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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Novinger's Inc.
Scaffold access item modified and guardrail item affirmed
Novinger's was an interior-finishes subcontractor working inside an air shaft at a building project in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Employees reached a tube-and-coupler scaffold by stepping over a two-inch lip and across a 9.5-inch gap from the third-floor slab. The judge held that the safe-access…
Thermo Tech, Inc.
Fifty-foot scaffold violation and $400 penalty affirmed
Thermo Tech employees installed insulation from 50-foot-high scaffolds that lacked midrails, toeboards, and wire-mesh screens. The Commission unanimously held that the standard expressly required midrails and toeboards and that a fall to the concrete surface made the violation serious. Commissioner…
Emery Smiser Construction Co.
Serious scaffold citation vacated, nonserious item affirmed
Emery Smiser Construction used scaffolds while repairing a church steeple in Oklahoma City. The judge affirmed a nonserious item for an unguarded material-hoist scaffold platform but reduced the proposed $55 penalty to $25 because exposure was brief, injury was unlikely, and the employer showed…
D. Fortunato, Inc.
Failure-to-abate notice vacated as premature
D. Fortunato did not contest a serious citation alleging missing scaffold guardrails and paid its $550 penalty. The citation was received on January 15 and required immediate abatement. OSHA reinspected the next day, found the condition uncorrected, and issued a failure-to-abate notice with an…
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review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.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.