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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C-Post
Willful lockout and guarding citations cut to serious after a small fence-post maker's amputation injury
C-Post is a small Montana company that makes wooden fence posts and furniture legs from logs, employing about 10 people. After a worker's left hand was severed in a doweler machine, OSHA inspected and issued a long list of serious, willful, repeat, and other-than-serious citations covering…
GAF Corp.
Comprehensive settlement approved despite exculpatory clause
GAF, the Secretary, and the union resolved numerous citation items through a comprehensive settlement. The agreement included a clause stating that the withdrawal, abatement, and penalty payment could not be treated as an admission or violation finding in OSHA matters involving GAF facilities other…
Kay-Townes, Inc.
Manufacturing violations and penalties affirmed
Kay-Townes manufactured television antennas and masts at a plant where OSHA cited numerous machine-guarding, electrical, exit-marking, and housekeeping conditions. The Secretary withdrew seven point-of-operation items at the hearing. The judge affirmed the remaining 18 nonserious violations…
York Metal Finishing Company
Two failure-to-abate items upheld
York Metal Finishing, an electroplating company, did not contest an original four-item citation and paid $59 in penalties. After reinspection, OSHA alleged that all four conditions remained and proposed $1,058 in additional failure-to-abate penalties. The Commission held that OSHA establishes a…
The Murphy Company
Three failure-to-abate items upheld, two vacated
The Murphy Company operated an Oregon wood-veneer plant and did not contest an original citation containing 18 nonserious violations. A later reinspection led OSHA to allege failure to abate five items and failure to post the original citation. The Commission affirmed failure to abate the…
CAM Industries, Inc.
Confined-space welding ventilation item reinstated
CAM Industries fabricated steel products and received a multi-item citation covering electrical, welding, housekeeping, eye protection, crane, platform, and recordkeeping conditions. During OSHA's inspection, an employee was welding inside a roughly 100-cubic-foot tank while an available exhaust…
Apex Paper Box Co.
Fire-extinguisher inspection item vacated
OSHA issued Apex Paper Box 19 non-serious citation items covering fire protection, electrical conditions, exits, housekeeping, industrial trucks, records, and first aid. The judge affirmed all 19 items and assessed penalties totaling $731.25. The Commission vacated only the fire-extinguisher…
St. Louis County Water Company
Penalties reduced to $450
St. Louis County Water Company was cited for 32 non-serious violations at five facilities, including electrical, stairway, housekeeping, flammable-liquid, compressed-gas, welding, equipment, ladder, and protective-equipment conditions. The company stopped contesting the violations and abatement…
Grayson Lumber Company, Inc.
Water-barrel item vacated and $150 penalties retained
Grayson Lumber operated a building-supply, lumber-processing, and concrete business. The administrative law judge affirmed eight non-serious items, vacated three, and assessed $150 total penalties. On review, the Commission vacated an additional fire-protection item because partially filled water…
Buhls Laundry & Dry Cleaning, Inc.
Stairway and electrical penalties imposed
Buhls Laundry & Dry Cleaning operated a small laundry business in South Dakota. OSHA issued a 15-item nonserious citation covering housekeeping, stairs and floor openings, fire extinguishers, laundry equipment, electrical conditions, and recordkeeping. The judge vacated the incorrectly cited…
Ira Holliday Logging Co., Inc.
Serious log-binder citation vacated
Ira Holliday Logging delivered timber to a sawmill where the mill controlled the unloading process. An employee was fatally struck by a log after releasing all three load binders before the unloading machine secured the load. The Commission held that the sawmill unloading rule applied to the…
Equity Supply Company
Liquid and extinguisher items vacated
Equity Supply stipulated to several housekeeping, guarding, protective-equipment, compressed-air, and electrical violations at its Montana facility. The remaining dispute concerned alleged storage of combustible liquid in open containers and inspection of fire extinguishers. The Commission vacated…
J. E. Chilton Millwork & Lumber Company, Inc.
Six items affirmed with no penalties
OSHA cited J. E. Chilton Millwork for seven non-serious violations involving first aid, housekeeping, lunch space, extinguisher inspections, toilet partitions, equipment grounding, and compressed-air cleaning. The judge treated the toilet-partition item as de minimis, vacated that citation and…
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.