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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Phillips Getschow Co.
Hoist training and overload violations affirmed
Phillips Getschow was removing a 4,860-pound coal-crusher cage at an Illinois power plant with an overhead hoist rated for 4,000 pounds. The cage fell from the support and pinned a millwright against a wall, causing fatal injuries. The judge found that the company had not adequately trained every…
Paschen Contractors, Inc.
Gantry-crane citation vacated because lifting device was not a crane
Paschen built a device to lift concrete bridge segments weighing more than 200 tons during construction of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The device collapsed on its first use and injured four employees, after which OSHA cited Paschen for willfully failing to load test what it characterized as a…
Syracuse Rigging Co., Inc.
Hoist citation vacated because a new charge was not tried by consent
Syracuse Rigging used power drills to operate manual chain hoists while lowering a 68,800-pound tank, which fell and fatally injured an employee. OSHA cited the general duty clause and later added an alternative charge that the hoists did not let operators stand clear of the load. The judge…
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review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.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.