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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Ruscilli Construction Co., Inc.
Steel-erection citation split and penalties reduced on reconsideration
Ruscilli Construction erected steel for a large warehouse project in Ohio. OSHA issued seven serious citation items involving jobsite inspections, fall protection, compressed-air hoses, and aerial lifts. Judge Ken S. Welsch affirmed the inspection-program item because the designated competent…
Southern Forming, Inc.
Broad safety violations affirmed at $69,150
Southern Forming, also known as Suncrete Construction, performed concrete formwork at construction sites in Sunny Isles and Delray Beach, Florida. At the Sunny Isles site, an employee fell to his death from a stairway, and OSHA's investigation identified numerous fall-protection, stairway…
Midwest Steel Erection, Inc.
Steel-erection settlement approved with remaining rulings final
Three OSHA inspections of Midwest's structural-steel work produced serious, willful, repeat, and other-than-serious citations with $23,200 proposed. The judge affirmed several fall-protection and ladder items, reduced one willful item to serious, affirmed the repeat and other-than-serious…
A.C. Dellovade, Inc.
Willful fall-protection violations affirmed
A.C. Dellovade employees installed metal ceiling panels high inside a large A-frame building. One employee tied his lanyard to a movable wooden plank that served as his work platform, and he fell about 40 feet to his death when the plank became dislodged. The Commission found that the lifeline was…
National Industrial Constructors, Inc.
Power-plant construction violations resolved
The Commission reviewed numerous fall-protection, trenching, machine, electrical, scaffold, ladder, fire-extinguisher, and equipment-alarm items from construction of a Nebraska power plant. It rejected dismissal for delayed citation issuance because the employer did not prove prejudice. It held…
Marion Power Shovel Company, Inc.
Welder fall-protection citation affirmed
An employee operated a chipping hammer while standing unprotected on a small area of a large metal dipper back 8½ feet above the floor. The Commission held that the specific welding fall-protection standard did not require the Secretary to prove feasibility as part of the prima facie case…
S & H Riggers & Erectors, Inc.
Panel-installation fall-protection violations affirmed
S & H Riggers employees guided precast concrete panels near unguarded building edges at two Atlanta construction sites, about 60 feet and 25 feet above the ground. The Commission rejected the employer's inspection-representation challenge because it did not show that the lack of a representative…
Martin-Tomlinson Roofing Co., Inc.
Flat-roof safety-belt violation affirmed
Martin-Tomlinson employees worked as close as one foot from the edge of a flat roof about 20 feet above the ground without fall protection. The Commission held that the obvious fall hazard and OSHA's identification of safety belts and a lifeline established a prima facie violation of 29 C.F.R. §…
Valley Roofing Corporation; J. B. Eurell Company
Fall-protection citations vacated
Employees of Valley Roofing and J. B. Eurell worked near roof edges 13 and 29 feet above the ground without safety belts or another form of fall protection. OSHA cited both employers under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a), but the judge vacated the citations because the Secretary did not show a feasible…
F. H. Sparks of Maryland, Inc.
Penalty-only contest and fall citation affirmed
In the first docket, F. H. Sparks expressly contested only the penalties for an uninsulated welding-cable connection and a safety-belt citation, while stating that both conditions were violations and had been corrected. The Commission refused to let the company later expand that clear notice into a…
Frank Briscoe Company, Inc.
Fall-protection item affirmed and ladder citation amended
Frank Briscoe employees worked near unguarded building edges, including one employee standing on a ladder beside the open third-floor perimeter without a tied-off safety belt. The Commission vacated the roof-edge citation under then-current precedent holding that § 1926.500(d)(1) did not apply to…
Industrial Steel Erectors, Inc.
Tie-off citation vacated because compliance increased danger
Industrial Steel Erectors was dismantling a steel structure while two experienced employees removed the last bolts and pins holding a truss 30 to 35 feet above ground. The workers normally used a protected cage and lanyards, but refused to tie off for the final release because the truss could…
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.