…
A. B. Hall, d/b/a Dixie Roofing & Metal Co.
Roof citations reduced to nonserious
Dixie Roofing employees installed roofing around 12 unguarded openings and along unguarded edges about 15 to 16 feet above lower surfaces. They also used an unsecured wooden ladder several times each day to reach the roof. The judge affirmed all three violations but reduced the roof-opening and…
Badger Aluminum Extrusion Corp.
Acid-tank platform penalty restored
Badger Aluminum used an unguarded platform above a tank containing a five-foot depth of 15 percent sulfuric acid solution. An employee worked on the platform, creating a risk of falling into the tank. The judge affirmed a nonserious guardrail violation but vacated the proposed penalty because the…
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, A Div. of United Aircraft Corp.
Loading-area general-duty citation vacated
Pratt & Whitney loaded tractor-trailers on a service road near a remote storage building, using forklifts for about 30 minutes at a time. Traffic was infrequent, moved slowly, and consisted mainly of company vehicles, while the forklifts and trucks used warning lights and employees followed safety…
Uriel G. Ashworth
Masonry-wall shoring citation vacated
Ashworth was the masonry subcontractor on a school project where tall block walls remained unbraced before the roof trusses were installed. One wall collapsed during a weekend, and a second wall later collapsed, killing one worker and injuring several others. OSHA cited the masonry contractor under…
Marine Terminals Corp.
Posted settlement approved without separate service proof
Marine Terminals contested only the two $125 penalties associated with its citation, so the citation itself had already become final. The parties agreed that OSHA would withdraw one proposed penalty and the employer would withdraw its contest to the other. The settlement was posted at the worksite…
Deemer Steel Casting Co.
Grinding-dust abatement stayed for variance review
Deemer Steel used portable grinders to clean castings without hoods or enclosures connected to an exhaust system. The parties agreed that no workable system had been arranged for the varied work positions, and the company began requiring respirators after the citation. The Commission affirmed the…
St. Regis Paper Co.
Noise-abatement extension affirmed after employee notice
St. Regis sought additional time to correct employee noise exposures at its Bucksport, Maine, facility. The judge granted an extension from August 6, 1974, to March 1, 1983, following the timetable in the company's hazard profile study. OSHA did not object and stated that the company had made a…
Structural Steel Erectors, Inc., d/b/a Pecosteel-Arizona
Serious skylight violation affirmed
Pecosteel installed a metal roof with four plastic skylight panels that could not support a 200-pound person. The job foreman initially kept the skylights covered with metal sheets but removed those sheets when other roofing material failed to arrive. The next morning the foreman fell through an…
Traders Oil Mill Co.
Raw-cotton-dust items vacated on summary judgment
OSHA cited Traders Oil Mill for failing to control alleged excessive concentrations of raw cotton dust. The plant superintendent submitted an affidavit stating that the facility processed only cottonseed and did not procure, process, or otherwise handle raw cotton. OSHA did not file a…
James Tice, d/b/a Tice Industries
Swing-saw citation split, penalty cut to $50
Tice Industries used a metal swing saw that could extend beyond the workbench and had a blade guarded only on its upper half. The employer's informal answer timely challenged the allegation that the saw's overtravel exposed the operator's body, and the Commission found OSHA had not proved that…
Peter Bratti Associates, Inc. & D'Adderio Construction Co., Inc.
Cylinder and fire-protection citations vacated
Bratti performed stonework and D'Adderio performed brickwork on a 15-story construction project where compressed-gas cylinders were found lying on their sides without valve caps. OSHA also alleged that required fire extinguishers were missing. The judge found insufficient evidence that either…
Martin Iron Works, Inc.
Crane inspection violations added without penalties
Martin Iron Works used a crane beyond the manufacturer's rated lifting radius and capacity during structural steel erection at a Nevada casino project. The judge affirmed that serious violation for $850, along with an inadequate ladder for $55, unsecured gas cylinders for $55, and an improperly…
Weicker Transfer & Storage Co.
Crane lessor remained employer of leased crew
Weicker leased a crane, operator, and oiler to a construction contractor under an agreement placing the crew under the contractor's exclusive supervision and control. The operator and oiler still reported to Weicker, punched its time clock, were paid by it, considered themselves its employees, and…
Edgewood Construction Co.
Gas-detection general-duty violation affirmed
Edgewood installed a sewer beside a corroded natural-gas line that leaked repeatedly during the project. Employees relied on odor and waited 15 minutes for ventilation before entering the sewer, but the company did not use gas-detection instruments or change its ventilation methods. Gas accumulated…
Murphy Pacific Marine Salvage Co.
