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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Superior Masonry Builders, Inc.
Training and competent-person items affirmed
A tower scaffold fitted with a winter enclosure collapsed during high winds while seven Superior Masonry employees were installing brick veneer, injuring all seven. The Commission vacated the item alleging that the scaffold was not adequately braced to the building because the version of the…
Homes by Bill Simms, Inc.
All seven items vacated because the builder did not control its subcontractors
Homes by Bill Simms was a residential general contractor in Springboro, Ohio, that built custom homes using subcontractors. During an August 1999 inspection of three of its home sites, OSHA saw subcontractor employees committing scaffold and fall protection violations and issued Simms a seven-item…
Jerry Bennett Masonry Contractor, Inc.
Scaffold and chemical-safety violations affirmed
Three Jerry Bennett Masonry employees fell 30 to 35 feet when the outriggers supporting a suspended scaffold slipped from beneath their counterweights. The judge found that the person assigned to erect the scaffold lacked the training and knowledge required of a competent person. Required tiebacks…
Daniel A. Mickelsen, an Individual, d/b/a M-L Masonry
Unguarded scaffold item affirmed
M-L Masonry removed scaffold guardrails while lowering a work platform about 16 feet above the ground. The judge found that employees on the platform were exposed to a fall hazard and that the guardrail requirement continued to apply during lowering and dismantling unless compliance became…
Continental Roof Systems, Inc.
Mootness dismissal reversed and case remanded
OSHA cited Continental Roof Systems for sixteen alleged roofing, scaffold, fall-protection, equipment, training, and recordkeeping violations, with $139,600 in proposed penalties. The ALJ dismissed the case as moot after Continental went out of business and had no employees. The Commission had…
The Edward R. Hart Co.
Three serious scaffold and training violations affirmed
The Edward R. Hart Co. was an insulation subcontractor working at the Dover Chemical plant in Dover, Ohio. Responding to a complaint about workers on unguarded scaffolds, OSHA inspected and issued a three-item serious citation. OSHA charged that the company failed to train employees to recognize…
Harbert-Yeargin, Inc.
Seven electrical and scaffold items affirmed serious, four vacated, $4,500
Harbert-Yeargin was the general contractor building a cogeneration power plant in Fort Myers, Florida, that would turn municipal solid waste into steam and electricity for Lee County. While inspecting the site over another contractor in June 1994, an OSHA compliance officer also cited…
John J. Smith Masonry Co.
Two scaffold violations affirmed and one vacated
John J. Smith Masonry used a mobile scaffold while replacing a limestone window sill at the Cervantes Convention Center in St. Louis. The ALJ vacated the allegation that the scaffold was not erected under competent-person supervision because the Secretary did not identify who supervised its…
Custom Services
Settlement approved with $975 in penalties
OSHA issued Custom Services a serious citation containing several construction safety items. At the hearing, the parties reached a settlement and placed its terms on the record. The judge adopted the agreement, which withdrew one scaffold item and affirmed the remaining listed violations. The order…
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.