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.

5,593 decisions and counting · Latest decision July 17, 2026
5 decisions 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(e)(4)

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COMM

Heaton Erecting, Inc.

Mobile-scaffold citation items vacated

OSHA cited Heaton Erecting after an employee fell about 40 feet to his death while using a mobile scaffold near a building perimeter. The citation alleged missing guardrails and failure to plank the scaffold's full width. The judge vacated both items, finding that the guardrail rule did not apply…

March 5, 1987
Citations vacated
COMM

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…

October 22, 1981
Mixed result
COMM

Childress Painting Company, Inc.

Scaffold violations affirmed with $275 penalty

Childress Painting employees worked from a narrow aluminum platform about 17 feet above a concrete floor without standard guardrails, and two employees traversed it without remaining continuously tied off. The judge held that the company's safety-belt system did not excuse the missing guardrails…

April 18, 1977
Citations affirmed
COMM

Savina Home Industries, Inc.

Thirteen construction violations affirmed

At a retail-store construction site, the judge affirmed thirteen nonserious items involving missing hard hats, deficient mobile-scaffold rails, planking and bracing, frayed drill cords, an unapproved receptacle, a knotted winch cable, reversed wire-rope clips, a damaged ladder, a mushroomed…

January 3, 1977
Mixed result
COMM

Genco, Inc.

Construction citation vacated after inspection violations

OSHA issued Genco a 13-item non-serious citation after inspecting its construction work at Honolulu International Airport. The judge vacated the citation because the compliance officer began the inspection before presenting credentials to the owner, operator, or agent in charge as required by the…

October 12, 1973
Citations vacated

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.