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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Tree of Life, Inc., d/b/a Gourmet Award Foods, NE Division
Emergency-exit violation reclassified as serious
Tree of Life operated a wholesale food warehouse where two emergency exit doors would not open promptly when employees applied reasonable pressure. The judge affirmed the exit violation as de minimis because the doors eventually opened. The Commission held that the violation was serious because…
Dillard Department Store, Inc. d/b/a Dillard's, and its successors
Emergency-plan and delayed-exit sign items affirmed
Dillard's locked several customary store exits outside business hours, leaving two available exits more than 450 feet from some work areas. OSHA issued overlapping items requiring unlocked egress and procedures for opening the doors during an emergency. Judge James H. Barkley vacated the…
Ohio Cellular Products Corp.
Machine-guarding citation affirmed after fatal rotating-arm accident
Ohio Cellular Products Corp. molds polyethylene foam sports and automotive padding at a plant in Wauseon, Ohio, using large rotating "Rotocast" ovens. In October 1996 a relief operator was fatally injured when her clothing caught on an oven's rotating mold arm while she unloaded foam. OSHA cited…
Jeanette M. Gould, d/b/a Gould Publications
Exit violations affirmed and poster item vacated
Gould Publications operated a law-book publishing facility with a basement pressroom containing large quantities of paper, ink, and flammable cleaners. The Commission found that a locked door intended as an exit could delay employees escaping a fire even though other routes were available. It also…
Marco Electronics Sales & Service
Locked exit and blocked fire extinguisher affirmed, penalties reduced
Marco Electronics Sales & Service repairs and sells electronic equipment in Corpus Christi, Texas. After a February 1993 inspection, OSHA cited the shop for a marked exit door that was locked, a fire extinguisher mounted low and blocked by a rolling work table and a TV being repaired, and two…
Cisneros Packing Co., Inc.
$2,550 assessed for stair, exit, lockout, and posting violations
Cisneros Packing processed pork skins at a Texas plant and contested only the proposed penalties, not the underlying violations. The remaining penalized conditions involved a nonconforming kettle stairway, a boarded and obstructed exit, cleaning an energized slicer without a lockout program, and…
Homestead Gourmet Food Co., Inc.
Settlement approved after hearing
OSHA inspected Homestead Gourmet Food Company's facility in Linden, New Jersey, and issued two citations. The citations alleged six serious violations and five other-than-serious violations under standards addressing exits, personal protective equipment, emergency washing, electrical training…
Metal Recycling Company
Scrap-yard hazards yield mixed ruling and $400 penalty
OSHA inspected Metal Recycling Company's three-employee scrap-metal facility in El Paso, Texas, and issued a serious citation with multiple items. The judge affirmed serious violations involving unsecured access stairs, an exit leading into a blocked and fenced yard, obstructed aisles, hazardous…
Spot-Bilt, Inc.
Locked former-exit citations vacated
Spot-Bilt permanently locked a door from its packing area to an interior courtyard, removed its exit sign and handle, and placed materials in front of it. The packing area had a separate outside exit and four doorways leading to nearby rooms with other exits. The Commission held that the exit rule…
Pan American World Airways, Inc.
Union challenge to settlement abatement methods rejected
OSHA cited Pan American World Airways because electromagnetic locks on 24 airport-building exit doors allegedly prevented free and unobstructed egress. The settlement required changes to the lock system, employee instruction, panic bars in two areas, a penalty, and a ten-week abatement period. The…
Westinghouse Broadcasting Co., Inc. d/b/a WBZ TV Group Westinghouse Broadcasting
Locked-door and exit-sign violations affirmed
OSHA cited conditions at Westinghouse's Boston television and radio station, including wet newsroom housekeeping, alcohol storage, locked or obstructed doors, and an unmarked FM-studio exit. The Commission affirmed vacatur of the newsroom item because it duplicated an uncontested wet-floor…
Command Trucking & Warehouse Corp.
Failure-to-abate penalties reduced from $1,960 to $300
A reinspection found that Command Trucking had not timely corrected four previously final conditions involving a locked exit, a floor hole, an ungrounded portable battery charger, and an inadequately guarded compressor drive. The judge rejected the company's claim that Customs Service rules…
Crushed Toast Company
Exit and machine-guarding citations reduced to nonserious
Crushed Toast Company's bread-crumb plant had a locked designated exit, another exit that was difficult to open, and unguarded drive components on two ovens. The judge found the exit violation nonserious because the fire risk was negligible and a wide overhead door remained available, reducing that…
Central Meat Company
Exit, machine-guarding, and electrical violations affirmed
Central Meat Company operated a small meat-processing plant where an inspection found a slippery floor, locked rear doors, inadequately guarded bandsaws, and several electrical hazards. The judge vacated the housekeeping item because the company devoted substantial effort to continuous cleaning and…
Allway Tools, Inc.
Obstructed-exit failure-to-abate penalty reduced
Allway Tools was cited for obstructed exits and locks that prevented free escape from its workplace. A reinspection found that the company had not abated the conditions, leading OSHA to propose failure-to-abate penalties of $1,380 for the obstruction and $1,925 for the locks. The judge assessed…
B & B Motor & Control Corp.
Exit and extinguisher penalties reduced to $280
B & B Motor & Control used a basement for storage and electronic-controller assembly by three employees. Two fire-exit doors were secured with bars, access or discharge was obstructed, and the exit signs were not illuminated. The company did not contest those violations but challenged the proposed…
Mercury National Life Insurance Co.
Late contest dismissed and OSHA coverage upheld
Mercury National Life challenged OSHA jurisdiction after being cited for poster, recordkeeping, exit, and electrical conditions at its Oklahoma office. Although almost all policyholders, agents, employees, income, and shareholders were in Oklahoma, the company used out-of-state equipment and…
Techno Products, Inc., d/b/a Techno Truck Manufacturing Co.
Locked-exit failure affirmed and extinguisher failure vacated
Techno manufactured trucks at a plant with a spray-paint booth and about 15 employees. OSHA alleged that the company failed to abate an inadequate supply of fire extinguishers near the booth and a locked rear exit. The Commission held that the extinguisher rule was not vague when read with the…
Fineberg Packing Company, Inc.
OSHA sanitation item reinstated despite USDA rules
Fineberg Packing, a meat processor, received a nine-item nonserious citation covering electrical, exit, fire-protection, housekeeping, sanitation, and ladder conditions. The judge vacated the sanitation item because Department of Agriculture rules under the Wholesome Meat Act also regulated plant…
Hi-Fi Carpet Mills, Inc.
Late contest rejected
OSHA cited Hi-Fi Carpet Mills for eight non-serious conditions involving electrical grounding, compressed air, exits, access to electrical controls, housekeeping, and flexible wiring. The company received the citation and proposed penalties on January 19, 1972, making February 9 the final day to…
Blue Ribbon Industries, Inc.
Contest dismissed and $100 penalty affirmed
Blue Ribbon Industries received four non-serious citations involving excessive compressed-air pressure, a locked exit, an unguarded compressor, and flexible cord used as fixed wiring. OSHA proposed no penalties for the first two items and $100 total for the other two. The case was initially…
Silver Skillet Food Products Company
Four safety items affirmed and one vacated
Silver Skillet processed and canned food at an Illinois plant. OSHA cited a boiler-room fire door tied open, warped metal floor plates, two ladders without safety feet, a padlocked fire exit, and unsecured dock plates. The judge affirmed the fire-door, floor-plate, exit, and dock-plate items. He…
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.