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.

5,593 decisions and counting · Latest decision July 17, 2026
4 decisions 29 C.F.R. § 1910.95(d)(1)

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ALJ

Joel Patterson Air Conditioning Recycling

Workplace violations resulted in $4,100 in penalties

Joel Patterson Air Conditioning Recycling paid workers daily to dismantle used air conditioners at its warehouse but labeled them subcontractors. Applying the economic-realities test, the judge found they were employees because the business controlled the workplace, pay, hours, equipment, hiring…

July 3, 2002 ·Ken S. Welsch
Mixed result
ALJ

North Atlantic Fish Company, Inc.

Broad fish-plant safety violations affirmed

OSHA's safety and health inspections of North Atlantic's Massachusetts fish-processing plant identified extensive fire, machine, electrical, chemical, respiratory, noise, storage, and powered-industrial-truck hazards. The judge affirmed most of the serious items, including general duty violations…

July 9, 2001 ·Michael H. Schoenfeld
Mixed result
COMM

Trinity Industries, Inc.

$6,000 assessed for willful noise-program violations

The Eleventh Circuit remanded this case solely for the Commission to set penalties after holding that Trinity Industries' two noise-program violations were willful. One item involved failing to establish baseline and annual audiograms for covered employees, and the other involved failing to…

December 21, 1994
Modified
COMM

Trinity Industries, Inc.

Noise and press items affirmed with other items vacated

Trinity Industries manufactured liquid propane gas cylinders at a Jacksonville, Florida facility and contested consolidated health and safety citations. The Commission declined to dismiss the cases over the Secretary's refusal to comply with discovery orders because Trinity had litigated the…

April 22, 1992
Mixed result

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.