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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Anthony Crane Rental, Inc.
Crane inspection and repair violations affirmed
Anthony Crane Rental leased a truck crane whose boom later collapsed at an airport construction site, killing the lessee's crane oiler. On court remand, the issue was whether Anthony Crane's own employees were exposed to hazards from missing inspection records, improperly adjusted components, and…
Ralph Taynton d/b/a Service Specialty
EAJA fee request denied despite prevailing
Service Specialty sought $34,512.95 in attorney, agent, and other expenses after the Commission vacated its citation in full. The Commission had held that OSHA lacked jurisdiction because the sole proprietorship had stopped operating and no longer had an employee before the citation issued. The fee…
Anthony Crane Rental, Inc.
Crane inspection and maintenance violations affirmed after court remand
Anthony Crane Rental leased a crane whose boom later collapsed at an airport construction project, killing another contractor's employee. After a court remand, the issue was whether Anthony Crane Rental's own employees had been exposed to the conditions involving missing annual-inspection records…
Irwin Steel Erectors Inc.
Four contested construction items vacated
Irwin Steel Erectors performed steel erection and welding during construction of a Motorola facility in Austin, Texas. At the hearing, it resolved six serious citation items by withdrawing its contests in exchange for reduced penalties. The four remaining items concerned fire-extinguisher access…
Vogel Brothers
Four serious construction violations affirmed, two vacated
Vogel Brothers Building Company was the general contractor on a wastewater administration building project in Tampa, Florida. The judge affirmed serious violations involving an unavailable fire extinguisher at a diesel fueling area, unguarded floor edges, an unbarricaded crane swing radius, and…
Daniel International Corp.
Pre-Barlow's inspection evidence remained admissible
OSHA inspected Daniel International's Missouri power-plant construction project in 1977 without a warrant, before the Supreme Court's 1978 decision in Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. Daniel sought to suppress the inspection evidence, arguing that its project manager had not voluntarily consented and had…
Derr Construction Company
Safety-belt citation affirmed, five other steel-erection items vacated
Derr Construction was erecting a high-rise steel frame when an ironworker worked on the top edge of a girder on the 13th floor without using an available safety belt. The Commission upheld the serious personal protective equipment violation because the worker faced an obvious fall hazard and the…
O.K. Construction Company, Inc.
Crane, hard-hat, and recordkeeping items affirmed with penalties reduced
O.K. Construction was performing excavation work with a crawler crane at a West Virginia lift-station project. The judge affirmed a repeated fire-extinguisher violation and nonserious items involving missing crane information, an unbarricaded swing radius, absent annual-inspection records, an…
K M Engineering Company
Sideboom rope, records, and worn-shackle violations affirmed
K M Engineering used knots to connect wire ropes on two sideboom tractors, maintained inadequate annual inspection records, and continued using an excessively worn boom-block shackle. The judge affirmed the knotted-rope item without penalty because knots weakened the ropes and exposed workers…
Union Steel Erectors, Inc.
Willful crane-riding and fall violations affirmed
OSHA observed Union Steel employees riding a crane hook, headache ball, and suspended steel loads 50 to 70 feet above the ground. The foreman knowingly allowed the practice for about a week, the general contractor had warned him it violated safety rules, and the crane operator knew it was…
CTM, Inc.
Combined trench and spoil-pile violation affirmed
CTM excavated a 13-foot-deep sewer trench in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, without shoring and with nearly vertical lower walls in soil of average stability. A ten-foot-high spoil pile containing large soil chunks sat three feet from the trench, where employees were working below. The Commission held…
Martin Iron Works, Inc.
Crane inspection violations added without penalties
Martin Iron Works used a crane beyond the manufacturer's rated lifting radius and capacity during structural steel erection at a Nevada casino project. The judge affirmed that serious violation for $850, along with an inadequate ladder for $55, unsecured gas cylinders for $55, and an improperly…
White Oak Corporation
Crane power-line violations affirmed with $1,355 penalties
White Oak operated a crane near 13,200-volt power lines at a Connecticut highway project. The crane boom and ball contacted the lines, and an oiler at the outrigger controls was electrocuted. The judge found a serious violation for failing to maintain ten feet of clearance and a nonserious…
Ed Miller and Sons, Inc.
Demolition-crane penalties reduced to $265
Ed Miller and Sons used a 3,000-pound wrecking ball suspended from a crane loadline by a used truck tire while demolishing Omaha's Union Station. The Commission found a serious violation because the tire was not a positive attachment and the ball could become accidentally disconnected, assessing…
Ron M. Fiegen, Inc.
Safety-net citation vacated and crane items affirmed
Ron M. Fiegen performed structural-steel work at a university construction site where an OSHA inspector observed employees on a temporary roof and suspended scaffold. The Commission upheld the inspection because the inspector had presented credentials to the general contractor, viewed the…
Harvey Wrecking Co.
Demolition-sequence item vacated
Harvey Wrecking was demolishing a 14-story Chicago building where an employee worked beside an unguarded wall opening and equipment operated near floor openings without curbs or stoplogs. The Commission affirmed those two conditions as serious violations of specific standards under section 5(a)(2)…
The Verne-Woodrow Company
Access citation affirmed and safety-net item vacated
Verne-Woodrow employees erected steel framing and installed roof-truss bracing about 28 feet above ground and over a concrete pit. They used no safety nets, scaffolds, catch platforms, temporary floors, safety lines, or safety belts. The administrative law judge nevertheless vacated the safety-net…
Atlantic Concrete, Inc.
Mixed ruling on floor opening and crane citations
Atlantic Concrete was cited for an unguarded floor opening and several recordkeeping, posting, first-aid, and crane-related conditions. The parties stipulated that several non-serious items were unsupported, inapplicable, or abandoned. The judge vacated those items, affirmed two crane violations…
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.