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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Sturm Ruger & Co., Pine Tree Castings Division
Targeted inspection and settlements affirmed
OSHA used injury and illness data from Pine Tree Castings to select the handgun-casting facility for a programmed inspection under a nationwide targeting plan. Sturm Ruger challenged the data survey, inspection warrant, discovery rulings, evidence, and subpoenas. The Commission held that OSHA had…
Miniature Nut and Screw Corp.
Hearing-conservation lapses are serious violations, but machine-guarding items fail for lack of employee exposure
Miniature Nut and Screw Corporation is a small family-owned maker of die-cast zinc fasteners in Newington, Connecticut, with about ten employees. After a 1993 OSHA inspection, the company was cited for occupational-noise (hearing conservation) violations and numerous machine-guarding violations…
Valdak Corp.
Willful machine-guarding penalty increased
Valdak Corporation used an industrial centrifuge extractor to dry towels at its North Dakota car wash. A 15-year-old employee suffered a severed arm, which was later reattached, after reaching into the extractor while its internal drum was spinning. The Commission held that Valdak willfully…
Armour Food Company
Two guarding items affirmed and six items vacated
OSHA cited multiple conditions at Armour's meat-processing plant, and the Commission reviewed selected personal-protective-equipment, machine-guarding, power-transmission, centrifuge, and compressed-gas items. It vacated the mesh-glove item because OSHA did not prove that sharpening slicer blades…
Siegel-Scola-Trento Dyers, Inc.
Interlocked guards required for revolving feather-drying drums
Siegel-Scola-Trento used four slowly rotating mesh drums to dry feathers. The drums lacked enclosures interlocked with the drive mechanism, and an employee stopped them by using a stick to force an overhead belt off its pulley while the equipment was moving. The company speculated that compliant…
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.