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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Windham Construction Corp.
Fall-protection and aerial-lift violations affirmed
Windham Construction Corporation was repairing structural steel beneath the Gowanus Expressway in New York. An OSHA officer saw an employee ride an aerial lift without tying off, climb onto the basket railing, and work between a shoring tower and a beam without fall protection. The judge credited…
Valley Construction Company
$750 awarded for unjustified material-safety-data-sheet item
Valley Construction Company sought attorney, consultant, and other expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act after settling OSHA citations arising from an employee's fatal electrocution. The settlement withdrew three items, reclassified two, and reduced two penalties. The judge found Valley to…
Elmont Glass Company, Inc.
Settlement approved, aerial-lift items affirmed at $1,200
Elmont Glass Company, a glazing contractor based on Staten Island, New York, was inspected by OSHA and issued two citations in September 1993. The serious citation alleged failure to conduct regular worksite inspections and two aerial-lift hazards (workers not standing firmly on the basket floor…
E. S. Albrecht Company
Aerial-lift belt item affirmed and flagman item vacated
E. S. Albrecht performed heavy and highway construction work at a Pennsylvania road site. Two employees worked from an aerial-lift basket without wearing body belts and attaching lanyards to the boom or basket. Although the employer had told employees to use the belts and its project manager…
General Telephone Company of Pennsylvania
Aerial-lift citation vacated as isolated misconduct
A General Telephone cable splicer worked about ten feet above the ground in an aerial-lift bucket without wearing a body belt and attached lanyard. OSHA cited the company and proposed a $90 penalty. After a remand to consider the company's timely brief, the judge found that the employee had been…
Union Railroad Company
Aerial-lift fall-protection violation affirmed
Eight Union Railroad employees used an aerial lift to spray-paint the underside of a bridge about 30 feet above lower surfaces. None wore a body belt with a lanyard attached to the boom or basket, and one employee fell from the basket and died. The railroad stipulated that the condition was likely…
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.