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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R.B. Thomas Electric, Inc.
Aerial-lift and safety-program violations affirmed
An OSHA compliance officer saw a Thomas Electric apprentice working 15 to 20 feet above concrete in an aerial lift without a safety harness. The judge found that the company was still performing construction work and had not arranged regular competent-person inspections or systematically trained…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
Stair handrail item vacated, fire-extinguisher item affirmed without penalty
Summit Contractors was the general contractor building a two-story apartment complex in Guymon, Oklahoma. OSHA cited a stairway that lacked a handrail and the absence of fire extinguishers within the building. The judge found the handrail requirement infeasible during the narrow stage when workers…
Baker Drywall Company, Inc.
Aerial-lift and edge fall violations affirmed
Baker Drywall employees relocated metal studs on simulated smokestacks at a movie theater construction site. One worked from an aerial-lift basket without tying off and at one point straddled its top rail, while another stood on a structural ring about 16 feet above a steel roof without fall…
Metric Constructors, Inc.
General contractor held liable for subcontractor hazards
Metric Constructors was the general contractor for a 29-building federal prison project covering about 200 acres in Estill, South Carolina. OSHA cited scaffold, trench, hazard-communication, fire-extinguisher, compressed-gas-cylinder, and trench-access conditions created by subcontractors whose…
Cornell & Company, Inc.
Elevator-shaft and fire items affirmed
Cornell erected precast concrete walls at a Philadelphia hotel project. Four employees on the twentieth floor were about ten feet from partially uncovered elevator shafts, and the worksite lacked required fire extinguishers. The Commission found foreseeable employee access to those hazards, but not…
Parnon Construction, Inc.
Central records allowed and extinguisher item vacated
Parnon Construction performed masonry work at several dispersed construction sites and kept its injury and illness log at its main office. The Commission held that this centralized system complied with the rule for physically dispersed operations because foremen reported daily, the office contact…
K & B Sheet Metal, Inc.
Three nonserious construction violations affirmed with $150 in penalties
K & B Sheet Metal, a sheet-metal subcontractor at a Suffolk Community College construction site, was cited after its employees worked amid concrete-block and brick debris and in building areas without the required firefighting equipment. The company also had not posted the required OSHA notice. The…
Urban Builders, Inc.
Citations affirmed despite incorrect company name
Urban Builders was the general contractor for an apartment project cited for two serious violations and multiple nonserious violations. OSHA mistakenly addressed the citations to Urban Developers, Inc., a different corporate name. Urban Builders' president had attended the inspection conferences…
Julius Nasso Concrete Corp.
Construction-site fire, floor-opening, and crane citations affirmed
Julius Nasso was a concrete contractor on a New York project involving three twelve-story buildings. OSHA cited inadequate firefighting equipment, unguarded floor openings, and an unbarricaded crane swing radius. The judge found that the available water equipment did not cover the required floor…
Peter Bratti Associates, Inc. & D'Adderio Construction Co., Inc.
Cylinder and fire-protection citations vacated
Bratti performed stonework and D'Adderio performed brickwork on a 15-story construction project where compressed-gas cylinders were found lying on their sides without valve caps. OSHA also alleged that required fire extinguishers were missing. The judge found insufficient evidence that either…
Larry D. Mack, General Contractor
Three construction items affirmed without penalties
OSHA cited six conditions at a small construction project. The judge affirmed a technical open-wiring violation because a partially covered energized panel remained accessible, a stair-railing violation because carpenters were using the stairs, and a fire-extinguisher violation because travel…
Johns Manville Sales Corporation
Housekeeping and fire-protection items affirmed
Johns Manville employees worked on a construction floor containing scrap lumber with protruding nails, combustible debris, and inadequate fire-protection coverage. The judge affirmed one housekeeping item for $30 and held that two additional debris and container allegations merged into that same…
Beall Construction Co.
Construction penalties reduced to $620
Beall Construction was the general contractor on a 12-story building project and faced serious, other-than-serious, and failure-to-abate allegations with proposed penalties totaling $35,442. The Commission adopted the judge's mixed disposition of the citations, including a serious violation for a…
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.