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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
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…
Parmer Building Corporation
Aerial-lift rail violations affirmed for $1,000
Parmer Building Corporation performed steel erection at a large Texas construction project. An OSHA compliance officer observed two employees standing on the top and middle rails of an aerial-lift basket while connecting a girder about 52 feet above ground. The employees were also tied off to the…
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…
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…
Croom Construction Co.
Safety-belt citation vacated under wrong standard
A Croom Construction employee fell through a temporarily covered roof opening to a concrete floor 15 to 17 feet below and died. OSHA cited the company for not using lifelines, safety belts, or lanyards while employees installed roofing sheets. The Commission held that the cited standard regulated…
Carr Erectors, Inc.
Steel-floor perimeter item affirmed and elevator-platform item vacated
Carr Erectors was performing steel erection on a high-rise building in Columbus, Ohio. On the thirteenth floor, employees accessed a temporary steel-and-rebar floor section with no perimeter protection next to a twelve-foot gap. The Commission held that the specific steel-erection perimeter rule…
Kelly Construction Services, Inc.
Elevator-shaft fall-protection citation reinstated
Kelly Construction installed elevator door frames as a subcontractor in a Boston high-rise. Two employees raised a 200-pound frame within about eighteen inches of an open elevator shaft on the 24th floor while wearing safety belts whose lanyards were not tied off. The administrative law judge found…
Carpenter Rigging and Contracting Corporation
Serious fall-protection violation reinstated with a $650 penalty
Carpenter Rigging was a subcontractor constructing an automated container warehouse at John F. Kennedy Airport. Two employees repositioned planking while standing on eight-inch girders about 21 feet above a concrete floor without safety belts or lanyards, and one employee fell and died. The…
Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.
Safety-belt citation vacated for lack of proof
Chicago Bridge & Iron erected steel plate structures and was installing a water tank when an employee fell from an elevation. OSHA cited the company under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a) for allegedly exposing an employee to a fall without appropriate personal protective equipment. The judge found a…
Driscoll Construction Company, Inc.
Lanyard violation affirmed
Driscoll Construction was performing sewer reconstruction in a deep trench where employees used 40-foot safety-belt lanyards. During demolition of a sewer arch, two employees had not shortened or connected their lanyards to limit a fall to six feet, and one employee fell and was fatally injured…
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.