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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Beall Construction, Inc., d/b/a Tiger Manufacturing
Settlement resolves two consolidated cases, $1,000 penalty
Beall Construction, Inc., doing business as Tiger Manufacturing in Dallas, Texas, faced OSHA citations in two separate cases covering welding, respirator, flammable-liquid, spray-finishing, and electrical safety standards. At a June 28, 1994 hearing, the parties used a short settlement discussion…
G-UB-MK Constructors
Arsenic, asbestos, hazard-communication, and respirator items resolved
G-UB-MK repaired and modified boiler unit no. 5 at TVA's Colbert Fossil Plant in Alabama. Initial arsenic monitoring found ten of eleven sampled employees above the permissible exposure limit, but written notice was delayed and requested records were not promptly provided to OSHA or the site labor…
Keco Industries, Inc.
Record-access and blasting-respirator violations affirmed
Keco Industries manufactured military and aerospace equipment and performed abrasive blasting in an enclosed facility at its Ohio plant. The Commission affirmed a willful record-access violation because Keco refused repeated requests for prior injury and illness logs even after OSHA presented an…
Monarch Water Systems, Inc.
Paint-ignition item remanded
Monarch employees sprayed flammable paint inside a tank while a blower and hand lamp were positioned within 50 feet. The judge vacated the flammable-liquid item based partly on ventilation and the employees' failure to follow company instructions. The Commission held that the cited standard…
Smith Steel Casting Co.
Evidence from invalid warrant admitted
OSHA inspected Smith Steel’s foundry under an ex parte warrant and cited silica, copper-fume, noise, and respirator-program conditions. The Fifth Circuit later held that the warrant was invalid under the inspection regulation then in effect and returned the case for the Commission to decide whether…
J.L. Manta Plant Services Company
Coke-oven citations vacated and late amendment denied
J.L. Manta, a construction and maintenance contractor at a steel plant, was cited under the coke-oven emissions standard. The judge vacated the citations because that standard could not validly be applied to a non-coke-oven employer under the governing court decision. On review, the Secretary…
Mahone Grain Corporation
Respirator-program violation reclassified as serious
Employees cleaning a long-unused grain elevator worked in thick dust with too few respirators, shared and improperly maintained equipment, and no respiratory protection program. Five employees later became ill, several requiring hospitalization, and the Commission concluded they had contracted…
Federated Metals, Inc.
Citation dismissals set aside for obstructed discovery
Federated Metals contested citations involving employee exposure to lead, copper, and noise, along with related respiratory protection and lead-control requirements. The judge dismissed the cases when the Secretary declined to present evidence at the scheduled hearing. The Commission found that…
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.