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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Bratton Corporation
Stair violations conditionally affirmed
Bratton supplied and installed metal stairways and handrails at a six-story construction project. Some permanent rails did not fit and had been returned for reworking, while the general contractor had filled the stair treads but left the landings unfilled. Three Bratton employees used the stairs to…
Brown & Root, Inc.
Stair-rail penalty reduced to $150
Brown & Root, Inc. conceded that flights of metal stairs between several floors of a generating-plant project lacked required handrails. An earlier uncontested citation involved the same standard at a different company division and worksite, and the judge classified the new violation as repeated…
Willherco, Inc., Bermudez & Longo, Inc.
Subcontractor citations affirmed
Willherco and Bermudez & Longo were plumbing and electrical subcontractors at the same multi-employer construction site. Their employees had access to unguarded elevator shafts, stairways, and open-sided floors, although the subcontractors did not create the hazards and the general contractor was…
Bertrand Goldberg Associates
Construction-manager citations reinstated with reduced penalties
Bertrand Goldberg Associates served as architect and construction manager for a State University project in Stony Brook, New York. One of its employees used a stairway without required railings near temporary light bulbs that lacked contact guards. The company argued that it acted as an…
David Neiss, d/b/a Neiss Engineering Company
Fall-hazard penalties reduced
Neiss Engineering was cited for 12 nonserious conditions at a concrete apartment-building project, including ladder defects, unguarded floor openings and platforms, housekeeping, unsecured gas cylinders, and other guarding issues. The judge affirmed the violations and adjusted the proposed…
Anning-Johnson Company
Multi-employer subcontractor defenses defined
Anning-Johnson was a drywall and ceiling subcontractor whose employees encountered unguarded floors and stairs, debris, and missing fire extinguishers at construction projects in Florida and Georgia. The company did not create or control the cited conditions and had complained to the general…
Alcap Electrical Corp.
Subcontractor citations affirmed for employee exposure
Alcap Electrical was an electrical subcontractor at a building project where employees encountered unguarded floor openings, unguarded stairs, unsecured gas cylinders, and other construction hazards. Alcap argued that it did not create or control the hazardous conditions. The Commission held that a…
Robert E. Lee Plumbers, Inc.
Exposing subcontractor held liable for site hazards
Robert E. Lee Plumbers was the plumbing subcontractor on a project involving four six-story residential buildings. Its employees had to move throughout the site and were exposed to debris, unguarded wall openings, and stairways without railings. The Commission held that the company could be cited…
Laster and Fingeret, Inc.
Penalties imposed for eight admitted construction violations
Laster and Fingeret was the general contractor at a building project and admitted three serious and five nonserious construction violations. The cited conditions included missing stair and perimeter railings, unguarded floor openings, fire-extinguisher and first-aid deficiencies, unsecured gas…
Grebb Electric Company
Housekeeping item affirmed and access hazards vacated
Grebb Electric was an electrical subcontractor at a large Denver apartment construction project. OSHA found scrap lumber and debris in areas where Grebb employees were working, along with temporary stairs lacking rails, protruding nails in stair treads, and open elevated platforms. The judge…
Angel Construction Co., Inc.
Stairway penalty restored in mixed construction case
Angel Construction was the prime contractor for a multi-building office complex. The judge affirmed eight non-serious violations involving housekeeping, ladders, fuel handling, stairways, elevator openings, a material hoist, and head protection, while dismissing two scaffold and…
Dixie Electric, Inc.
Unguarded-floor penalty increased
Dixie Electric employees performed electrical work close to the unguarded edge of a third floor, 35 feet above the ground, and used stairs without railings. The judge affirmed non-serious violations for the open-sided floor and stairways, assessed penalties of $35 and $25, and vacated an item…
Hersman Construction Co.
Three guarding violations affirmed and failure-to-abate penalties rejected
Hersman Construction received citations covering fall protection, floor and stair guarding, debris disposal, citation posting, and housekeeping at a building project. The judge found that OSHA proved only two open-sided-floor guarding violations and one inadequately covered floor opening. He…
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.