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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Collier-Keyworth Company
Noise appeal settled with one item affirmed and no penalty
Collier-Keyworth manufactured office-chair mechanisms using power presses and lathes at a Massachusetts plant. OSHA cited the company under the occupational noise standard for employee protection, engineering or administrative controls, and a hearing conservation program. The litigation produced…
Red Star Marine Services, Inc.
Noise citation withdrawn and case dismissed
Red Star operated tugboats and marine towing services. An administrative law judge found that an engineer aboard the tugboat Stamford was exposed to excessive engine-room noise and that Red Star lacked a continuing, effective hearing-conservation program. The judge affirmed those two items as other…
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…
Brabham-Parker Lumber Company
Noise and hearing-program items remanded
The Commission vacated the judge's ruling on Brabham-Parker Lumber Company's alleged failure to use feasible noise controls because an intervening decision replaced the prior cost-benefit test with an achievable-controls test. It remanded for new evidence and reconsideration of technological and…
Samsonite Corporation
Discovery dismissal reversed and citations remanded
OSHA cited Samsonite for alleged excessive noise, inadequate hearing protection and conservation measures, insufficient skin protection from epoxy, and ergonomic stress from repetitive work. The judge treated the Secretary's late responses to requests for admission as binding, dismissed the case…
American Can Company
Noise standard upheld and cases remanded
OSHA alleged that American Can exposed employees to excessive noise without feasible engineering or administrative controls and, in one case, without an effective hearing conservation program. American Can argued that the federal noise standard was invalid because OSHA did not adopt scope and…
Nashua Corporation
Open-ended noise settlement rejected
The proposed settlement required Nashua to test a prototype noise enclosure but allowed it to abandon the control if it interfered with production, without setting a final abatement date or assuring another corrective measure. The Commission held that experimentation could support abatement but…
Auto Bolt & Nut Co.
Noise-abatement extension conditioned on employee notice
Auto Bolt requested six additional months to complete and evaluate abatement of an occupational-noise violation. The Secretary withdrew his objection, and the judge extended the deadline to February 8, 1979. The record did not show that affected employees had received the required posted notice of…
World Color Press, Inc., d/b/a Crossroads Press
Divided Commission affirms dismissal of a noise citation over a trade-secret discovery dispute
World Color Press prints magazines at a plant in Effingham, Illinois. After an inspection, OSHA issued a nonserious citation under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.95(b)(1) and (b)(3) for excessive noise and an inadequate hearing conservation program, and the Secretary later pursued only the engineering-controls…
Chrysler Corporation
Press-room noise abatement deadline extended
Chrysler sought more time to abate excessive noise in the press room of its Twinsburg, Ohio, plant, which produced vehicle doors and rear underbodies. The underlying violation was final because Chrysler had not contested it. The company documented engineering efforts involving quieter dolly wheels…
Love Box Company
First-aid violation affirmed
Love Box manufactured corrugated boxes and employed about 151 workers. The Commission held that the company needed a person trained in first aid on its second shift because the nearest hospital was about nine minutes away, and it assessed a $25 penalty. It vacated an aisle-obstruction item because…
The Singer Company-Furniture Division
Polyester-line noise violations affirmed as nonserious
Singer operated a furniture plant in Toccoa, Georgia, with a polyester fill line added after an earlier plant-wide noise citation. One operator worked about six hours near equipment producing a 94 dBA sound level and was not using hearing protection. The judge found that feasible changes could…
Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Co.
Noise citation affirmed without a penalty
Southern Indiana Gas & Electric operated a generating station where boiler-room sound readings reached 97 to 103 dBA. The utility had supplied ear protection and was pursuing an engineering solution, but the judge found that it did not consistently require employees to use the protection. 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.