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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Hudson Wood Recycling, Inc.
Remand for employer-status jurisdiction inquiry
An administrative law judge dismissed Hudson Wood Recycling's notice of contest after the company failed to comply with prehearing requirements and did not answer a show-cause order. Hudson then asserted that it had never had employees, raising whether it was an employer covered by the Occupational…
Pak Nation Construction Co., Inc.
Citations affirmed after the company's only defense, that it was not the workers' employer, was found not credible
OSHA cited Pak Nation Construction Co., Inc. on September 15, 1993 for serious and repeat violations of construction safety and health standards found during an inspection of a building restoration in the Bronx, New York, and proposed penalties totaling $10,400. At the hearing Pak Nation stipulated…
Mashantucket Sand & Gravel
Commission holds OSH Act inapplicable to reservation-only tribal enterprise
Mashantucket Sand & Gravel was a business wholly owned and managed by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe that worked only on the Tribe's Connecticut reservation. OSHA issued three serious citation items with $2,000 in proposed penalties and two other-than-serious items without penalties. The parties…
Chicago Zoological Society
Citations vacated because zoo operator was a political subdivision
The Chicago Zoological Society operated Brookfield Zoo under an agreement with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and contested whether it was an employer covered by the OSH Act. The Commission majority held that the Society was a political subdivision excluded from the Act's definition of…
Vak-Pak, Inc.
Citations vacated for failure to prove commerce coverage
Vak-Pak manufactured swimming-pool filtration equipment with eleven employees in Florida. The company denied that its business affected interstate commerce, a prerequisite for coverage under the OSH Act. The Secretary relied on uncertain testimony about possible California chemical suppliers…
Navajo Forest Products Industries
Tribal enterprise not subject to the OSH Act under Navajo treaty rights
Navajo Forest Products Industries was created and operated by the Navajo tribe on the reservation to develop timber resources, provide employment, and support tribal services. OSHA cited the enterprise after workplace inspections, and the parties agreed that it fit the Act's literal definition of…
S & S Diving Company
Divers and tenders were employees under the Act
S & S harvested geoducks and other products from Puget Sound using divers and tenders whom it characterized as independent contractors. The Commission evaluated the economic realities of the relationship rather than relying only on common-law labels. S & S paid the workers, controlled the vessel…
University of Pittsburgh
Political-subdivision exemption rejected
OSHA cited the University of Pittsburgh's printing shop for inadequate exit capacity and an unguarded horizontal belt drive. A judge vacated the items after finding that Pitt was a political subdivision excluded from the OSH Act's definition of employer. The Commission reversed because Pitt was not…
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.