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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Reyes Construction, Inc.
Four trench-protection violations affirmed
Reyes Construction excavated around a leaking water pipe in an eight-foot-deep trench with vertical walls and Type B or C soil. One trench box had an open end next to a vertical soil wall and large gaps that allowed hazardous movement, while another lacked protection along the bottom four and…
Insulation-N-Coatings d/b/a Force Enterprises
Spoil-pile violation affirmed, duplicate item vacated
Force Enterprises installed sewer pipe in a roughly 10-foot-deep trench while a spoil pile sat at the trench edge instead of at least two feet back. Based on inspection video, photographs, tools and footprints in the trench, and the foreman’s earlier statements, the judge found that employees had…
Pan Oceanic Engineering Co., Inc.
Willful trench violation affirmed and other items vacated
Pan Oceanic Engineering performed underground sewer repair work in Chicago. An employee entered an approximately 8-foot-10-inch trench without cave-in protection even though hydraulic shoring was beside the trench, and the company had five prior final citations involving the same cave-in protection…
Bardav, Inc., d/b/a Martha's Vineyard Mobile Home Park
Willful cave-in violation affirmed after excavation collapse
Bardav employees entered an excavation to repair a leaking water pipe after a plumbing technician warned that the unstable soil required shoring. Water flooded the excavation, its walls collapsed, and two employees were injured. The Commission affirmed a willful cave-in protection violation because…
Penney's Construction Company, LLC
Willful trench violations affirmed after work continued
Penney's Construction replaced a sewer line in a 10-foot-deep trench with vertical, fissured walls and no cave-in protection. Employees also encountered flowing sewage, possible atmospheric hazards, an edge-side spoil pile, unprotected use of a cut saw, and public traffic without high-visibility…
Bolton Fencing and Construction, LLC
Trench items reduced from willful to serious
Bolton supported oil and gas pipeline work in Colorado and sent two employees into an unprotected excavation with walls between 5 and 8 feet high. The soil was Type B, no sloping, shoring, or trench box was used, and the competent person left the site after directing the employees into the…
Northern Excavating Co., Inc.
Willful cave-in violations affirmed, training and egress items vacated
Northern Excavating employees worked in a Type C soil excavation that ranged from about 7.5 to 12 feet deep without a trench box, shoring, or adequate sloping. The excavation used prohibited benching, had soil sloughing into it, and sat beside a heavily traveled access road where truck vibrations…
Daisy Construction Company
Willful trench violations affirmed
Daisy Construction was installing underground conduit during a road project when employees worked for hours in a trench more than seven feet deep with vertical walls and no cave-in protection. The foreman and the acting superintendent both saw the work, knew trench protection was required, and did…
Archon Construction
Unprotected trench violation affirmed as repeat
Two Archon employees entered a six-foot-deep trench with steep walls and no cave-in protection to cut an existing sewer pipe. The judge found that the foreman knew the trench's physical condition, even though he mistakenly believed it was less than five feet deep. That mistaken belief prevented a…
Mosser Construction, Inc.
Excavation violation reclassified as serious
Mosser employees worked in a 6-foot, 6-inch excavation whose benching did not meet the required dimensions. The judge affirmed the protective-system violation as other-than-serious and assessed $500, reasoning that Mosser had substantially attempted to bench the excavation. The Commission found…
D.R.B. Boring Drilling Company
Five serious trench violations affirmed
D.R.B. performed boring work from a trench approximately 9 feet deep with vertical, unprotected walls. The judge rejected the owner's claim that the business was a sole proprietorship without employees, finding under the economic realities test that a worker the owner paid and directed was D.R.B.'s…
Missouri Gas Energy
Late notice of contest reinstated by agreement
Missouri Gas Energy filed a late notice of contest after the original excavation citations were signed for by a clerk and then lost internally. A judge granted the Secretary's motion to reject the notice as untimely, and the employer sought Commission review. While review was pending, the Secretary…
B & B Plumbing, Inc.
Trench violations reduced from willful to serious
B & B Plumbing was installing sanitation plumbing at a school on the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona. Employees worked in a trench with vertical sides that reached about eight feet deep and had no protective system or adequate means of egress; an employee died in a cave-in. The judge…
Black Construction Corporation
Unprotected manhole trench affirmed for $500
Black Construction excavated a trench near Guam International Airport to replace a manhole and redirect a sewage pipe. An employee worked in a section measured at six and one-half feet deep without sloping, shoring, or another cave-in protective system. Judge Nancy J. Spies rejected the Secretary's…
Lanzo Construction Co., Inc.
Ladder and cave-in items affirmed, repeat classification rejected
Lanzo employees worked in an unprotected 12-foot excavation and used a ladder perched on unstable, sloping soil. The ladder was not missing a rung as first alleged, but its extension-ladder design left nonuniform spacing that created a misstep hazard. Judge Ken S. Welsch affirmed the two ladder…
Pentecost Contracting Corp.
EAJA fee application denied
Pentecost admitted willful excavation violations but successfully reduced proposed penalties from $105,000 to $42,000 by grouping related items at each trench. It then sought attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Commission held that success on a significant penalty issue can…
N. M. Savko & Sons, Inc.
Confined-space item affirmed, trench items vacated
N. M. Savko & Sons installed sewer pipe and required an employee to enter a manhole to set up a laser. The judge found the sewer was a confined space and that the employee had not been instructed about its hazards, precautions, or emergency equipment. That serious training violation was affirmed…
Globe Contractors, Inc.
Power-line and trench items affirmed, inspection item vacated
OSHA inspected Globe's underground-construction site on a public road and observed a backhoe operating within ten feet of an overhead wire and an employee standing on a ladder and later a water main inside an unprotected trench. The judge rejected Globe's warrant and inspection-conduct objections…
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.