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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James Eddy, d/b/a Eddy Roofing, Inc.
Roofing safety violations affirmed and penalties reduced for size
OSHA inspected Eddy Roofing after a fatal fall from a roofing worksite about 40 feet above the ground. The company withdrew its contest to violations involving its safety program, fall-hazard training, roof edges, skylights, guardrails, warning lines, access, and hazard communication. Judge…
Kenny Niles, d/b/a Kenny Niles Construction & Trucking Company
Business closure did not moot OSHA penalties
OSHA cited Kenny Niles for two willful and nine serious violations after a trench collapse injured an employee. The ALJ dismissed the case as moot after Niles closed his excavation and trucking businesses, sold equipment, and no longer employed anyone. Reconsidering its prior precedent, the…
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…
Louis Sinisgalli, d/b/a Metro Wrecking of Rochester, Inc., et al.
Willful cave-in violation affirmed
Workers were sent to remove pumps from a deep, water-filled excavation at a trailer park owned through one of Louis Sinisgalli's corporations. After the workers reported crumbling walls and unsafe conditions, Sinisgalli directed them to return and complete the work before he would pay them. A…
Robert Lettrick Roofing Co.
Commission approves a settlement after directing the case for review, cutting the roofing citations to a $5,600 package
Robert Lettrick Roofing Company did roofing work in the Albany, New York area. After an OSHA inspection of a steep mansion-roof job in Saratoga, New York in September 1993, the Secretary issued serious, repeat, and other-than-serious citations, and Administrative Law Judge Barbara L…
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…
Joseph Bueme
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA cited Joseph Bueme for failing to maintain a written hazard communication program and failing to provide employees with required chemical-hazard information and training. Bueme received the citation on February 11, 1994, but filed the notice of contest after the 15-working-day deadline. He…
Texas A.C.A., Inc.
Commission affirms vacatur of all scaffold citations because a diligent contractor did not know of conditions other trades kept disturbing
Texas A.C.A., Inc. was the plastering contractor on a four-story hospital construction project in Bedford, Texas. Texas erected the tubular welded frame scaffolding around the building, but other contractors used it too and frequently moved or removed the planks without telling Texas, so Texas had…
G-UB-MK Constructors
Arsenic, asbestos, hazard-communication, and respirator items resolved
G-UB-MK repaired and modified boiler unit no. 5 at TVA's Colbert Fossil Plant in Alabama. Initial arsenic monitoring found ten of eleven sampled employees above the permissible exposure limit, but written notice was delayed and requested records were not promptly provided to OSHA or the site labor…
Blankenship & Lee Pipeline Co., Inc.
Trenching and hazard-communication violations affirmed
Blankenship & Lee Pipeline was reconstructing sewer lines for a pumping station in Pelham, Georgia. An employee worked in a vertical trench that measured between 5 feet 4 inches and 6 feet deep without a ladder, adequate cave-in protection, or a hard hat; loose spoil was stored only inches from the…
Southern Forming, Inc.
Broad safety violations affirmed at $69,150
Southern Forming, also known as Suncrete Construction, performed concrete formwork at construction sites in Sunny Isles and Delray Beach, Florida. At the Sunny Isles site, an employee fell to his death from a stairway, and OSHA's investigation identified numerous fall-protection, stairway…
Triangle Engineering Corp.
Mixed construction ruling carries $1,350 in penalties
Triangle Engineering was the general contractor building a prison in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. The ALJ affirmed serious violations involving site-specific safety instruction, missing edge guardrails, an accessible crane swing radius, and an unprotected excavation. She also affirmed other-than-serious…
Dover Elevator Company
Unsecured-ladder item reduced to de minimis by settlement
Dover Elevator was an elevator subcontractor on a renovation project in New York City where OSHA issued serious, repeat, and other-than-serious citations. The Commission directed review only of an unsecured portable ladder item that the ALJ had affirmed as repeated with a $1,000 penalty. In a…
A. R. Butler Construction Co.
Commission approves trench-case settlement
A. R. Butler Construction was installing a sewer line in an eight-and-a-half to nine-foot trench in Flint City, Alabama. The underlying ALJ decision found that the steep earthen route was not a safe means of exit and that employees worked without adequate cave-in protection. The judge classified…
Supermason Enterprises
Willful unprotected-trench violation affirmed
Supermason Enterprises installed a sanitary sewer in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, with two workers in an excavation eight to ten feet deep. The ALJ rejected the company's claim that the workers belonged to a subcontractor because the supposed agreement was unsigned, the alleged subcontractor had never…
Forrest Electrical Services
Fan, live-wire, and posting items affirmed
Forrest Electrical Services was an electrical subcontractor on a medical-clinic project in Spring, Texas. A temporary foreman brought an inadequately guarded floor fan to the site, where it was available for use in an area employees passed through. The ALJ affirmed the fan item as serious because…
Philadelphia Construction Equipment, Inc.
Default affirms excavation citations for $16,650
Philadelphia Construction Equipment failed to appear for its scheduled hearing on serious and willful construction citations. After an initial remand gave the company another opportunity, the ALJ rejected its explanation for arriving late and found no good cause to reinstate the case. The record…
R.E. Reynolds, Inc.
Masonry-site violations affirmed with reduced cord penalty
R.E. Reynolds was the masonry subcontractor on a hotel and pool-building project at Disney World in Florida. The judge affirmed four serious items involving an extension cord exposed to vehicle damage, an unguarded pit, uncapped reinforcing steel, and the absence of a limited access zone around a…
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…
Daak Corporation
Default order remanded for good-cause determination
Daak Corporation did not appear for its scheduled hearing, and the ALJ granted the Secretary a default judgment. After hearing the Secretary's evidence, the judge affirmed 14 construction citations and assessed $7,200 in total penalties. Daak's vice president then petitioned for review and made…
Tri-State Construction, Inc. and National Engineering & Contracting Company
Inspection upheld and bridge-edge item vacated
Tri-State and National worked on a multi-employer interstate-highway rehabilitation project in Cincinnati. The employers challenged OSHA's initial warrantless inspection of an outdoor bridge work area and the later project-wide inspection conducted under a warrant. The Commission held that the…
Imageries
Default order upheld after repeated failures to respond
OSHA cited Imageries after an employee on a two-point suspension scaffold was not wearing a safety belt attached to a lifeline and after finding that the company lacked a written hazard communication program. The employee fell to his death, and the company president stated that the employee was his…
All Phase Electric & Maintenance, Inc.
Construction citations settled for $865
All Phase Electric & Maintenance performed electrical work at a building construction site where OSHA cited hazard communication, gasoline-container, electrical guarding, and stair-railing conditions. The company president admitted the hazard communication deficiencies and stated that he had been…
Super Excavators, Inc.
Offsite hazard documents led to a de minimis notice and a $60 violation
Super Excavators had an effective written hazard-communication program, but kept the written program and material safety data sheets at its main office rather than at a sewer-construction worksite 22 miles away. The Commission converted the written-program item to a de minimis notice because the…
Compass Steel Erection, Inc.
Welding-cable citation settled as other-than-serious
OSHA cited Compass Steel after finding damaged arc-welding cable repaired with duct tape, an incomplete hazard communication program, and oxygen and acetylene cylinders placed together. An ALJ affirmed the welding-cable item as serious with a $360 penalty and found the four remaining items de…
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.