Eye-protection violation affirmed for $25
An individual at Murphy Pacific's Staten Island yard used an air hose to clean an engine without protective goggles. When OSHA pointed out the condition, the foreman stopped the work and the individual retrieved goggles from his locker before resuming. The Commission inferred from the…
McGuire & Hester
Trench and spoil-pile violations affirmed
McGuire & Hester reopened a trench to reposition a water line beneath a gas main. An employee worked in a section more than five feet deep that lacked adequate shoring or compliant sloping, while traffic and heavy equipment operated nearby. Excavated soil three to four feet high was also piled…
Norfolk & Western Railway Co.
Poster item affirmed, recordkeeping items vacated
Norfolk & Western operated a railroad switching and maintenance yard in Bellevue, Ohio. OSHA cited it for failing to post the required employee-rights notice and for failing to maintain the injury log, supplementary record, and annual summary. The Commission affirmed the poster citation and its $50…
Chamberlain Manufacturing Corp.
Nine violations affirmed, penalties set at $1,292.50
Chamberlain operated an Iowa manufacturing plant producing ammunition components, appliance shelving, and aluminum ladders. The judge affirmed nine nonserious items involving damaged hoist ropes and a distorted hook, missing electrical covers, excessive compressed-air pressure, emergency washing…
Heede International, Inc.
Serious wire-rope clip violation affirmed
Heede directed the dismantling of a climbing crane inside a building under construction in Puerto Rico. A 7/8-inch wire-rope sling used in the operation was formed with three U-bolt clips, while the applicable table required four. The judge found that Heede controlled the crane operation and the…
A. G. Pinkston Co., Inc.
Serious trench penalty reduced to $250
Pinkston employees worked in a trench about seven feet deep without adequate shoring or sloping. The soil was cohesive clay, but it was not solid rock or another material exempt from the trench-protection requirement, and some soil had already sloughed from the side. The judge found a serious…
Allied Structural Steel Co.
Bridge fall-protection violations affirmed
Allied Structural Steel employees worked on a Mississippi River bridge at elevations about 80 feet above a concrete deck and 100 feet above the water. Several employees lacked safety nets, belts, scaffolds, catch platforms, or comparable fall protection, and employees moved between elevations by…
Langer Roofing & Sheet Metal, Inc.
Flat-roof edge violation affirmed
Langer employees worked on an unguarded flat roof more than six feet above the adjacent level. The Commission held that the open-sided-floor standard applied to flat roofs and affirmed that nonserious violation with a $55 penalty. A separate four-foot-square opening was covered by an unfastened…
Godwin-Bevers Co., Inc.
General-duty citation vacated because crane standard applied
Godwin-Bevers directed a leased crane and rigging crew while erecting precast concrete units beneath a 7,620-volt power line. A crane cable contacted the line, killing the contractor's foreman and injuring another employee and the crane lessor's oiler. OSHA cited Godwin-Bevers under the general…
State Contracting Co., Inc.
Hard-hat item affirmed, trench penalties reduced
Two State Contracting employees worked in a deep trench that lacked required shoring or sloping, had no ladder for exit, and exposed them to falling material without hard hats. The employer had supplied hard hats and required their use, but the parties tried whether the employees actually wore…
E. C. Ernst, Inc.
Delayed hard-hat item vacated, housekeeping affirmed
OSHA inspected Ernst's electrical work at a multi-employer construction site and issued a citation 69 days later. The hard-hat item involved an employee who left Ernst before the citation issued and could not later be located. The Commission affirmed vacation of that item because the delay…
Gelhaar Uniform Co.
Needle-guard violation affirmed, exit item vacated
Gelhaar manufactured uniforms using dozens of powered sewing machines without point-of-operation needle guards. The Commission affirmed that violation and its $30 penalty because the exposed needles could puncture operators and employee resistance did not excuse missing guards. It vacated a…
Abdo S. Allen Co.
Demolition, posting, and recordkeeping allegations vacated
A front-end loader operator was killed when he drove onto an underground tunnel roof despite repeated instructions and warnings to avoid it. The Commission affirmed the judge's order vacating every allegation. The employer could not reasonably have anticipated the experienced operator's conduct…
Safeway Stores, Inc.
Wheel-blocking violations affirmed before reconsideration
Safeway routinely loaded and unloaded semitrailers at three distribution facilities without wheel chocks or blocks. The Commission affirmed three violations of the truck-operations standard and penalties totaling $110. It vacated the parallel allegations under a second powered-industrial-truck…
Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.
Electrical and passageway items affirmed
Chicago Bridge & Iron was one of many contractors building nuclear-reactor containment vessels. OSHA cited improper attachment plugs, unguarded temporary bulbs, temporary lights suspended by unsuitable cords, 110-volt portable lighting in moist metal vessels, and hoses and cables obstructing…
Charles A. Davison & Margaret S. Davison, dba Davison Wood Products
Machine-guarding items affirmed without penalties
OSHA cited a small woodworking business for unguarded sanding machines, a jointer, saw belts and pulleys, and a rip saw, along with alleged electrical, spray-booth ventilation, and first-aid violations. The judge affirmed the four machine-guarding items without penalties. He vacated the electrical…
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.