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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Hackensack Steel Corp.
Four steel-erection violations affirmed
Hackensack Steel was erecting structural steel at a medical-center project when two connectors worked as high as 43 feet without exterior or interior fall protection and without hardhats. Unprotected reinforcing steel also created an impalement hazard below them. The Commission rejected…
Hi-Tech Builders, Inc.
Willful steel-erection fall violations affirmed for $60,000
Hi-Tech Builders erected structural steel at the Guam International Airport while employees repeatedly worked without tying off and without temporary floors or nets below them. OSHA videotaped the conduct from a public parking lot, and Judge Nancy J. Spies rejected Hi-Tech's challenge because the…
Centex Construction Company, Inc.
Citation vacated after withdrawal
The Secretary withdrew a citation alleging that Centex, the general contractor on a medical-center project, failed to maintain temporary flooring beneath steel-erection work. The appended ALJ decision had affirmed the serious citation under the multi-employer worksite doctrine and assessed $500…
L. R. Willson & Sons, Inc.
Steel erector's tie-off program did not replace temporary-floor requirement
L. R. Willson erected structural steel for an Army medical center and used a strict 100 percent tie-off policy. An employee disregarded that policy and a direct instruction, climbed a column without being tied off, and died after falling about 80 feet. OSHA cited the company for failing to maintain…
Bear Erectors, Inc.
Steel-erection fall-protection and training citations all affirmed, $12,000 penalty
Bear Erectors was a steel-erection subcontractor working on an addition to and demolition at an adult nursing facility in Rochester, New York. An OSHA officer driving past saw workers on the high steel without fall protection, videotaped the site, and inspected. OSHA issued a serious citation with…
Carabetta Enterprises, Inc.
Willful steel-erection fall violation affirmed
Three Carabetta employees erected structural steel about 28 to 30 feet above the nearest floor without a temporary floor, safety net, or other fall protection. Carabetta argued that its three-story construction modules made an intermediate floor impracticable and that the standard unfairly treated…
Bratton Corporation
Untied steel erectors exposed to exterior fall hazard
Bratton employees welding bar joists on perimeter beams were exposed to exterior falls of about 28 to 33 feet. They wore safety belts but were not tied off, and Bratton left that decision to each employee. The Commission held that the steel erection temporary-flooring standard addressed interior…
Midwest Steel Erection, Inc.
Steel-erection settlement approved with remaining rulings final
Three OSHA inspections of Midwest's structural-steel work produced serious, willful, repeat, and other-than-serious citations with $23,200 proposed. The judge affirmed several fall-protection and ladder items, reduced one willful item to serious, affirmed the repeat and other-than-serious…
Williams Enterprises, Inc.
Four citation items and $2,300 penalty became final
Williams Enterprises was the steel-erection contractor for a multistory building in Virginia. OSHA cited perimeter fall protection, an improperly positioned and unsecured ladder, an unbarricaded crane swing radius, missing perimeter railings, and gaps in temporary flooring. The judge vacated the…
L.R. Willson & Sons, Inc.
Perimeter safety-net citation vacated
L.R. Willson employees erected structural steel on upper floors of a Washington, D.C. building. OSHA cited the company for failing to install perimeter safety nets even though temporary floors were present below the work. The Commission held that the steel-erection fall-protection rules displaced…
Adams Steel Erection, Inc.
Safety-net and hard-hat citation items vacated
Adams Steel erected structural steel on a four-story building and used temporary flooring below employees working on perimeter beams. The Commission majority vacated a safety-net item because the steel-erection fall-protection rules in Subpart R governed the hazard and preempted the general…
Williams Enterprises, Inc.
Willful steel-erection fall violations affirmed in part
Williams Enterprises employees repeatedly installed and carried metal decking at heights up to 58 feet without temporary floors, safety belts, or nets, despite repeated OSHA warnings and an imminent-danger notice. The Commission held that general construction standards can supplement steel-erection…
Daniel International Corp.
Pre-Barlow's inspection evidence remained admissible
OSHA inspected Daniel International's Missouri power-plant construction project in 1977 without a warrant, before the Supreme Court's 1978 decision in Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. Daniel sought to suppress the inspection evidence, arguing that its project manager had not voluntarily consented and had…
Builders Steel Company
Warehouse fall-protection case remanded
Builders Steel Company was constructing a single-story warehouse when OSHA observed employees working about 29 feet above the ground without fall protection. The company argued that the 30-foot steel-erection rule applied, while the Secretary relied on the 25-foot general fall-protection rule…
Williams Enterprises of Georgia, Inc.
Steelworker safety-belt citation remained vacated
Two steelworkers welded from beams 11 and 22 feet above temporary roof-level flooring without safety belts. The company complied with the specific steel-erection rule requiring temporary flooring within two stories or 30 feet. Commissioner Barnako viewed those specific rules as exclusive and would…
Union Steel Erectors, Inc.
Willful crane-riding and fall violations affirmed
OSHA observed Union Steel employees riding a crane hook, headache ball, and suspended steel loads 50 to 70 feet above the ground. The foreman knowingly allowed the practice for about a week, the general contractor had warned him it violated safety rules, and the crane operator knew it was…
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.