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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Consolidated Construction, Inc.
Limited EAJA fee award ordered for excavation defense
OSHA cited Consolidated Construction over the slopes of a 35-foot-deep excavation used to repair an underground Air Force fuel tank, but an ALJ vacated both excavation items after crediting the company's expert evidence. Consolidated then sought more than $50,000 in fees and expenses under the…
Keefe Earth Boring Company, Inc.
Relief from seven uncontested citation orders denied
Keefe Earth Boring Company failed to file timely notices of contest to seven citation orders issued in 1987 and 1988 involving trenching, training, and hard-hat requirements. After the Secretary began a federal penalty-collection action, the company sought relief under Federal Rule of Civil…
Capform, Inc.
Excavation inspection and crane-load items affirmed for $800
Capform performed concrete formwork in a 25- to 30-foot-deep excavation at a Dallas construction site. After repeated rain, an unshored excavation wall collapsed while a 100-ton crane was operating above it, killing one Capform employee and injuring another. The ALJ vacated the citation under the…
Williams Construction Company
Excavation penalty reduced to $750
Williams Construction installed underground water and sewer lines in a roughly 30-foot-wide, 14-foot-deep excavation. The upper soil was soft and unstable, wet conditions reduced stability, and a nearby backhoe added vibration and load pressure. Two employees worked below a vertical north wall that…
Navarro Contracting Company
Serious excavation charges vacated, spoil-bank and exit items affirmed
Navarro Contracting was installing a large sewer pipe in a deep excavation and adjoining trench at a Fort Worth shopping-center project. OSHA alleged unstable walls, inadequate precautions near backfill, insufficient trench protection, heavy-equipment loading, a spoil bank too close to the edge…
D & H Pump Service, Inc.
Excavation and barricade violations affirmed
D & H Pump Service performed work in a 14-foot-deep excavation whose nearly vertical sides had begun sloughing and collapsing. The judge found that the company's working vice president and a borrowed equipment operator were protected employees, or alternatively were workers exposed to hazards that…
Stimson Contracting Co.
Three trench items affirmed and duplicate item vacated
Stimson Contracting employees installed sewer pipe in a trench that was 17 feet deep and four feet wide at the bottom. The company placed excavated material too close to the edge, did not provide an adequate exit, and left a crawler crane above and near the trench without additional shoring or…
Graven Brothers and Company
Excavation violations reclassified as nonserious
Graven Brothers excavated a seven-foot-deep pit in sandy clay without adequate shoring, bracing, or sloping. A spoil pile about five feet high was within two feet of one wall, and a 9,000-pound truck operated next to another wall without added support. The Commission found that an employee in the…
Amulco Asphalt Company
Three serious excavation violations and $1,000 penalty affirmed
OSHA charged Amulco Asphalt with willfully violating three excavation safety standards. The judge found that the company violated all three standards but reduced the classification from willful to serious and assessed a $1,000 penalty. The two sitting Commissioners agreed that the violations were…
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.