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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Daniel Marr & Son Company
General safety-net charge vacated under steel-erection rule
Daniel Marr employees erected steel at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant while working up to 115 feet above the ground without safety nets in place. The judge found violations of both the steel-erection net rule and the general construction safety-net rule. Daniel Marr did not seek review of the…
Adams Steel Erection, Inc.
Safety-net and hard-hat citation items vacated
Adams Steel erected structural steel on a four-story building and used temporary flooring below employees working on perimeter beams. The Commission majority vacated a safety-net item because the steel-erection fall-protection rules in Subpart R governed the hazard and preempted the general…
Wachsberger Roofing and Sheet Metal Works, Inc.
Flat-roof safety-belt citation withdrawn
OSHA cited Wachsberger Roofing for not requiring safety belts during work on a flat roof. The Commission asked whether the general personal-protective-equipment standard was displaced by the more specific flat-roof fall-protection rule for built-up roofing. Because factual questions remained about…
Carpenter Rigging Incorporated
Floor-opening citation vacated under the specific-standard rule
Carpenter Rigging was cited after an employee used a stairwell near an inadequately guarded opening with a possible 25-foot fall. The citation alleged a violation of the general construction rule for guarding open-sided floors. The Commission majority affirmed the judge's decision to vacate because…
Queen City Sheet Metal and Roofing, Inc.
Punch-press citation vacation affirmed
OSHA cited Queen City because its mechanical punch presses lacked point-of-operation guards under the general machine-guarding standard at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.212(a)(3)(ii). The judge vacated the citation, reasoning that the more specific mechanical-power-press standard governed and relying on…
Divesco Roofing and Insulation Company
Roof-platform and ladder violations affirmed
Divesco employees installed shingles on a roof 17 feet above the ground with a four-in-twelve slope, without a catch platform, parapet, or safety belts tied to lifelines. They also used a fully extended 20-foot ladder whose feet had safety shoes but whose top was not tied or otherwise secured…
Tilo Company, Inc.
Vague roofing-bracket item vacated
Tilo Company performed reroofing work on a private home in New York. OSHA issued five nonserious items for failing to provide roofing brackets, a catch platform or personal fall protection, first-aid arrangements, toilet facilities, and a secured access ladder. The Commission vacated the…
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.