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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J and M Miller Construction, LLC
Worker-status defense rejected and $13,800 assessed
OSHA cited J and M Miller Construction after two residential construction inspections found unprotected roof work, inadequate fall-hazard training, missing eye protection, and a narrow scaffold platform. The judge found that the workers were employees, not independent contractors, because the…
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…
Rock Utility, Inc.
Trench and ladder items affirmed, vest item vacated
Rock Utility was installing a water line in Quincy, Massachusetts, when OSHA inspected a trench that reached 6.3 feet deep. An employee worked in the deeper end of the Type C soil trench without sloping, benching, or a trench box. The judge also found that the company's informal safety discussions…
AMP Electrical, Inc.
Electrical training and energized-circuit violations affirmed
AMP Electrical was installing equipment for a store's new chiller when an electrician drilled through a switchboard back plate and contacted an energized circuit, causing a flash and burns to his face and neck. The judge found that the project was construction work and that AMP could have…
Burch Construction
Eye-protection violation affirmed for overhead joint-compound work
Burch Construction was performing drywall and stucco work when an employee applied wet joint compound at and above eye level without safety glasses. The product warnings and safety data sheets called for eye protection because contact could irritate the eyes. The judge found that the employee…
Thomas Industrial Coatings, Inc.
Settlement withdraws high-visibility clothing item
Thomas Industrial Coatings was painting an interstate overpass when OSHA cited alleged traffic-zone and aerial-lift hazards. The administrative law judge vacated the item alleging inadequate protection from traffic and the aerial-lift tie-off item. For the high-visibility clothing item, the judge…
Manganas Painting Co., Inc.
Lead and fall-protection items partly affirmed
Manganas removed lead-based paint from two bridges using abrasive blasting inside canvas containments. OSHA cited the company for lead monitoring, shower, and medical-surveillance violations, as well as numerous fall-protection hazards. The Commission upheld the inspection warrant and found that…
The Ruhlin Company
High-visibility vest citation vacated
Ruhlin was widening a highway and had established a coned work zone next to an open traffic lane. OSHA cited the company because nine employees inside the work zone were not wearing high-visibility vests. The Commission held that 29 C.F.R. § 1926.95(a) did not cover warning garments because the…
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…
HWS Consulting Group, Inc.
Reflective-vest citation vacated
An HWS employee performing road-survey work was struck and killed by a backing dump truck while measuring the crown of a milled street without a reflective vest. OSHA cited the construction personal-protective-equipment standard and later alleged a general duty clause violation in the alternative…
Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc.
Electrical citation items vacated
A Shaw electrician was severely burned by an electrical arc after opening an energized panel box at a Maryland waste-removal project. OSHA concluded that he was loosening a live lug bolt with an Allen wrench, while Shaw's investigation concluded that a wrench left on top of the box fell when the…
Major Construction Corp., Inc. and Michael J. Polites
Fall citations largely affirmed with $223,200 penalty
Major Construction was the concrete subcontractor on a 32-story structure where OSHA documented extensive fall-protection and related violations, including violations after an imminent-danger notice was posted. The Commission largely upheld the judge's findings on feasibility, employer…
DCM Erectors, Inc.
Fall, training, and eye-protection violations affirmed
DCM performed steel erection on a high-rise project where an employee died after slipping on a snow-covered deck and falling through a large unguarded opening. The judge found a repeated violation because safety cabling had been removed from one side of the opening and not replaced, even though DCM…
Thompson Electric, Inc.
Eye-protection and recordkeeping items affirmed
A Thompson Electric crew worked inside a vault near energized 4,160-volt cable terminations, and no crew member wore eye protection. The crew supervisor received a fatal electric shock when his elbow contacted a tiny exposed spot in insulating tape on an adjacent energized lug. The judge affirmed a…
Danis Shook Joint Venture, XXV
Basin-hazard training and PPE violations affirmed
Danis Shook was building wastewater equalization basins where accumulated water was held above a 42-inch drain by a plywood plug. A pipefitter foreman entered the water without protective equipment, the plug dislodged, and the draining water pulled him into the pipe, where he drowned. The…
R.P. Industries, Inc.
Heavy-equipment seat-belt and inoperable-horn violations affirmed
R.P. Industries was clearing and grading a construction site in Florence, Alabama, using scrapers and other heavy equipment. A scraper operator who was not wearing a seat belt was ejected during a traffic-avoidance maneuver and sustained multiple fractures, a punctured lung, and other injuries…
A. J. McNulty & Company, Inc.
Mixed ruling on fall protection during precast concrete erection
A. J. McNulty & Company was erecting a precast concrete parking garage in White Plains, New York, when OSHA cited numerous fall-protection and other safety violations. The Commission rejected McNulty's request to exclude inspection evidence, finding that OSHA substantially honored the company's…
W. G. Kees Properties, Inc.
Eight construction safety items affirmed
W. G. Kees Properties, Inc. was cited for safety conditions at a construction site. The remaining allegations involved employees working without fall protection on a steep roof and second level, unsecured and insufficiently extended access ladders, and a stairway without required rail protection…
Micron Construction, Inc.
Controlling contractor cleared of a subcontractor's fall violations for lack of knowledge
Micron Construction, Inc. was the construction manager on a Meridian, Idaho project. A January 1997 OSHA inspection caught employees of its steel subcontractor, Hansen & Rice, in three fall-protection lapses: one worker tied his lanyard to another worker's retractable lifeline about 40 feet up, one…
Esprit Constructors, Inc., C. T. Taylor Company, Inc.
Roller-compactor violations affirmed
Esprit Constructors and C. T. Taylor worked together at a construction site where an Esprit employee was fatally struck by a roller-compactor operated by Taylor's project manager. The judge did not decide whether the manager's lack of qualification caused the death, but found him unqualified…
Continental Roof Systems, Inc.
Mootness dismissal reversed and case remanded
OSHA cited Continental Roof Systems for sixteen alleged roofing, scaffold, fall-protection, equipment, training, and recordkeeping violations, with $139,600 in proposed penalties. The ALJ dismissed the case as moot after Continental went out of business and had no employees. The Commission had…
Meridian Contractors, Inc.
Dismissals reversed and citation cases remanded
OSHA issued Meridian Contractors serious and willful construction citations with proposed penalties after two inspections. The ALJ dismissed both cases under Commission precedent treating the actions as moot because Meridian had stopped employing workers and was preparing to dissolve. After that…
CBI Na-Con, Inc.
"shall be provided" does not require the employer to pay for welding gloves
CBI Na-Con, a construction contractor and subsidiary of Chicago Bridge & Iron, ran a site in Geismar, Louisiana where it employed over 50 welders and required them to wear welding gloves. OSHA cited the company for an other-than-serious violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.95(a), the construction personal…
Minelli Construction Company, Inc.
Mixed ruling on bridge rehabilitation safety citations
Minelli Construction Company was a subcontractor performing rehabilitation work on a New York Thruway bridge. OSHA cited the company for alleged hazards involving eye and face protection, hazard communication, fall protection, electrical equipment, suspended scaffolds, access, and gasoline storage…
National Engineering & Contracting Company
Willful crane-overturn items vacated, seat-belt and ladder items affirmed serious, $2,500
National Engineering & Contracting was the general contractor on an Ohio Department of Transportation soil-erosion project along a ravine in Lakewood, Ohio. A 28-ton Grove crane overturned into the ravine on August 19, 1994, injuring the operator, which prompted an OSHA inspection and two…
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.